Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
[Hack] Extending the bluetooth range of the 121GW
(1/2) > >>
gnif:
Recently I have found the Bluetooth feature in the 121GW invaluable, however it's range is a bit lacking and upon inspection it's clear why. The Bluetooth module is behind an EMI shield and behind the batteries. I didn't want to alter the meter by removing/altering the EMI shield, it's clearly required, so instead, I modified the Bluetooth module for an external antenna.

A quick google turned this up, it's pretty simple to do, but you must be ready to work with extremely fine pitch parts (I lost the capacitor and had to steal one from a donor Bluetooth module).

https://www.silabs.com/community/wireless/bluetooth/knowledge-base.entry.html/2015/08/06/_how-to_modify_ble-QAnI

Once done, I grabbed a WiFi antenna (seems to work well enough) and cut it apart and down to fit it inside the chassis without making any alterations. Just used some hot snot to keep it in place.

Did it work? Yeah!

Before I could get a flakey connection from the adjoining room (~5M), now I can connect to it from the other end of the house (~20M away).
Terry01:
Nice job!  :-+
thinkfat:
Nice job! What size is that capacitor? Smaller than 0402?
PA0PBZ:

--- Quote from: thinkfat on September 19, 2019, 11:48:40 am ---Nice job! What size is that capacitor? Smaller than 0402?

--- End quote ---

The article says: 27pF/6.3V/C0G (package: 0201)
mikerj:
Useful mod, but I would be a little concerned that the antenna is held with hot snot just above the input terminals.  If it falls down and shorts something out you'd have quite a surprise if you tried to measure a high energy circuit (with the Cat rating of the meter I mean).
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod