wifi aerial

[marcros]

I admit that I know nothing about such things...

I have a bbq that has an issue with its controls. It needs updating via wifi to reset the board. It looks like it is missing the stubby aerial that it needs and I am presuming that is why I cannot get it to connect properly.

The bbq is American supplied (presumably Chinese board), so getting genuine parts is hard. I have a spare board but would rather try to update the firmware on the old one first to see if that solves the issue.

I have https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GMG-Davy-Cro ... 2885831341

is the aerial anything special, or would another one do the same job? It may be the most ridiculous question going, with an answer of "of course", or equally "dont be stupid". if another will do the job, any ideas where I should go to get one?

 

[RogerS]

Why on earth would anyone want a BBQ with wi-fi ? :shock:

 

[marcros]

It is more of an electric wood pellet smoker, but so that it can be controlled remotely.

 

[Irish Rover]

Why on earth would anyone want a BBQ with wi-fi ? :shock:

Presumably it is what Davey Crockett had on his?

Is the WiFi 2.4Ghz? If so one of these should work

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4G-5-8G-12 ... 6b4f3358d5

 

[RichardG]

Providing the connector is correct then you can use any antenna for 2.4ghz. Check the connector though as you may have one that screws on but there is no centre pin to connect (known as reverse sma). If you have any problems post a photo of the connector.


Richard

 

[Eric The Viking]

Why on earth would anyone want a BBQ with wi-fi ? :shock:

Presumably it is what Davey Crockett had on his?

Is the WiFi 2.4Ghz? If so one of these should work

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4G-5-8G-12 ... 6b4f3358d5

Probably not terribly well, *except* at 2.4GHz, if it works.

Aerial length should match to the frequency/wavelength. At 2.4GHz, that is 122.45mm, but as these things are almost always 1/4-wave dipoles (in the cheap stuff), a 1st order approximation gives you a length of around 30.61mm. This is the "electrical length" rather than physical, measured length, and it's the bit that isn't screened in the aerial (i.e. the single wire sticking out of the back end of the plug inside the plastic "finger"). In practice something slightly shorter, probably around 29.5-30mm will probably work well, as long as it's straight, and as long as you want it for 2.4GHz. This could simply be a bit of rigid copper wire - the stuff used for telephone connections or one of the conductors is inside CAT5 (not the stranded stuff, the solid wire), will do it well. There's no need to remove the insulation, except where it pokes (gently!) into the socket.

A 1/4 wave dipole aerial designed 2.4GHz will work badly at 5GHz, and vice versa.

WiFi signals out of doors are pretty much line of sight, if there are no good reflective surfaces for them to bounce off, and if your barbecue has a metal case, that will shield /screen/block the signal wherever it is in the way. Does it work when you are right next to the thing at the moment? I don't understand if this is supposed to be direct to your 'phone, or to connect to the property WiFi, so you can connect to it via your normal network. If it's the latter, you may have difficulties, unless the base station has a good line of sight and is close to the barbecue. Whilst the barbie may receive a strong signal, that's only helpful if the base station can receive the barbie adequately, because the latter will have a much lower powered transmitter.

Why fuss with a bit of wire? It will tell you if the lack of aerial is the only problem. By all means replace it with something neater, but if a home-made lash-up doesn't give instant connectivity (assuming the correct aerial length!), there is another problem,alongside the missing aerial issue.

By the way, if the aerial socket is mounted on the back of the unit somewhere, and that back is a flat metal surface, even if the socket is in some sort of escutcheon plate of plastic, any aerial direct to the socket won't work at all well unless it sticks out at right angles to the back. You can get, on eBay, Amazon, etc, aerials that are free standing, with cable that fits the socket on the unit. This would probably be a much better idea in this context, as you could site the actual aerial up higher and away from metalwork, etc. Something like this would help in those circumstances, but you could probably hacksaw off half of the length, simply to make it tidier! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4G-25DBI-R ... SwjYleCcYB

 

[Racers]

I used to boost the signal from my router by putting a metal tray on the opposite side, so the wife coud watch tennis on the laptop at the bottom of the garden.

Pete

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Wow! You get a signal from your router? Do you get one from your jigsaw?

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I used to boost the signal from my router by putting a metal tray on the opposite side, so the wife coud watch tennis on the laptop at the bottom of the garden.

Pete

Wouldn't a carefully placed wok work better ? :lol: