No change in power used from the battery.Finally, does my antenna choice have any effect on power consumption? (the amp will often run on battery power
Hello. I've built a 12v bluetooth speaker out of a mini beer keg. The bluetooth module is located inside the steel can, so i've connected a through-hole SMA female jack for an external antenna. I had an old wifi antenna here, but it seems that it is the RP-SMA... so it won't work with the jack i have. So, i've been looking at purchasing a different antenna and i'm not sure how the different specs will effect things.
The antennas i've been looking at (the elbow style found on many wifi units) list a GHz (or sometimes MHz) rating, and a dBi rating. I've tried doing a bit of reading on the net but the answers have mostly confused me. Will selecting a higher dBi rating give me more range? Is the GHz rating something i need to consider for a project like this?
Finally, does my antenna choice have any effect on power consumption? (the amp will often run on battery power)
Thank you for any advice you can offer.
-Scott
I'm assuming that your speaker grill is metal, and conductive, this is a critical point.
I was thinking perhaps i could remove the coating on the underside instead of the top. Looking at the images, it seems like the bottom of the antenna, the threaded shaft, and the nut/washers are all in contact as one ground. That would get the job done, right?Yes, it is critical that there be contact. However, you risk having some bare metal showing if you are not careful, so to be more precise, I would say that you need bare metal contact in a small ring around the connector, but not beyond that. In other words, if you are using the puck style antenna, you only need to clean the black color in close to the connector, not all the way out to the rim of the antenna.
I also want to add that you should not be splicing the coax cable. It will come with a coax connector already mounted on the end of it and you really can't do a good job of re-attaching that connector if you decide to shorten the cable, so don't try. Buy it with enough coax length, or buy an additional pre-built coax jumper to lenghten it.
Yes, thats exactly right. Doesn't matter if there is still a coating on the top as long as the underside is contacting.I was thinking perhaps i could remove the coating on the underside instead of the top. Looking at the images, it seems like the bottom of the antenna, the threaded shaft, and the nut/washers are all in contact as one ground. That would get the job done, right?
That sounds reasonable, except that you are adding a bit of cost, but not much. What bluetooth module is it? I would like to look up a picture of it to see what you mean about the holes. Unfortunately, it is not a good idea to attach the ground braid of the coax using a single wire. I strongly advise you to see if you can surface mount the coax braid to the ground of the bluetooth board and then run a very short center conductor connection to the hot pad of the antenna connection. This is very important for best range.My bluetooth module doesn't have an type of antenna connector built into it. It has 2 little holes for the antenna and ground wires that i have to push the wires through and solder. I was thinking i would drill a hole between the speaker and the outer edge of the grill housing and install a male connector for the antenna there with a wire that runs down to the bluetooth module. That way i could connect/disconnect the antenna while the speaker is installed. One like the image below that i would solder a length of the coax wire to:
Anything you put underneath the grill will not work because the grill is metal and will effectively shut in all the antenna radiation and nothing will get out. The grill plus the metal housing (the keg) is all metal, so the antenna has to be outside of that metal envelope to work.Those new options you provided might be better for me. Do you think i could get away with installing something like that in the speaker area? I have a nice amount of space between the speaker and the grill housing. The top part of the grill goes on the outside of the ring in this picture:
Do you think i could get away with using the "whip" style antenna running in a circle between the speaker and the grill housing? Like this one:
https://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/anaren/66089-2430/1173-1134-ND/3903374
Thanks again for all your help!!
That sounds reasonable, except that you are adding a bit of cost, but not much. What bluetooth module is it? I would like to look up a picture of it to see what you mean about the holes. Unfortunately, it is not a good idea to attach the ground braid of the coax using a single wire. I strongly advise you to see if you can surface mount the coax braid to the ground of the bluetooth board and then run a very short center conductor connection to the hot pad of the antenna connection. This is very important for best range.
Anything you put underneath the grill will not work because the grill is metal and will effectively shut in all the antenna radiation and nothing will get out. The grill plus the metal housing (the keg) is all metal, so the antenna has to be outside of that metal envelope to work.
The item that you linked to is actually not an antenna at all, it is only a piece of coax with a connector on the end. I think this is offered as an accessory for those pcb antennas that don't come with coaxes.
Unfortunately, all of those inexpensive alternatives need to be mounted outside the metal to work.
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