ESP8266 Community Forum

- Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:04 pm #42420 Hi. I have purchased a bunch of ESP-8266 12 E modules few of them are working for me 24/7 but recently I am facing low signal problem in my new project. If I open the case, there is very nice communication between ESP-8266 12 E and my Raspberry Pi server via TP-Link5210G, but after closing the case, there is zero communication off and on. I know that ESP-8266 7 has external antenna port, but I don't wanna buy more unless my old stock of ESP-8266 12E ends.

So here is my real request. May someone help me in modifying ESP-8266 12E for using external antenna?

I know, I have to cut pcb antenna traces and then connect the wire to those traces. But I wanna seek help of a professional one.

Is it possible to connect a piece of copper wire in place of specific external antenna? As the problem is only the case and truly speaking I am more interested in home-based solution rather then buying more and more.

- Mon Mar 07, 2016 5:36 am #42602 Here is an update. I tried the procedure according to this.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Enhance ... /?ALLSTEPS

It's for NRF24L01+ but it worked for my ESP8266 12 -E module.

- Mon Mar 07, 2016 8:50 am #42612 Interesting. Can you expand a little more on your problem, testing, and resulting improvements? Do you have any numbers or general distance/walls stories to tell?

Which case were opening and closing (referring to your first post)?

Thanks,
ko

- Sat Dec 23, 2017 6:39 pm #72670 Good day!
I suppose that main point of that issue that ESP PCD antenna is located to close to other metal parts of your device. Please check this video(at 7:08). Andreas Spiess, as it is considered, one of the best ESP vlogger today, explained the same issue, faced on a project.
I think that the easiest way to solve this problem is to locate far enough from metal parts like a battery. Also, there is another option to try ESP8266-07 or ESP8285 with the external antenna port. I also found that the second ESP8285 tiny module is much more affordable for projects where PCB parts size is the critical issue.
Offcourse you can try to extend ESP-12 like it described further in Vickeyhort's post link. You can also google some other ESP-12 antenna extension methods.