Antenna on Vera3 -- extending?

Community Playground General Discussions
#61

[quote=“juhiranjan, post:60, topic:172162”]I am planning to go for an antenna replacement on my vera3 unit.

Do I simply desolder the existing antenna and replace it with the new one, without making any circuit level changes?[/quote]
There’s nothing to desolder - take a look at the photo I posted earlier in this thread. You just unplug the U.FL connector and plug in the new connector that goes off the external antenna.

Chris

#62

@big517
Make sure the antenna is designed for 900 MHz band … I did not look closely but your link indicated that this is for Wifi … that’s a different band. Antennas are designed for a particular frequency. Their performance decreases as you move away from this frequency. How fast is a function of the Q-Factor for an antenna.
A high Q filter drops quickly … i.e. is is very frequency selective and rejects other frequencies. Most antennas are a fairly low Q-Factor design … so they work on a wider frequency range.

@juhiranjan
No soldering needed … But you have to have good vision … the antenna connector on the Z-Wave board is very small … and at my age … without the right glasses … it was tricky getting it inserted.

#63

[quote=“big517, post:59, topic:172162”]Based on info provided, I went with this setup; if this is incompatible in any way, please let me know;

http://www.amazon.com/20cm-U-fl-IPEX-RP-SMA-Pigtail/dp/tech-data/B007XVLO4U/ref=de_a_smtd

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0039ORBLK/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Chose this because this seemed to be one of the better ants with +9db gain and optional magnetic base mount. I’m just hoping I have the correct gender and connection parts right also. :o

Thanks all![/quote]

My concern is with the antenna, which is billed for WiFi (2.4, 3.6, or 5Ghz). Z-Wave operates on ~900Mhz…

#64

Thanks, I cancelled that order and stuck with what you ordered. I only wish there was a higher gain option… 3db doesnt seem like much, but I think the fact it’s external will make a world of difference altogether.

#65

Antenna gain is relative to a specific reference antenna - generally an omni directional “isotropic” antenna. Typically, these small antennas inside units have negative gain - ie they are not as good as the reference antenna. So, if the antenna in Vera has -3dB, then you’ve actually got a gain of 6dB over the existing antenna.

3dB is a factor of 2 gain - 6dB is 4 times the gain… Additionally, with an external antenna you can get the advantage of moving the antenna to a suitable location which helps further. One thing though, the thin coax that is generally used in these antennas has quite a high loss, so more than a meter or two and you’ll have lost another 3dB…

Chris

#66

And to add a few more comments … range is the square root of power.

So double the gain (3db) is about 40% range increase.
A 4X improvement gain( 6db) is a 100% range increase.

This is more likely to improve Vera to device communications more than the other way around.
A high gain antenna will receive a weaker signal … but will also pick up more noise … so you will not significantly impact the Signal to Noise ratio of receiving information from a device.
This is where you would like a HIGH Q antenna (Narrow Band) … noise energy is typically wide band (unless its really near band interference!)

#67

snovvman

Have you received the parts for your VeraLite yet? I am looking to use the same parts from Amazon but wanted to make sure they work before ordering.

(I can’t send PMs yet)

Thank you

#68

[quote=“FireBird, post:67, topic:172162”]snovvman

Have you received the parts for your VeraLite yet? I am looking to use the same parts from Amazon but wanted to make sure they work before ordering.

(I can’t send PMs yet)

Thank you[/quote]

Just got them yesterday! I will be deploying the antenna this week and reporting back.

#69

[quote=“snovvman, post:68, topic:172162”][quote=“FireBird, post:67, topic:172162”]snovvman

Have you received the parts for your VeraLite yet? I am looking to use the same parts from Amazon but wanted to make sure they work before ordering.

(I can’t send PMs yet)

Thank you[/quote]

Just got them yesterday! I will be deploying the antenna this week and reporting back.[/quote]

I connected the antenna last night and kept the antenna next to Vera, in its original location. After a repair/heal last night, each of the fringe devices gained one star. I am also able to consistently poll the devices [with limited testing] that were previously intermittent. I thought I would see more stars though… I will relocate the antenna in the next few days and see how that works out.

Keep in mind that I am comparing the performance to my stock/internal antenna-modded Vera (pictured, a few posts above). If I compared the results between my stock Vera, it is a more significant difference.

#70

Just so I’m clear can you revert back to the stock antenna if needed? Thank you

#71

Yes you can.

#72

Thanks just ordered the same parts from Amazon… didn’t know it was coming from China. Oh well for $10 I can wait a few weeks.

#73

Folks … I hope you are ordering the RIGHT antenna!
The link a few posts up is the WRONG antenna … it’s for the Wifi 2.4GHZ band.
You should get an antenna that is tuned for the Z-Wave 900 MHz band.

@snovvman
Is your new antenna designed for 900Mhz ?

#74

This is what I ordered… 900 Mhz.

http://www.amazon.com/Gino-900MHz-Connector-Magnetic-Antenna/dp/tech-data/B007POE82U/ref=de_a_smtd

#75

[quote=“RichardTSchaefer, post:73, topic:172162”]@snovvman
Is your new antenna designed for 900Mhz ?[/quote]

Yes it [presumably] is. 900Mhz was what I ordered. I just hope it is what I received…

#76

Are guys finding this antenna is being drop shipped from China? I have another 2 weeks to wait. Same for the connector. Seller is uxcell. I’ve purchased from them before but i wouldn’t have this time if i knew i would waiting for 3 weeks.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

#77

My antenna finally arrived today and a swift 5 minutes later…

Too early to tell if it improved the signal, but for ?2.71 beggars can’t be choosers :wink:

#78

I also ordered from uxcell using Amazon. Did this just Thursday so no idea on wait time.

I plan on installing one set here at home on a Veralite to test the effectiveness. Then on a Vera 3 at my rental house. I bought both a 7 dB gain magnetic mount and two 3 dB rubber antennas to see how they differ for overall gain. Rubber duck antennas from ReadyMadeRC as I wanted to ensure quality as that is my preferred solution. I surely hope it is as easy as has been stated here.

#79

Hi @Quinten

Thanks for sharing the pictures, your VeraLite looks great !

Looking back through the thread I couldno’t see what you had purchase, and seeing that you’re in the UK, I’m curious what you exactly bought and where you got the two parts from?

Please update us with your performance results.

#80

I got this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180454338662 and http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180653774174

I don’t actually know how to verify the increase in signal strength? Can’t see anything obvious in the LuaPNP.log file…