Extend RF USB Signal - Wireless Keyboard

by octhrope in Circuits > USB

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Extend RF USB Signal - Wireless Keyboard

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So I bought this keyboard/mouse combo from geeks.com about a year ago.  it was about $25.  But the range on the unit was about a foot to short to use from the couch.  It would jump and skip.  So I decided to break... fix it.

Step 1 - Disassemble!

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As you can tell by the pictures i already started taking things apart and broke the surface mount sync button off. The housing was glued closed so breaking was inevitable.  Luckily it still works and so we continue on. 

Step - Reception Reception Reception

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While I should have been googleing proper antenna building techniques; I found myself distracted by dust particles in the air.  And with this new found cosmic wisdom i decided to use a copper wire from a cat6 cable.

As you can see in picture 3, the USB internal antenna leaves something to be desired. (it's the silver squiggle)
Following that back i found a place to solder to and eyeballing the location carved a chunk out of the housing with a pen knife.

Step 3 - Solder!

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Soldered and ready for assembly.  This step is important.   Make sure you don't bridge any other points.  There are tons of great articles on instructables on how to solder so i wont go into it.

Step 4 - Reassemble!

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Put it all back together.  I wrapped it in electrical tape; adds class to any DIY project.  i also covered the antenna wire with the casing from the cat6 cable, makes it look pro.  

Tested and it gets around 25 feet of range now without skipping.  Way better than the 6 I was getting before.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions I will try to answer them the best I can.