How to make a powerful wifi router with your own hands. Homemade router, common mistakes

Greetings dear Habrasobshchestvo! I’ll make a reservation right away: it so happened historically that both of my higher educations are connected with IT a little less than nothing, so fiddling with pieces of iron is one of my favorite hobbies. Something like this.

I understand that I am far from the first to describe this topic, they have already shared their experience in building such solutions on Habré, but I suppose there are people who, like me, are far from network computers in their daily lives, but are interested and, perhaps, want to join and do something similar. In addition, living 2000 km from the Moscow Ring Road in the "harsh" ( sic!) the city imposes some restrictions on the availability of components and other things. In general, the whole process of creation further ...

background

1. Lyrical

I'll come from afar. Back in 2011, I happened to move to a house called in official language “low-rise construction”. For this very reason, the Internet could only be obtained from very federal provider for ADSL technology. I will not describe all the “charms” of using this access and communicating with technical support, I will only say that it looked like a materialized hell, because the speed did not even reach 6 Mbps, and connection breaks happened more often than can be adequately perceived. With 3G somehow it didn’t work out for me in life, attempts to connect to “wired” providers ended up promising

… we will contact you as soon as it becomes possible to connect...

My sadness was unquenchable. But there was a person who stirred up our sleepy two-story swamp and offered to send a collective application to a couple of suitable providers. And (oh, a miracle!) Grace descended on us in the form of a wonderful inter-regional provider that came out of home networks at one time. As a result, we have quite a 100 megabit access with blackjack preference and cable TV with fallen women courtesans.

2. IT

Having hidden the old ADSL router from sin in a box, I blissfully stuck the hose from the provider into my old but reliable, Asus WL500-gP first generation. The zoo of home devices consists of 2 laptops, 3 smartphones and other hardware that I mess around with / bring with me when my friends come to visit / etc (underline as necessary). In short, the device coped with such a load. At one fine moment, the USB case with the hard drive, on which torrents were downloaded, fell off and stopped connecting. Then I noticed that Wi-Fi freezes and drops occur when switching the UPS to battery operation. By simple manipulations with a multimeter, it was found that the UPS in standby mode produces from 165 to 170 volts of voltage, and the router at this moment falls into a stupor, lighting 4 LAN indicators, the WAN indicator and turning off all the others. The problem is familiar: such an indication indicates a power failure, for this reason the power supply of the router had already been replaced once, since the native ordered to live long back in 2011. And then I wondered if it was worth changing the router at all. Searching on the Internet for a model that meets my unbridled fantasy led me to despair. The price tag for intelligible models of routers positioned as SOHO starts from 6-8 kilo rubles (at the end of October of this year). And then I thought: why not assemble the router myself? Active surfing in search of a solution led me to 2 options: pieces of iron from MikroTik (very, very good, suitable devices) or completely self-assembled router_home_miniserver. It was decided to postpone the MikroTik routers for “somehow later”, because I wanted hardcore, and the experience of communicating with the proprietary MikroTik RouterOS in the past left not a very pleasant impression. Well, that was a saying, and now, in fact, the fairy tale itself ...

Search

The main task was to assemble a wireless home router with the ability to perform the functions of a small home server again and further improve it. Important aspects in the selection were low noise and energy efficiency. Having made a strategic decision to assemble a device based on mini-ITX solutions, I set about selecting components. It turned out that finding the right hardware within an acceptable budget is not so easy. Long evenings of surfing were rewarded, and I settled on the following components:

• case Morex T-3460 bribed me with the presence of an external power supply (produced in 2 versions 60-watt and 80-watt; I got 60W), the ability to install full-size expansion cards, moreover, parallel to the motherboard using the included riser-adapter. Was ordered at a local office but delivered from St. Petersburg transport company, before receiving in hand was 15 days
• Intel D2500CC motherboard. It was chosen by me because of the presence on board a complete dual-core 64-bit Intel Atom D2500 processor, passive cooling, two Intel gigabit network interfaces and a mini-PCI-E slot for connecting a Wi-Fi card. I ordered in an online store with delivery from Moscow, after payment came in 14 days

All other pieces of iron, without further ado, were purchased at one of the nearest online discounters:

I had to suffer with the search for pigtails for connecting antennas to Wi-Fi, which initially led to the sites of Chinese suppliers; as usual, to form an acceptable price, it was required to order at least a dozen. At the cult radio flea market, they also couldn’t help me with anything. As a result, after much persuasion, 2 UFL / RP-SMA Female 250 mm pigtails were brought to order by this office, for which my huge human gratitude to them, also expressed in ruble equivalent ( #humor, #non-advertising).

