Just received a new Neo 6M board from Core. I’ve learnt the expensive way how delicate these modules are. They don’t stand up to a lot of handling. Of course in project work they get A LOT of handling. This design is particularly vulnerable at the cable ends. The uFL receptacle can be destroyed and the soldered connection at the antenna will break from fatigue or broken away if the antenna snags on something. The cable can also get pinhced.
I’ve designed this simple frame to hold the board & antenna securely together as one unit and also protect the cable. It aslo helps keep my fingers off the conductive parts to avoid static damage.
Once in the frame the two parts are locked together and the cable won’t be subjected to any movement. It can be installed in a project, frame and all. Next post I’ll give the Tinkercad file which I’ll make public.
Looks sweet I’ve got one kicking about that would love an enclosure like this! In the FPV community they also dab on a bit of Epoxy to secure the uFL connection a bit
I guess that would be a permanent mod. You would never get the epoxy off without ripping the receptacle out of the board. That’s fine if you don’t expect to need to disconnect the antenna. If the cable breaks at the antenna junction you couldn’t replace it with another.
I’ve used hot glue as a less-than-permanent strain relief in my projects, you can just gently peel it off, though it was on big beefy JST connectors and thick wires, not tiny U.FL connectors.
Keen to see how much your enclosure increases the module life!
G’day James. That sounds like a good idea, particularly at the cable junction at the antenna board. That really needs some strain relief. Using the frame it feels like I have a single integrated unit. It’s easy to handle without worrying about the cable. So I’m confident I won’t have a cable break with this one.
I’ve got one kicking about that would love an enclosure like this! In the FPV community they also dab on a bit of Epoxy to secure the uFL connection a bit
