[Modding] Zigbee antenna

Hello,

I dropped my Homey two weeks ago whilst putting it into recovery mode and it split in two!
The top half came off, all the screws are broken, the RFID pins are bent and the Zigbee antenna connector wire broke.

I don’t really need the RFID so I didn’t connect it back, also because I don’t know which side of the connector is plus and which one is minus.

What I do need is Zigbee range. I tried reconnecting the wire but I don’t really have the correct tools to do that. I managed to pry open the connector, put the wire back in and soldered the outler layer onto the connector again but my Zigbee range is now terrible so I don’t think I fixed it properly.

I’ve contacted Athom support to see if there are replacement parts available but there aren’t :frowning:
They can fix it themselves, but I’m still waiting to hear if that means my config will be gone.
If that’s the case I would rather not send it until one of the next updates brings the config backup.

Does anyone have an idea on how to fix my Zigbee antenna?
Or does anyone perhaps have a broken Homey and no more use of the Zigbee antenna?

The antenna will probably be fine, but I most likely damaged the connector whilst trying to resolder the wire.

Thanks,
Dennis

Can you post a close-up photo of the current situation?

Maybe in this thread you can find some information as a lot has been written there…

Are you sure you are referring to the Zigbee wire? That should be connected by a pigtail so easily to reconnect when it was taken off:

On:
image

Off:
image

Yep, the Zigbee wire.
Is that what that’s called, a pigtail connection? :slight_smile:

pigtail

wire

The connector connects just fine to the motherboard, is the wire going into the connection that came off and I tried reconnecting it, but the center of the wire probably isn’t fitted correctly into the connector.

I really haven’t got the right (small) tools to fix this.

So I either need a new connector or just a antenna + connector, last one is much easier to replace ofcourse :slight_smile:
Thanks,
Dennis

I would go out and buy a new antenna. A WiFi/BLE antenna will work too (same frequency as Zigbee). Something like this: https://www.tinytronics.nl/shop/nl/communicatie/rf(id)-wifi-bt/2.4ghz-wifi-antenne-ufl-connector

Right, I’m gonna do just that then.
I thought the antenna was maybe something Homey specific, but I’ll order a similar one, drill a hole and glue it on :slight_smile:

Thanks for the replies RobertKlep & ArnoP, much appreciated!

Regards,
Dennis

Auch. Yeah that is a problem, way too small indeed. I have some ends left from the antenna mod, so i can send you a new pigtail with a few centimeters of wire on it in an envelope. Then you can try to solder the two wire ends together. That’s more easy to do.

I already ordered a replacement antenna, but thanks anyway PeterVDK!

Regards,
Dennis

I recommend to do also zwave antenna as well once you have Homey apart. Look for Antena mod for more details.

Hi,

Just as a follow-up, I ordered this part : https://www.digikey.be/products/en?keywords=1837-1001-ND%20 and replaced the existing antenna.

Zigbee range is back to normal now, so I’m happy.

I didn’t do the antenna mods, I’m not really comfortable doing too much on Homey as long as there’s no configuration backup and restore method.

Regards,
Dennis

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