Assembly

The assembly process is interesting, but I don’t see the point in describing it in detail, because an excellent comprehensive review of the case is presented with a detailed story about unpacking, characteristics, disassembly / assembly, etc. For those who are interested, they will read and understand, of course, adjusted for the components. I will dwell only on certain points.

The motherboard comes in a bulk delivery, when unpacking the transport container, it turned out that during transportation the complete CD with software crashed (or rather was crushed against the powerful radiator of the mother). With the board itself (after checking), everything is chiki-farts.

Unboxing

In transport container

Separately, I was pleased and non-illusionally delivered by the included sticker Intel Atom inside

The review does not lie: indeed, in order to assemble a kit on this case, first you need to disassemble it. And take apart from the word fully. The case is actually miniature, and compactly arranging all the components and the wires connecting them is a truly non-trivial task.
There is a regular place in the case for installing one antenna (more precisely, a hole for installing one pigtail), since this did not suit me, and it was supposed to install two antennas, I had to "collective farm". But in the end, my work was rewarded and everything turned out very decently: there is a plug in the case, which is fastened with one screw and one latch and fixes the expansion board installed in the "hold". I drilled a Ø 6 mm hole in it, slightly corrected it with needle files to remove burrs, sharp edges and flatten one of the sides - forming the mating part of the RP-SMA connector, after which the pigtail stood up like a glove. The result is in the photo below.

The same stub:

Plug installation location:

Calculation

I will clarify that I quote prices for the end of October - mid-November, since everything was purchased slowly and not in one day. Therefore, in conditions of instability in the foreign exchange market at the moment, prices should be taken as ± a certain number of rubles. In addition, the body and the mother were paid by bank transfer, which also had a negative impact on the cost and timing of receipt.

1. The case cost me 3171.42 rubles. ($ 72 at the exchange rate on 10/27/2014) + 300 rubles delivery to the door (by the way, they delivered from St. Petersburg by PEK, and the guys from Deep Systems already brought me to me)
2. Motherboard - 4235.42 rubles. + delivery 290 rubles to the TC terminal
3. RAM - 2210 rubles
4. Solid state drive - 3680 rubles
5. Network card - 420 rubles
6. Wi-Fi card - 1470 rubles
7. Antennas - 660 rubles (2x330)
8. Pigtails - 274 rubles (2x137)
9. Transportation costs - about 500 rubles
10. The cost of complete assembly - 0 rubles, in total about 4 hours.
11. The buzz from the process and the result is priceless. (O:

Total: 17210 rubles 84 pennies.

Conclusion

Of course, it turned out to be somewhat more expensive than top SOHO routers and than I expected, but! The power and flexibility of the resulting system, IMHO, is significantly higher than ready-made solutions. In addition, the pleasure received in the process of creating this unit is not measured by money, and the time spent on your favorite hobby is not a pity at all. So it goes…

P.S. If I get an invite, in the next article I will describe my ordeals with installing and configuring software on my freshly assembled router.

It all started with the fact that my router burned out. The ASUS router used to stand in the shadow, it worked quite tolerably, the range was enough with the head - catch it anywhere at home and even outside. But here he departed to another world from his old age, plowed after all for about 7 years.
I bought a new router with a built-in DSL modem. A very convenient thing, no problems with connecting to each other, I just used to have a DSL modem connected to a Wi Fi router and setting them up together was very painful for me.

Bought, then such a contraption 2 in 1, rejoiced. But as it turned out in vain - the range is so small that in the next room, in the far half, do not catch at all. I decided to exchange their antennas, the old one has a longer antenna, and it has a turn. Plus, it is removable and any other remote antenna can be connected to the socket.

The antenna of the new router is not removable, but the old one is removable - it was screwed into the socket. I decided to make a nest at the new router, too, by removing the nest from the burned-out router.
I disassembled the router.

Soldered the antenna, now it will serve as a dummy, did not tear it off.

Here is a plug-in socket from an old router.

I drilled a hole with scissors in the opposite side.

Inserted the connector, soldered the wires. Soldering such thin wires is a terrible flour, I didn’t succeed right away. Be sure to call the tester if you decide to repeat this. Collected everything in reverse order.

Now about the results. I won’t say that it’s straight, I began to catch everywhere and everywhere, but the signal became more confident, it catches almost everywhere, there are, of course, “black holes” but much less often. If you want the result in numbers, then the signal is better than the percentage by 15-20%. But now it is possible to connect any other antenna.

