WiFi Card upgrade testing

ChrisM101 · Jul 19, 2015

very good flight

NYG · Jul 20, 2015

ALLA said:
You mentioned that you were fine for now with the "possible" restriction to 27db, but might try later to go to 29. Please let me know if you do try and if it had any effect. I just ordered two of these cards and will join the test as soon as they are here. Your findings so far look very promising. I personally might be interested in trying 29db settings, if possible at all, as well as maybe 5.8GHz down the road.
Thanks again for sharing this!

Have you received your cards yet? It'll be nice to get some feedback when you have the opportunity. I'm very curious how this works out for others that decide to do this.

I don't think I'll be doing too much more long range flying for the time being. Now that I can comfortably fly at my local field I'll be trying not to crash becoming a better manual flyer.

ALLA · Jul 20, 2015

NYG said:
Have you received your cards yet? It'll be nice to get some feedback when you have the opportunity. I'm very curious how this works out for others that decide to do this.

I don't think I'll be doing too much more long range flying for the time being. Now that I can comfortably fly at my local field I'll be trying not to crash becoming a better manual flyer.

They are in the mail apparently, and are hopefully here by the end of this week. I will definitely do the swap as soon as possible. Did you have a chance to try 29db yet?

NYG · Jul 20, 2015

ALLA said:
They are in the mail apparently, and are hopefully here by the end of this week. I will definitely do the swap as soon as possible. Did you have a chance to try 29db yet?

No parameter tweaks yet. Just doing flight tests at a couple of locations.

tesmithp · Jul 26, 2015

NYG said:
No parameter tweaks yet. Just doing flight tests at a couple of locations.

Any news/updates on this topic? I currently have my solo disassembled (to look at the cards and also to document the process) and I'm considering ordering two of these MikroTek cards.

NYG · Jul 26, 2015

I'll just say that for me it's been a fantastic upgrade. Still deciding if I want to add external SMA adapters on the Solo before using some electronics grade silicon on the ufl connections. But I don't really think I need to change the antennas on the bird now. I can fly where I want without problems as is.

It'll be nice to have someone else try it out.

Earldgrayjr · Jul 26, 2015

Any tricks to replacing the cards? Notes? Advice?

NYG · Jul 26, 2015

Earldgrayjr said:
Any tricks to replacing the cards? Notes? Advice?

It's not difficult. Five screws hold the controller shell together (four outside and one in the battery compartment). When separating you need to disconnect a few wiring harnesses between upper and lower half then it's easy to get to the processor board that holds the WiFi card. Don't force the shell open.

With the Solo you can follow 3DR's instructions for checking the HDMI cable under the main board. In addition there are three screws that hold the processor board in place. Remove those and pull the processor board free from it's connectors.

https://3drobotics.zendesk.com/attachments/token/FYXjsIwW4pRNUea1LRekbaYcf/?name=Guide to check HDMI connection.pdf

The stock cards are slightly longer than the MicroTik cards but the mounting holes are standard.

The ufl connectors have silicon holding them down. It peels off easily. If you want to add it back make sure you get electronics grade silicon.

Earldgrayjr · Jul 26, 2015

NYG said:
It's not difficult. Five screws hold the controller shell together (four outside and one in the battery compartment). When separating you need to disconnect a few wiring harnesses between upper and lower half then it's easy to get to the processor board that holds the WiFi card. Don't force the shell open.

With the Solo you can follow 3DR's instructions for checking the HDMI cable under the main board. In addition there are three screws that hold the processor board in place. Remove those and pull the processor board free from it's connectors.

https://3drobotics.zendesk.com/attachments/token/FYXjsIwW4pRNUea1LRekbaYcf/?name=Guide to check HDMI connection.pdf

The stock cards are slightly longer than the MicroTik cards but the mounting holes are standard.

The ufl connectors have silicon holding them down. It peels off easily. If you want to add it back make sure you get electronics grade silicone.

Awesome! Thanks for all this work and documentation. It is exceedingly helpfull for the "next guy"

Lamda · Jul 27, 2015

NYG said:
It'll be nice to have someone else try it out.

NYG, I actually was able to find a supplier locally for these cards when I first stumbled across your post about the upgrade but I hadn't been on here and didn't post.

I bought two cards but have only upgraded the card in the controller so far. The increase in range was dramatic and got rid of the frequent disconnects/RTH I was getting, especially when circling back overhead. I live in a very wifi congested area. Now, along with one ALFA antenna, I have gone from ~600ft with frequent disconnects to just over 1600ft with disconnects at shorter distances only if I lose line of sight too long behind a row of ~130ft tall trees along the water.

After checking my area with wifi analyzer I'm considering adding channel 1 to the hostapd.conf. The area/park I'm in is such that when I fly over the water and further away, I'm actually flying closer to the wifi congestion on the other shore.

