Aspire 3680 WiFi mod

So i got sick of looking at my wifi and going "why do i have 2 bars all the time... and why does my internet cut out if i dont sit in the perfect place and put my hand in the perfect spot" it was annoying. one minute you're using the internet, the next, "could not find server" Now being me, i decided to take action. about a year ago i ordered a 18 dBi WiFi antenna and a 50-foot low-loss N-connector to RP-SMA cable (N-Male on one end, RP-SMA Male on the other) this wifi antenna supposedly has a range of over 1 mile, if its outside, and theres nothing between the antenna and the user. so a few days ago, i went looking for a cable that would turn my Atheros AR5005G wifi card thats in my Aspire 3680, into a beast! im happy to say, i found one. this wifi card uses the U.FL (aka IPEX) standard laptop wifi connector. so i got a U.FL to RP-SMA pigtail cable. its exactly 11 inches long, and thats exactly the perfect length to do this mod. ok ok, enough back-story. lets get to the pics and the instructions!

(NOTE: these pictures were taken with a 10 megapixel camera. they're sorta big, but putfile scales them down insanely if you want the full resolution pictures [around 3-4 MB a piece] i can email them to you, or upload them in a RAR file)

ok so by now you've probably noticed in your own 3680, that theres a blank plastic spot next to your ethernet port. my guess is, Acer uses the same case for a high-class model of laptop, and just threw a piece of plastic in there instead of ordering new cases, but thanks to Acer's cheapness, this mod works! (i didnt realize the "close up" setting on my camera until after these first few pics)

ok so heres a nice blurry picture of the hole i drilled in the back of my laptop:

another view from the inside:

the cable:

heres what it looks like when you stick it through the hole and screw it into place:

another view:

from inside:

this is the clearance you have between the end of the RP-SMA jack, and the motherboard. ITS LIKE IT WAS MADE FOR IT!:

heres the finished, put back together project. i actually reversed them after i took the picture. the white one is on AUX and the grey one is on MAIN. as you can see towards the right, black isnt in use any longer:

i'll upload a picture of the completed project, as well as my antenna later on.

 

this would work GREAT as a 3rd wire for an N-DRAFT upgrade w/out having to take your LDC appart... and get more signal too i bet!!

 

BEFORE:


AFTER:

 

bad form on my part.
I just copied your pic's without asking to my desktop
in two weeks I will be doing this mod

looking at the rest of the forum, are the acer mob the only ones with the nuts to do all this upgrading and mods

 

go ahead and copy them to your desktop i dont mind at all. im glad i inspired some other people to try this out. a word of advice though, as ive been having problems with my signal dropping to nothing and getting disconnected, i figured out that the piece of wire going into the RP-SMA jack isnt in there very tight. and because i had it bent to weave it through, it was coming undone. ive fixed it by moving the wire so that theres about an inch of wire coming out before it turns. also, have any of you guys modded your CPU fan air intake yet? i did mine a few days ago and it makes a world of difference. what used to be 55C - 60C is now 39C - 45C. stupid acer and their design flaws...

also, would you like to see the completely finished product and my antenna?

 

of course,always like to see the finished product.

i changed the fan on my laptop from a 0.5Ltr per second to 0.75, and with a craft knife removed some of the grill bars.
and i was sic of having a tea tray on my lap.
so i made my own cooling pad with some odd bits i had around.not pretty but dam comfortable.
the laptop never gets hot and have started on another cooling pad with dual voltage. USB or mains adapter.

 

ah nice. i was just referring to the fact that acer covered up 85% of the CPU intake grill with a piece of plastic, and then put a tiny strip of holed plastic on the other 15% that was still showing. i took it all off, and now the entire fan is exposed getting 100% air intake, the fan runs on LOW for about 5 secs and shuts OFF now. where before it would run for 10 mins on HIGH before it would SLOW down...

 

i haven't heard my fan run for months when on cooling pad the fan draws air through the ram bay grill on underside.
so the cooling air is pulled through the cooling fins of the cpu.
and the ram never gets hot.
im going to mod the ram bay cover. more holes so my cooling pad draws more air

i should have some pic's on here some where. will dig them out.

 

sure man, i'd love to see it. ive taken off all of the covers in my laptop so that it maximizes the airflow. i think think im comfortable with drilling any new holes though. i just uncovered the ones that were already there.

 

those panasonic TOUGH BOOK people like to do cool stuff to thier lappy too

i want one of those.... love the cool case,,, the durability... ect

but i think most ACER users are INFORMED USERS.... and knowledgable enough to feel comfortable doing mods like these and see the value they can gain from such mods... and we're a bit different lot.... but in a very good way.

i'm a proud acer owner.. and a proud of my $350 PC,, some people pay more for extended warrantys than i paid for my PC... and w/ only $500 invested.. i've put together a nice little system (for my needs anyway),

just another one of MY thoughts

 

i'd like to see a FINISHED PRODUCT PIC as well as a PIC of HOW the antennas are connected to the WIFI card its self.. (which antenna connector you have the pigtail connected to) and also if the original antennas are still connected or not???

 

the antenna is basically connected the exact opposite way as in the last picture in the first post. instead of white = main and grey = aux, grey = main and white = aux. i switched them around because i realized that the card automatically searches for networks using the main first, then checks through AUX. if theres nothing connected to main, it goes to aux, if theres nothing connected to aux, it goes to main. white usually = main and black = aux. but now black isnt used, white is aux, and grey is my pigtail. so if theres no antenna connected to my RP-SMA connector on the back of my laptop, it'll search using the internal antenna., but only half of the internal antenna. the other half isnt used. i havent seen any drop in signal though considering only half the antenna is used. the great part is, if i really wanted to, i could attach a cheapy $10 desktop antenna. one of those 7 dBi ones that are supposedly "upgrades" and have a constant antenna coming out the back of my system. i'll upload some finished pics later on tonight. too lazy to take pictures right now

 

is that a 802.11B or G card?? ALL G cards i have seen already have two antennas attached... what wifi card is that?? (make and model) ect..

thanks for your quick replies

 

its supposedly a Atheros AR5BMB5 802.11BG card. but it runs exactly like a AR5005G card. uses AR5005G drivers etc. and you are right, it does use 2 antennas. both of which are located behind the LCD screen. (had to take it apart to paint the lid) so instead of using both antenna's that are behind the screen, im only using one for close-range, and the other one is now RP-SMA for far-range.

 

thanks for the clarification.... i wondered which antenna of the 3 on a N card would be best for the EXTERNAL

think i'll ask Wirelessman about that..

thanks again

 

i can't see photo. hey guys can upload mod photo again

my laptop acer aspire 3680-2682

 

all morrons

 

F*U*C*K all morrons

 

haha, your funny piterarnett.

He has a valid point though, could the OP please re-post the photo's please?
Would be very helpfull.

Maybe submit them to an external host if it was NBR that deleted them.
Cheers.

 

Just a question sorry if it seems dumb
I have an Acer 5315 , T5550 duo core , running windows xp
anyways I picked up an Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN card and installed
it however it has connections for 3 antennas not 2 like the standard Atheros
card, not having a 3rd antenna to plug in I installed the card and just plugged the original 2 in , it seems to be working fine it says it is connected
at 144mbps , is it ok just to leave it with only 2 antennas used or do I have to get another antenna?

thanks