USB nano mouse receiver extension inside laptop lid

Probably you noticed that adding a USB extension cable to your nano mouse receiver will extend your wireless range depending on your laptop. Many vendors include a 12" or 16" extension USB cable with your nano receiver for this purpose. Basically I want to run a thin coated copper wire inside the laptop lid acting as an antenna, to eliminate the need of an external USB extension. A USB pinout schematic on how to achieve this would be nice.

Thank you! I greatly appreciate it.

 

Well, your idea wouldn't work the way you think.

The extension cable that you get extends the wireless range because it reduces the amount of EMI (electromagnetic interference) that the 2.4Ghz wireless signal gets. Generally speaking, your laptop is very "noisy" when it comes to EMI, especially 2.4Ghz wireless EMI. The extension cable just moves the mouse nano receiver farther away from your EMI-noisy laptop, which is why you get better reception.

If you want to just build a simple USB extension cable, so that you can embed it in the monitor frame, go for it. Just make sure you get a shielded USB extension cable. But a true "antenna" is relatively hard to build, because you need an unshielded cable that needs to be an exact length (due to the fact that an antenna must amplify and resonate a signal of a certain frequency). If it isn't the perfect length, or if it picks up 2.4Ghz wireless signals from other sources (which is very likely), then the true "antenna" design will do more harm than good.

 

I hope this helps you out USB - Universal Serial Bus Connector Pinout - AllPinouts

And my project to gives you an idea or two.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har.../468406-vostro-1400-diy-internal-usb-hub.html

 

I was thinking the same as Kent.

The reason an extension is helping is not because its an "antenna" but because its further away from the laptop and the things that would cause interfearance to the signal. (wireless card, bluetooth, etc)

Im pretty sure that it does not use the USB cable at all that the transmitter is entirely from the actual receiver your plugging in, but I could be wrong.

 

you can mod a mini pci-e to SATA/USB to make it work. that avoids the problem with messing with the notebook motherboard. if you mess up you just kill a cheap mini pci-e board and not the notebook. and you still keep your notebook warranty.

 

^
except if there's no mini-pcie port or is occupied like me with WWAN module

btw, many bluetooth internal modules are used in notebooks and they all have internal "mini" antenna

see the zig-zag line below, that's the antenna
Edit: that is what the antenna is inside the nano receiver too.

Spoiler

so putting an antenna inside laptop lid does help a bit "if" you connect it to the antenna line of the module
some bluetooth modules already have tyco antenna like wireless card that goes inside the lid.

so OP, if you just want to add a line inside lid but still plugging your nano receiver on the notebook's usb port, that won't do you anything.

 

No I'm not running into any kind of interference problem with the nano receiver. The problem is that the mouse which is Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 uses only one AA battery and the signal is crippled if I'm like 6ft away with the mouse from its receiver. With the USB extension which I have from a USB TV tuner it works fine up to 12ft easily. I really like the mouse except its scroll wheel which sucks (scroll wheel sensitivity is terrible). I think I'm going to start from scratch and run 2 extension wires from the USB port, the port where I plug in the nano receiver. One wire attached to data+ and the other to data- , first external then inside the laptop lid. I'll let you know how everything works out. Thank you!

 

I think it's the placement of the nano receiver when used with extension that gives you extra reception length.
the extension cable doesn't have anything to do with it.

Like I said, it will only help you if you connect antenna to the nano receiver's internal antenna line, or placing the nano receiver higher.

At first I thought you wanted to put the nano receiver module inside the laptop lid. but I see that's not the case

 

The extension along with the receiver could sit anywhere around or even next to the cpu fan which is on the other side of the usb port I'm using. The mouse is working fine, I'm thinking the receiver's antenna needs an extension or the mouse, yeah I'm not going to have any wires hanging out of the mouse just to get a better range.