Stock Wifi Extender output?

[happytreefriends]

Has anyone measured the power output of the stock WiFi extenders?

They look like they are angled up a bit transmitting forward I'm sure they are not losing any signal to other directions, but what if you put a small metal funnel around them in the case or maybe line the back of the transmitter case with aluminum foil inside (as it fits) to concentrate even more.
The system is already LOS as it is, so this wouldn't make it much more 'point at P3S' than it already is.

Just brainstorming here.
I haven't decided on permanently modifying the transmitter with an external booster until I see more real world results. Hehehe.

 

[robiefield]

I've had that case open and spent a fair bit of time inside. I think if you went wild with spray adhesive and glued foil on all exposed inner surfaces, you'd have a pimped controller interior that no one can see, and very likely performance results of the same caliber or less. The Tx clamshell interior isn't at all designed or shaped to enhance or focus RF traffic. That mod would improve your Tx performance the way STP stickers would improve car performance back in the day.

If you want that, save time and just use spray glitter inside the Tx case. Disco shiny in there if you're a lost electron wandering around. Otherwise no real upgrade.

Likewise, fashioning and installing tiny aluminum "funnels" or presumably conical reflectors behind the FPV patch antennas inside the case would probably be more of an artistic endeavor than a performance upgrade. I suspect no measurable enhancement would be detected.

When one considers the simplicity of a u.fl to RP-SMA pigtail upgrade, which then immediately enables an enormous and easy ability to upgrade FPV antenna performance, it doesn't make much sense to spend twice as much time fiddling about trying to fab tiny conical or parabolic reflectors inside the case with no specific tested design.

With the pigtail upgrade, changing antennas is about as hard as changing the cap on a magic marker. You can experiment with factory designed and built linear and circular polarity antennas, omnidirectional and directional, interchanging in seconds. You can find 2.4 GHz 8 db gain omnidirectional antennas online for dirt cheap--I just paid eight bucks for a set of three... delivered. A set of 2 eight inch u.fl to RP-SMA pigtails can be shipped from Amazon Prime for six bucks.

I get the concept of brainstorming. It's a good thing. I don't think getting busy with a roll of Reynolds Wrap inside your controller is a likely source of improvement, but introducing huge conductive planar surfaces inside a radio controller with exposed circuitry sounds a lot more likely to introduce risk of unintentional electrical interference and grounding.

Plus, that stuff would be a LOT harder to do than the pigtail mod. Storm on, storm on!

 

[happytreefriends]

Yeah, you're right. I am just not keep on drilling into my 'new' P3S transmitter. LOL
Either way, I will probably follow your lead with the amplifier or external antennas, just looking forward to the performance you'll get first.
I am pretty impressed with the direct LOS performance of the WiFi built-in from last night I got, but when there is a tree in the way, it's pretty weak.

 

[robiefield]

This is what the P3S controller looks like the way I did my pigtail mod. The antennas are 2.4 GHz 8 db gain omnidirectional FPV and 5.8 GHz 9 db gain omnidirectional flight control. This rig should comfortably meet and gently exceed OEM thresholds.

I'm still a relative beginner and not out to set distance records, but wanted stronger and more reliable contact.


Note: The clamp shown is a DJI Inspire/P3 expanding clamp that will hold large tablets. You must drill the controller lid to install this clamp on a P3S unit. It does not have the threaded insert in the controller top that the P3A, P3P, and Inspire models have.

 

[robiefield]

Yeah, you're right. I am just not keen on drilling into my 'new' P3S transmitter.
Either way, I will probably follow your lead with the amplifier or external antennas, just looking forward to the performance you'll get first.
I am pretty impressed with the direct LOS performance of the WiFi built-in from last night I got, but when there is a tree in the way, it's pretty weak.

As DJI informed me, your P3S warranty is void whether you split the case to insert foil antenna enhancements or split the case to install the pigtail upgrading.

If you want to mod, you're going to be drilling in most cases. Adjust as needs require.

It's unlikely that a higher gain linear antenna will do much to enhance flying behind trees. It should enhance LOS distances and communications, but trees are tough on omnidirectional RF transmissions. That is the domain of circular polarity antennas, a tradeoff that comes with increased antenna directionality.

Even so, my setup will allow for helical and hemispheric circular polarity antennas to be attached as quickly and easily as the linear antennas in the picture. Or a panel from ITELITE or FPVLR, for that matter. Flexibility and ease is GOOD.

EDIT: Note of clarity: my setup does not include any amplifiers. The pigtail mod just moves antenna connectors from inside the controller clamshell to externally accessible RP-SMA connectors. Adding higher gain antennas or different polarity type antennas is not the same as amplifying a signal. (Different antennas also makes the clamshell no longer a DJI OEM P3S controller, even if you did it somehow without drilling, it's no longer warranteed.)

Neither the ITELITE DBS-01 mod nor the FPVLR X3 panels are amplified. They are just higher gain unboosted antennas.

 

[happytreefriends]

Ahh yeah the dbs1 is an antenna but the dbs2 for the p3p and p3a is amplified no?

 

[robiefield]

Ahh yeah the dbs1 is an antenna but the dbs2 for the p3p and p3a is amplified no?

I really don't think so. I just went and read the product description and watched the install video. There is not an amplifier in the DBS-02 mod. There is not an amplifier in the panel antenna. Where did you get that idea? Go to the ITELITE site and read DBS-02 product data for yourself and see, don't trust me.

HINT: Forget the complete absence of the word "amplifier" anywhere in the DBS-02 description, component list, or install video. Consider the definition: Amplifiers use an external source of power to increase the amplitude of an input signal form. Where is the step where the DBS-02 mod taps into some type of power for this amp? Think this one through...

You might want to carefully read up a little on what is in the DBS mods before you set expectations about what they might do for you.