Graphite Base Station First Aid

[robbieduncan]

I've been up to some hardware hacking this morning to try and extend the life of my ailing graphite base station. Recently range has been dropping off and I've been getting loads of connection drop-offs.

Turning off WEP (don't worry - it's restricted by MAC address still) has solved the drop-offs. I figured adding an external antenna might help the range. I more or less followed the instructions from http://www.vonwentzel.net/ABS/index.html Surprisingly it's all re-started up OK and range is slightly better (not as much I hoped for.

At the same time I removed the modem card as I have never used it and read somewhere that this helped reduce the power consumption and heat generation. If anyone wants a modem card for a graphite base station (perhaps because yours has stopped working) then drop me a line.

I was going to strip the paint off with some isopropyl alcohol, but the stuff I bought does not seem to be strong enough - maybe some white spirits would work?

 

[bbarnhart]

My graphite ABS failed about year ago. My boss at work replaced the capacitors and got it working again. It worked for a while then it acted flakey again so I shelved it and got a wireless router from SMC.

The SMC wireless ranges sucks so I found the ABS and got it to work. The unit gets hot so I drilled a bunch of holes in the plastic case. That seems to do the trip because it is much cooler now. So, after you strip the paint, drill some holes in it to let the heat out.