Any chance you could mention where you got the pads and what pads you got? I’m just not sure about thickness, etc. I don’t really want to jump to any other platform just yet because I’m not ready to give up bluetooth.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Edit: I just want to mention again that for me I am having dropped connections when I am somewhat further from the AP. If the AP is close buy it doesn’t matter how long the device has been on. It will never drop the connection.
If heat does have a factor here, it could just be that as the chip heats up power to the chip is cut to control thermals, and this has a direct impact on signal strength.
The wifi connection stability is a_lot better, but still not perfect, since i installed the lastest OS image. (!! the previous version was 2 years old so this was a large jump)
Most of the time it works fine, then it goes on and off for some time, then fine again for the rest of the day.
I am not sure if the improved stability is caused by the newer OS or something else in my use case situation that i am not aware of. It just happend that way.
Now i switched to LAN (cable-bound):
faster surfing and sensors show temps going down from 52C (wifi) to ~47C (LAN) .
Sorry it took so long, I was having trouble finding the packaging and the remainder. Mine was a “minus pad 8” 2mm. I got it from a local Microcenter and the company name is thermal-grizzly.com
I did not take careful readings before and after, so I’m not able to quantify if it did much. I did the whole thing as sort of an impulse.
I got my Pocket on Halloween as one of the delayed crowdfund orders. My unit already had the additional thermal pad over the wifi chip, but it was still almost completely unusable on wifi unless sitting directly next to the access point.
After reading this thread, @AbortRetryFail and I opened the Pocket up. We put a rubber bumper under the SOM (since it was a little jiggly) to help the chips make better contact with the thermal pads by not allowing the board to sag.
More importantly, we moved the display cable away from the wifi antenna. It was curved over the antenna like in some other photos, and we suspected that the display cable directly on top of the antenna was causing interference. This seems to have done the trick. The wifi is working exactly as expected now with the display cable moved away from it. Hopefully this can help other Pocket owners who are still having trouble even after putting in an extra thermal pad and installing relevant updates.
More importantly, we moved the display cable away from the wifi antenna. It was curved over the antenna like in some other photos, and we suspected that the display cable directly on top of the antenna was causing interference.
This sounds very interesting!
Did you put the covers back yet before testing? I noticed there is a significant difference in having the cover on vs off.
My cover has been back on the Pocket since I moved the display cable, and the wifi has been working. The only issue I’ve had since then was where the signal was weak (i.e. sitting outside and attempting to connect to wifi inside of the house). I didn’t test open vs. closed case since it wasn’t necessary.
After a week of using it post cable relocation, I can safely say that moving the display cable away from the antenna has seemed to address the issue for me. It was looped directly on top of the wifi antenna. I think this might explain some of the inconsistency of the issue where some owners are having wifi trouble and some are not, depending on how their individual machine was assembled or if they opened it to do modifications that may have nudged the display cable one way or another. I may tape it down next time I open the Pocket.
Could you share a picture of just exactly what you mean with the cable and how you have it situated now? I moved mine as well but have not seen much improvement. I think I might not have moved it correctly or far enough. Of course my pocket it out for the count while i try to find time to fix the boot file that u-boot depends on.
I was on the Reform and the pictures weren’t loading correctly. I looked and I though the same on mine, but I am unsure what the display cable is. I thought it was the orange flat cable. I just moved that out of the way with some kapson tape. But I see that your antenna cable is free of the connector and wires near the edge of the display towards the bottom of the picture. Was that intentional as well of happy coincidence?
I was fighting this issue as well. The cable routing that worked for me was different. using the photo from @2disbetter as reference. I disconnected the antenna from the connection and routed it up instead of down. this help avoid the cable and the display control board.
I just did the same thing. I am hoping it gives me more range. I never had a disconnect when I am sitting right next to the AP but if I move 5-10 meters away it will disconnect.
So here is to hoping this improves things some. Thanks for the tip.
I’ve been daydreaming about designing and 3D printing some little structure with channels for routing cables and antennas through it, maybe this is a compelling enough reason to do so?
@deianara said nothing about PLA. Print with PET and you should be fine if you want zero warping. I have 3D printed stuff directly touching my classic Reform passive cooler and it’s fine.
And even if you print with PLA, the print will not melt but it will warp. But since it’s inside the case, it would still do its job just fine, no?
