Recently, i accidentally broke a few IPEX headers for the wifi/BT module in my macbook retina. In my attempts to fix the issue without having to spend 60USD for 3 wires, I noticed that all 3 antenna cables are actually shorts (loops). The wires are coaxial ones with a twist ground on the outside and a core for signal, yet on all three wires, my continuity test shows that they are connected. is this normal?
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=== Update (02/21/2017) ===
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Thanks guys for all the info! I've successfully fixed the wifi and now i've got good signal for both 2.4 and 5ghz aswell as bluetooth!
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I did it by cutting the coaxial wires and then isolating the shielding and signal lead by cutting the shielding short of the center wire, and then doing the same for a brand new 0.81mm coaxial wire (with a pre-attached connector) and joining the two pieces in a Y-shape by soldering signal to signal and shielding to shielding before heatshrink-insulating the joint(s). <-- Note that you must have ultra-thin heatshrink, i used 1mm heatshrink tubes.
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Doing this myself for all three broken connections helped me save quite a bit on repair costs. A reputable repair shop around here (Beijing) gave me an estimate of 60-70 USD (equated), whereas my fix cost me a total of less than 9 USD (equated, including shipping costs).
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(EDIT) I guess the estimated repair price is high due to the semi-high possibility of the screen cracking during the bezel removal process required when changing the iSight+Antenna module, so it makes sense I guess.
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I used:
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- Soldering Iron
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- Leaded Solder
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- 1mm Heatshrink
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- Small Wire Stripper (small scissors will do too)
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- 0.81mm IPEX Coaxial wires with pre-crimped connectors (getting the ones crimped on both ends gives you more tries per each wire).
Recently, i accidentally broke a few IPEX headers for the wifi/BT module in my macbook retina. In my attempts to fix the issue without having to spend 60USD for 3 wires, I noticed that all 3 antenna cables are actually shorts (loops). The wires are coaxial ones with a twist ground on the outside and a core for signal, yet on all three wires, my continuity test shows that they are connected. is this normal?
Recently, i accidentally broke a few IPEX headers for the wifi/BT module in my macbook retina. In my attempts to fix the issue without having to spend 60USD for 3 wires, I noticed that all 3 antenna cables are actually shorts (loops). The wires are coaxial ones with a twist ground on the outside and a core for signal, yet on all three wires, my continuity test shows that they are connected. is this normal?