A good gift is one that is made with your own hands (provided that they are sufficiently “straight”). Well, the best router, probably, can also only be homemade. Now there are many components that meet the mini-ITX standard. And in a compact case that you buy in a store, you can assemble a WiFi router with your own hands, working with only one screwdriver, and your head too. Here we would like to list tips that will protect the developer from common mistakes made when choosing hardware components.

Storage device

The task looks like this: you need to assemble a computer consisting of a motherboard with a processor, a case with a power supply, and one expansion card (wired network card). Memory is better to buy the smallest possible amount (1 Gb), and those cases, the design of which does not allow you to install an expansion card, let them remain with the seller. You also need to take care of proper cooling. The instructions for the case may indicate the TDP value of the CPU, for which it is not yet necessary to use fans, but if the TDP of your processor is higher, then the recommendation cannot be neglected. As a hard drive, it is better to use the following options:

• An m-SATA (mini-SATA) SSD, if your motherboard is compatible.
• An Intel Z-U130 class device or its analogues from other companies (if you can find it). Please note that it is not possible to install such a drive on some boards due to mechanical incompatibility.

The most optimal SSD size is 4 GB, and now we'll talk about the choice of processor and board.

Choosing a mini-ITX motherboard

Our requirements would be best met by such a "motherboard":

• The processor is already soldered, its TDP does not exceed 10 watts (the choice of CPU will be discussed later)
• Compatible with m-SATA drives
• Power is supplied to the "motherboard" through a standard ATX connector (now there are power supplies with a capacity of 60-120 watts, which are fanless)
• The PCI-E x1 connector, or better just PCI, is present at least in the amount of one.

You will laugh, but there are no products that meet all the requirements at once, and never have been. There are similar options, for example, Intel D525mw (and D525mwv) boards do not support m-SATA, but they fully meet the rest of the requirements. That is, they will have to find an Intel Z-U130 drive, which is very difficult to implement today. In general, use the Yandex. Market”, carefully looking through all the characteristics.

Bought D525mwv, ssd, hdd…

There are buildings that appearance resemble a sieve, and they use PSUs of the following format:

Power supply pico-PSU 80Wt

Please note that if there is a "12V-ATX" connector on the motherboard, then it must also be present in the power supply kit. The point of buying such a case is that you can assemble a fanless system. Only here in the instructions it can be indicated that when using a processor with a TDP of 10 Wt or more, a fan is required to be installed. Table with the characteristics of Intel processors:

• D525 - previous generation atom, fast, 13 Wt TDP, perfect Linux compatibility
• D2700 - even faster than the previous one, TDP is 10 Wt, Linux was promised to be “finished” to it (we are talking about integrated graphics)
• N2800 - a small TDP value (6.5 Wt), but noticeably slower than the "old man" D525, although newer than it
• The N2600 is an ultra-low TDP, slower than the Atom N2800, used in thin mini-ITX boards, which would be "too fancy" for our purposes.

We leave the choice to the future owner.

"Network Affairs": WAN, Wi-Fi

It is always advised to make this choice: if you already have an access point equipped with a LAN port, buy a motherboard with two LAN controllers. In other cases, it is better to buy an external access point connected to USB, and a couple of Ethernet ports on the back of the board will be overkill. We talked about the fact that you will connect the provider's cable to the port soldered on an additional network card. And this is no coincidence. The NIC port used as a WAN port may well burn out. In general, a network card connected to a provider should be considered a kind of “consumable” (a joke, but with some truth).

WAN burns down - down with the router?

A couple of commands from Linux

Let's say that Linux is used as the operating system of our router. We hope that the kernel correctly identified all hardware Ethernet controllers. You can configure the connection to the provider, but first you often need to change the MAC address of at least one network card. It would be easy to do this on Windows, but on Linux you have to write a couple of commands.

Network card 100 Mbps

You can change the MAC so that the new value is used only until a reboot. To do this, the controller is first turned off:

• # ifconfig eth2 down//we are configuring exactly "eth2", you may have a different number
• # ifconfig eth2 hw ether 01:02:03:04:dd:ff//new value assigned
• # ifconfig eth2 up//enable controller "eth2".

The new MAC value can be assigned to the network card "forever", more precisely, we will force the OS to emulate the required value all the time. But to perform the latter, it will no longer be possible to get rid of only console commands:

• nano /etc/network/interfaces// you need to open the "interfaces" file for editing.

Now we are looking for lines in the file with the name of the desired controller (we have it "eth2"), and after the line "iface eth2 inet ..." we added the following:

• hwaddress ether 01:02:03:04:dd:ff.

