I think I killed my TP Link 3040

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After reading all of the glowing reports of success guys have been having using the TP Link 3040 wireless router as a booster for the FC40 wireless camera I ordered one in. On initial power-up I was able to see several of the neighborhood wireless signals and verified that I could talk to my home wireless router (didn't have my FC40 yet so couldn't check it with the camera). Following the fairly detailed mod instructions listed here and elsewhere I carefully drilled a hole in the end of the case and installed the RP-SMA connector, carefully removing the appropriate jumper block and attaching the lead to the circuit board. With the 3040 re-assembled and a dual band (2.4 and 5 GHz) 7dB gain antenna installed, I fired the 3040 back up to see what wonderful new networks I could see with my newfound extended range. I couldn't see any wireless networks at all, not even my home router which was about 20 feet away. While I was fiddling with the connection to the configuration webpage (I'd forgotten to assign the 192.168.0.100 address to the wired port of my laptop), I noticed that the 3040 seemed unusually warm, not hot really but warm for a small battery powered electronic device. Fearing something was wrong, I powered the 3040 down and re-opened the case to verify I had done nothing unusual with the soldering. Everything looked fine. Suspecting that somehow the dual mode antenna was the trouble, I waited for the high gain 2.4 GHz single band antenna to arrive but it too sees no wireless signals unless they are within a couple of feet of the 3040. Thinking that the antenna lead might be bad, I undid the modification and re-installed a jumper across the solder pads. Still no wireless signals unless they are within a couple of feet of the router. Interestingly, neither antenna makes the 3040 get warm anymore which suggests to me that I might have damaged something internally.

I'm a fairly competent industrial electronics technician so I am pretty sure I didn't mess up the modification process. Do any of you guys out there in FC40 have any suggestions as to what the problem with the 3040 might be beyond the obvious fried chip? I'm thinking I am likely going to have to get another 3040 if I really need the extended FPV range but maybe somebody on here has a suggestion as to what a) I can do to salvage the 3040 I have, or b) what I might have done wrong to cause the 3040 I have to melt down internally.

Thanks

Doug M
 

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