Ok but i’d like always to use an ipex connector instead a piece of coax cable.
One question: why i need to cutoff the existing antenna trace? If I keep it I got problem?
Yes, if you leave the on-board antenna trace connected, it will cause signal loss and interference, and the cabled antenna won’t perform very well. Some boards (mostly routers) have PCB lands for installing u.FL antenna sockets, but sadly the board you’ve shown does not. If you do decide to solder coax onto the board, remember to keep both the core and ground leads as short as humanly possible. This helps maintain a high signal quality. Sloppy work will degrade the signal.
It really depends on the actual spacing between the two solder points in that rectangle on the PC board. If it matches that antenna connector, you’re golden.
Did you get anywhere with this? I have the same problem and I want to add an antenna to the Sonoff because it is outside in a really random dead spot - but it the only place physically that it can go. I have exactly the same annoying R2 4CH Sonoff, without the easy to use UFL/IPEX pads.
I can clearly see the resistor bridging a gap to the on board antenna - do I just want to connect that to the centre of the IPEX connector - where does the outside of the connector connection go?
Thanks!
Hi, no i preferred to buy a cheap wifi extender to cover dead spots 
So I decided to give it a go anyway - the wifi strength in that area of my garden (I use the 4CH to control various pumps and lights in the garden inside of a watertight box) is pretty weak there anyway, but it was working fine until winter closed in - perhaps the weather killed the RF environment!
Currently I’ve not severed the line to the old antenna - and I’m seeing ~ 5-10dB improvement in signal - but it’s still not enough to connect where I have the controller - it works fine when brought inside…
I’ll be adding another Unifi AP in the coming months and repositioning my current one which I’m sure will spread the signal better and mean I can get a connection, but I was hoping that the new antenna line might solve the issue in the meantime! Will I get another bump from severing the old antenna? I presume a dremel cutting blade through the board would do it - any suggestions for something easier though?
Photo below of the soldering job which I did - only got through 3 IPEX connectors before I got one to stick properly. Sorry I didnt take a photo before I attached the cable and it’s connector - I’m now too nervous I’ll break it to pull it off again!
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Sorry for taking you Keith, but you seemed to know what to do! Any suggestions? Thanks in advance either way!
I’d seriously need to see a picture of the printed circuit board without the IPEX/u.FL cable connected. Did you solder your connector to actual ground and signal lands/contacts on the circuit board? Or simply position it over/near the PCB antenna?
The reason I ask is, there are two possibilities:
- You soldered to an actual ground and signal land. This is the best case, as signal is directly transferred to the cable and antenna.
- You soldered over/near a signal land. This is a so-so/almost good case, as signal is passively transferred to the cable and antenna.
If 1) above, then cutting the on-board antenna trace (I would use a sharp box-cutter to do this) might improve the signal reception by .5 dB or 1.0 dB
If 2) above, then the signal reception is very likely not going to get any better.
If you’ll remove the cable and shine a brighter light on that area of the printed circuit board, it would help with remote analysis/diagnosis. Last request: If you have the FCC ID number from the product package, that would be an immense help. Thanks!
Found a picture of an older (2017) version. Marked it up for your benefit. It’s similar enough to be relevant and helpful
Photo below. Hopefully it’s a closer and clearer. The idea was exactly to solder the IPEX/u.FL connector to the ground and signal land - as you can see I have a REV 2 of the board without the conveniently spaced pads and the ESP is now directly mounted to the main board rather than being on the little daughter board it was on Rev 1, so I had to solder the connector on at a rather jaunty angle… but it’s definitely connected. I wish I could just find a Rev 1 to do this to as it would be much easier.
I have also since tried an antenna which I could place somewhere away from the Sonoff - the signal still was poor and the device couldn’t connect to WiFi. To be fair I seem to have found a RF black hole in my garden just outside of my house’s walls, which appears in the current cold weather - it’s really strange how dramatic the WiFi drop off is - my phone also has problems in the same spot.
Kinda stumped as to how to solve this. If I can’t get this working, I’ll need to jury rig my own solution somehow using a 4 way relay board and an ESP board that supports external antennas out of the gate…
Thanks in advance for any advice - even if that is “give up”!
hi all,
I have the same problem sonoff 4ch pro in the back of the garden cant connect to wifi.
Just wondering if anyone found a solution - im very dumb with electronics and can only follow advice where it says solder this cable to this particular pin. Is there anything like this available?
If not are the any other possible solutions, even with replacing sonoff 4ch pro with something else?
At the end, i got a wifi extender and problem solved. Are you italian?
nope im in the uk