My Reform laptop is on order and I haven’t received it yet, but I already know I’ll want to install a NFC reader in it. So I’m modeling a bracket for it in advance.
I want to install it left of the trackball module, as close to the surface as possible to maximize read range. I checked the clearance between the inside of the case and the battery pack with the 3D files in the documentation and it says 5 mm between the PCB and the case, and ~3.8 mm between the case and the soldered battery holder posts:
That should be plenty but just to make sure before I print my bracket, are there other things under there that I don’t know about, that would interfere with the NFC reader?
Note, that with the protected battery boards, the underside (or upside in this image) of the board has components on it. These components are not tall but they are about a millimeter or so in height.
Still it should be okay: I just need 0.5 mm for a ferrite sheet to sandwich between the battery board and the NFC reader (I assume the PCB has a ground plane so it’s kind of necessary for NFC performances) and the NFC reader’s PCB without its housing is roughly 2.5 mm high with all the components. So it should fit. Worst case, I’ll install the reader elsewhere and only the antenna over the battery board.
