Adding Internal(ish) Bluetooth to a Laptop

by samwise in Circuits > Computers

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Adding Internal(ish) Bluetooth to a Laptop

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Stuffing bluetooth into a laptop that wasn't really meant to have it without any of that pesky soldering.

The Idea

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I recently refurbished my laptop and after adding internal wi-fi i decided I wanted bluetooth in there too. After a bit of Internet research I found it couldn't be done without soldering. I'm not very good at soldering and I didn't want to risk bricking my laptop so I decided to go a different way. I already had a bluetooth dongle and after looking at it closely found it would fit fairly comfortably between the screen and its casing, with the lead poking out above my usb ports. I then set about stripping down the components and taking my baby apart.

I wasn't quite sure where to put this but its my first Instructable and I'm neither writer nor photographer so be kind

Making Everything Fit

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I now removed all excess material form the dongle and cable. The metal part of the plug was removed and the plastic was sanded down leaving a step just large enough to accommodate the usb of the dongle (the dongle had a half thickness usb) it was then taped together with self amalgamating tape. Also at this stage I removed excess at the other end (the part that goes into the computer, I apologise for my shady terminology) and put and angle in it to suit my computer then glued and taped it up.

Fitting It In

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After removing the LCD I test fitted the gubbins. If your going to try this I would do it repeatedly I ended up cutting some extra holes in my laptop, I don't mind too much I just covered them in stickers but be careful!! I then drilled a small hole in the lid to allow the LED to be seen and another hole by the hinge to allow the cable to pass from the inside to the outside of the lid. I then glued the dongle in place over the hole I had drilled and threaded the cable through the lid to the exit hole.

Finishing Up

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Then it was time to re-assemble the laptop plug it in amd make sure every thing was still working and lined up right. Fortunately it was and did YAY