Toiletbowl · Jul 27, 2015

i think changing to mikrotik card reqiured driver supports to make it fully functional

tesmithp · Jul 27, 2015

NYG said:
I'll just say that for me it's been a fantastic upgrade. Still deciding if I want to add external SMA adapters on the Solo before using some electronics grade silicon on the ufl connections. But I don't really think I need to change the antennas on the bird now. I can fly where I want without problems as is.

It'll be nice to have someone else try it out.

Thanks for the reply! I just ordered 2 and will let y'all know after installation and testing.

NYG · Jul 27, 2015

Toiletbowl said:
i think changing to mikrotik card reqiured driver supports to make it fully functional

Everything i've read gave me reason to believe the card should output 27dBm with the ath9k driver. Getting past that could pose a challenge, whether it be regulatory restrictions mapped in or just modding scripts. Do i have the tools to measure for exact TX-Power?, no i don't. But I can say by using the cards that they outperform the stock cards by a wide margin.

BVIsolo · Jul 27, 2015

NYG said:
Everything i've read gave me reason to believe the card should output 27dBm with the ath9k driver. Getting past that could pose a challenge, whether it be regulatory restrictions mapped in or just modding scripts. Do i have the tools to measure for exact TX-Power?, no i don't. But I can say by using the cards that they outperform the stock cards by a wide margin.

Do you think this mod will be affected by future firmware updates?

NYG · Jul 27, 2015

Lamda said:
NYG, I actually was able to find a supplier locally for these cards when I first stumbled across your post about the upgrade but I hadn't been on here and didn't post.

I bought two cards but have only upgraded the card in the controller so far. The increase in range was dramatic and got rid of the frequent disconnects/RTH I was getting, especially when circling back overhead. I live in a very wifi congested area. Now, along with one ALFA antenna, I have gone from ~600ft with frequent disconnects to just over 1600ft with disconnects at shorter distances only if I lose line of sight too long behind a row of ~130ft tall trees along the water.

After checking my area with wifi analyzer I'm considering adding channel 1 to the hostapd.conf. The area/park I'm in is such that when I fly over the water and further away, I'm actually flying closer to the wifi congestion on the other shore.

View attachment 496

Nice! Do you plan on upgrading the Solo? You might consider getting an additional Alpha antenna. I bought a set of those too but haven't used them much yet. I have been pretty content just using my router antennas. If I can get out to the local school today maybe I'll see what the Alpha antennas can do in that congested area.

NYG · Jul 27, 2015

BVIsolo said:
Do you think this mod will be affected by future firmware updates?

That's an excellent question and one of the reasons I'm glad there are no script changes involved. Since a standard Linux driver is used I don't expect an update to break things.

NYG · Jul 27, 2015

tesmithp said:
Thanks for the reply! I just ordered 2 and will let y'all know after installation and testing.

Excellent. I'm looking forward to your results.

Toiletbowl · Jul 27, 2015

hi nyg

since you try this card work without disconnecting? as i check the specs your right uses atheros.

http://i.mt.lv/routerboard/files/R11-140818123114.pdf

BVIsolo · Jul 27, 2015

NYG said:
That's an excellent question and one of the reasons I'm glad there are no script changes involved. Since a standard Linux driver is used I don't expect an update to break things.

Excellent! thank you for this. My solo is out for RMA. When it get's back I will look into performing this upgade

Lamda · Jul 27, 2015

NYG said:
Nice! Do you plan on upgrading the Solo? You might consider getting an additional Alpha antenna. I bought a set of those too but haven't used them much yet. I have been pretty content just using my router antennas. If I can get out to the local school today maybe I'll see what the Alpha antennas can do in that congested area.

I think I'll modify the Solo later after the initial satisfaction guarantee period. I recently had to swap my first Solo.

My first bird flew great and I didn't get any of the startup/GPS issues other people had. I had flown it over 10 times and the last flight, one of the motor pods failed mid-flight causing a crash. 3DR service was generally good - just a little sluggish with all the new customer volume, I think. They did get back to me within 3 days as promised (2 of those days being Sat and Sun). After reviewing the logs, they gave me satisfactory options to have the bird repaired. Having a new toy, it always feels like an eternity when waiting for service, right?

My friend who's been playing with RC craft most of his life says motors/ESCs in general aren't always that reliable so I'm glad we have a guarantee and good support. One of the main reasons why I made the purchase. In hind-sight, I'm actually kind of glad I got to test out the service first hand during the 30 day satisfaction period so I know what I'm dealing with.

I have ordered a clover leaf antenna to replace the other stock antenna to experiment and pair with the ALFA. Since we have MIMO, I'm trying to get the best of both worlds. Medium range is fine for me since I'm in an urban area and really shouldn't be (and don't intend on) flying over all those high-rise apartment buildings

I'm much happier now that the connection is more stable and I'm not fussing with sudden RTHs when I hit dead spots or random interference. The wifi card is panning out to be a nice intermediate solution to get a solid connection where I don't need to bring a ton of external equipment (amps with battery, larger panels etc.) while still enhancing the signal when I do want to tinker and play with other antenna tech options.

I also like the possibility of being able to increase the output with potentially just a few script changes if needed.

I'll post back when I have more results.