We saved the file, and that's it (after the reboot, "our" value will be used).

In general, we note that MAC emulation is bad by definition.

The statement applies equally to all operating systems, and even to those that are flashed in a "regular" router. Emulation is performed in software, which, at least, takes up unnecessary computing resources (memory, processor time). The best solution is to have the ISP change the value in their MAC address database to what you need. In short, MAC cloning can be used as a temporary measure, but no more.

How to set up Wi-Fi USB?

Many people think that if Linux has such a miracle as Hostapd, then any Wi-Fi adapter can be switched to the "Access Point" mode. In reality, it is not. Almost nothing depends on the connection interface to a PC (USB, PCI-E, etc.), and the main criterion is the name of the chipset and the driver intended for it. If the driver does indeed support "Access Point" mode, this will be displayed on the "wireless.kernel.org" site. Go to the specified page, follow the transition "USERS" -\u003e "Devices".

Website page screenshot

Screenshot of the table with devices

On the page that appears, you need to search for the word "mode". If you see that the AP Mode is indeed supported, then everything is fine. Otherwise, you can force the adapter to become an access point only by non-standard methods (or not at all). Good luck.

Homemade WI-FI antenna

Sometimes when using a wireless network in a large apartment or office, it becomes necessary to strengthen the WiFi signal. The best way to improve reception is to use a repeater. It allows you to relay the network so that the signal is available even in rooms far from the access point. The simplest repeater can be made from an old router or other network device with your own hands.

Using devices with a built-in repeater

Some home devices that can connect to WiFi are equipped with a signal relay function. They can be used as a repeater. In particular, wireless cameras, smart lamps and even sockets can have such a function. Check the instructions for your wireless devices. If it is possible to relay the WiFi signal, activate this function in the settings.

How to make a repeater from a router

The most popular device used as a repeater is a regular router. Often, wireless network users have old routers that can be used to expand WiFi coverage. The main advantage of this method is its versatility. The router may operate using standards that differ from your connection method. The main condition is the ability to connect to WiFi.

For example, older ADSL routers can also be used instead of repeaters. They will work even if FTTx technologies are used to access the Internet.

Do-it-yourself WiFi repeater from a TP-Link router

Log in to the admin panel of the router. To do this, enter the IP address indicated on the sticker on the bottom of the device into the address bar of any browser. The page will ask for a username and password. As a rule, they are also indicated on the sticker. In the absence of these data, they can be clarified in the documentation.

Go to the menu "Wireless -> Wireless Settings" and check the box "Enable WDS" on the main page of this section. After specifying to reboot the router, the device will switch to the wireless bridge mode (Wireless Distribution System). Click "Search" among the group of additional settings that will become available when WDS is activated.

Find your wireless network in the table that opens. Click on the "Connection" link next to the line with the BSSID and the name of your WiFi. In the next step, you will need to enter the settings for connecting to the network:

1. Encryption type;
2. WEP index;
3. Authentication method;
4. Password.

Important! The channels on the main router and the device used as a repeater must match. If they differ, the additional router will offer to change the channel value to the one indicated on the main one.

Setting up a repeater on an ASUS router

On ASUS routers, it is most convenient to configure WiFi signal relaying through the built-in configuration wizard. To go to the step-by-step instructions of the parameters, click the "Quick Internet Setup" button in the upper left corner of the page. At the stage of selecting the operating mode, check the option "Repeater (repeater)". If necessary, change the connection settings for the relayed network.

Select the desired network, specify the type of encryption and enter the password for authorization. The device will automatically determine the channel, after which the connection will be made. When you select the "Network Map" item, a table with the values ​​​​of the main settings will open. The Wireless Network Name field will be editable. In dual-band routers, you can also change the frequency at which the repeater operates (2.4 or 5 GHz).

Advice! The use of other models of routers is also possible as a repeater. If the device does not support this mode by default, try installing an alternative firmware - DD-WRT.

Tutorial video: Do-it-yourself wifi signal repeater

Creating an antenna for a repeater with your own hands

The principle of operation of most homemade antennas available for assembly at home is to redirect radio waves. Standard router and repeater antennas are omnidirectional. This means that the signal propagates perpendicular to the plane in which the antenna is located.

Wi-Fi wireless technology is ubiquitous today. This radio standard provides for the transmission of a signal at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. For practical purposes, it is used to switch the interactive connection between the access point and the subscriber's device. The quality of the transmitted signal directly depends on the built-in or external repeater. You can expand the capabilities of the router if you know how to make a Wi-Fi antenna with your own hands. Next, we will consider several methods and step-by-step instructions for them.

Amplifier from CD packaging

It is quite simple to make it from improvised materials, subject to the main rule: the distance from the copper elements to the reflective surface of the disc must be strictly 15 millimeters.

The procedure consists of several stages:

1. The usual plastic packaging for 25 discs is taken.
2. The fixing ledge must be cut at a distance of 16-18 mm.
3. Using a needle file, slotted sockets are made on a plastic spindle to fix a double rhombus.
4. A biquadrat (rhombus) is made of copper wire with a diameter of 2.5 mm.
5. At this stage, you need to be careful, because it is the most important. They take 300 mm of copper cable, protect the surface, bend a rhombus from the wire. The distance between the centers is observed strictly within 30 mm. If the whole procedure is carried out correctly, the result will be a double geometric figure.
6. Then the ends of the wire are soldered, and a place is prepared for attaching the coaxial cable.

Antenna for a Wi-Fi router: assembly and testing

At the next stage, you will need to attach the resulting biquadrate to the spindle, observing a vertical distance of 16 mm at all points. Using a soldering iron, the ends of the wire are fixed. Using silicone glue, attach a standard CD to the bottom of the box. Using the same adhesive, a double diamond is fixed on the spindle.

Then the Wi-Fi antenna is connected to the router (router) with your own hands. The photo below shows a diagram of how to do this. Experienced craftsmen can unsolder the standard antenna and attach a new amplifier, however, you need to be very careful here, since thin conductors can peel off from the board under the influence high temperature. An easier way is to install a new fixture with the help. The result, despite the simplicity of the process, will please you.

Can Amplifier

Such a do-it-yourself Wi-Fi antenna is no more difficult to manufacture than the previous version. The device will amplify the signal, which is weakened by partitions and furniture in the apartment. The design under consideration is simple and cheap.

For the manufacture of the device, the following elements will be required:

• wardrobe trempel;
• a couple of liter cans of beer or soft drinks;
• ordinary soldering iron and solder;
• wire (50 Ohm);
• connecting connector.

The trempel can be replaced with a metal-plastic tube, which is used both indoors and outdoors, since it is little exposed to atmospheric influences.

Step-by-step instruction

In the future, the amplifier for the antenna is manufactured in compliance with the following steps:

1. Holes are made in the bottom of the cans, after which they are put on the lower part of the trempel or a pipe.
2. The slots in the banks are made in such a way as to avoid excessive tightness or slippage of the part. The pipe is looped and equipped with a suitable retainer.
3. A similar antenna for a Wi-Fi router, located on a trempel, requires stripping the soldering point, after which the ends of the wire are soldered to the banks one by one. The other end of the cable is fixed with the connector used to connect to the access point.
4. If a metal-plastic pipe is used as the base, both cans are soldered to the main wire. Between them, you can equip an adapter and fix the feeder on one of the cans. The antenna shield will be a metal foil located in the cavity of the tube. In order to solder the braid to the foil, it is necessary to carefully make an incision and remove the protective film. The attachment point should be fixed and insulated.

from sheet metal

For the manufacture of this design, a tin sheet measuring 222 by 490 millimeters is required. It must be bent in the form of a trough. Then eight holes are made along the perimeter with a core at the same distance. Along the edges they should be 8 * 2 in diameter, and in the middle 8 * 8 mm. These nests will serve as places for the vibrators. These elements are easiest to make from tinned food tin, and then solder them into prepared nests.

The tinplate antenna amplifier requires maximum precision in terms of dimensions. Don't forget to make holes for the racks as well. Their diameter depends on the thickness and characteristics of the material used as a holder. From the side of the vibrators, it is advisable to fill the connecting joints with varnish or wax to prevent moisture from entering. You can use any connector for connection (BNC, N, F). The last element is the easiest to isolate. With a router, a home-made Wi-Fi antenna is connected by the second end of the wire to the corresponding connector.

During installation, it is desirable to achieve direct visibility of the transmitting and receiving amplifier. Keep in mind that deciduous trees jam the signal. The connecting cable must be as short as possible. If this fails, do not use PCI cards.

As a rule, it will be enough to use a regular white cable with dense insulation (RG-6U), since more expensive options have the same effect. With a high pollution of the air and saturation of the WI-FI zone, it is permissible to change the polarization of the amplifier if the connection is made between two identical points. Above, several ways were considered, how to make a Wi-Fi antenna with your own hands? Consumer reviews indicate that such a device has almost the same effect as a factory fixture, while its cost is an order of magnitude lower.