I know I can turn the unit over and have a look but I’m in the middle of a big multi-day print…
Anyone know if its possible upgrade the WiFi antenna? I’m having some connectivity issues related to 2.4GHz penetration of building. Before I commit to running cable – not as easy as it sounds in an incrementally-built house – I’m wondering if I could just upgrade the antenna on the MAX and be “good enough”?
Yes you can upgrade the external antenna, doing so will most likely drop your connection as soon as you unscrew it. So if you have something that is relying on that connection I’d wait.
I don’t own a SV08 Max and do not know how adding or routing a antenna extension cable would work with the enclosure, but if you have clearance, the antenna on the side can be upgraded. I’ve upgraded my Sovol Zero antenna.
You can get a antenna extender for the external antenna on the SV08 Max. For my Sovol Zero I used a 2.4Ghz WiFi antenna I had in a parts bin. You can pick one up on Amazon or other shops, you will want something like this 2.4/5Ghz antenna with a SMA connector. Or if you want to keep the stock antenna you can use something like this magnetic base extension (SMA).
Placement of the antennas also makes a big difference, simply angling the antenna on your WiFi router can get you to a better signal. This video explains how directing antennas or using multiple WiFi routers with backhauls can also help. If you only have one WiFi router you can TL;DNW to this point in the video that explains moving the antennas. If you have a WiFi router that has internal WiFi antennas it’s a bit more difficult, you can try rotating the router. This is a decent video explaining WiFi ranges a bit more, you are using 2.4Ghz which is helpful for distance.
To see what’s going on with your WiFi single level etc.
ssh into the SV08 Max and use “iwconfig” to find your WIFI adapter, generally wlan0.
Example:
sovol@SPI-XI:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
can0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:“WiFi Router Name”
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:01:02:03:04:05
Bit Rate=72.2 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=46/70 Signal level=-64 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
You can check it’s current signal strength with the following command, lower is better.
iwconfig wlan0 | grep -iE --color ‘quality|signal level’ you are looking for a average.
Bash one liner for signal average @ 1second intervals to see how moving the antenna can help.
sovol@SPI-XI:~$ sum=0;n=0; for i in {1..10}; do line=“$(iwconfig wlan0 2>/dev/null | grep -iE ‘Link Quality|Signal level’)”; dbm=“$(printf ‘%s\n’ “$line” | sed -nE ‘s/.Signal level=(-?[0-9]+) dBm./\1/p’)”; printf '%s ’ “$(date ‘+%H:%M:%S’)”; printf ‘%s\n’ “$line” | grep -iE --color=always ‘quality|signal level’ | tr ‘\n’ ’ '; echo; [ -n “$dbm” ] && sum=$((sum+dbm)) && n=$((n+1)); sleep 1; done; [ “$n” -gt 0 ] && echo “Average Signal level over $n samples: $((sum/n)) dBm” || echo “No Signal level samples found.”
For example this is my Sovol Zero antenna vertical then horizontal, I lost about ~ -4db moving it to a horizontal position. My router is on the same floor, vertical is better placement for my situation. Is that a awesome increase? no but it’s enough for edge scenarios. (negatives lower negative is better)
sovol@SPI-XI:~$ sum=0;n=0; for i in {1..10}; do line=“$(iwconfig wlan0 2>/dev/null | grep -iE ‘Link Quality|Signal level’)”; dbm=“$(printf ‘%s\n’ “$line” | sed -nE ‘s/.Signal level=(-?[0-9]+) dBm./\1/p’)”; printf '%s ’ “$(date ‘+%H:%M:%S’)”; printf ‘%s\n’ “$line” | grep -iE --color=always ‘quality|signal level’ | tr ‘\n’ ’ '; echo; [ -n “$dbm” ] && sum=$((sum+dbm)) && n=$((n+1)); sleep 1; done; [ “$n” -gt 0 ] && echo “Average Signal level over $n samples: $((sum/n)) dBm” || echo “No Signal level samples found.”
18:53:03 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
18:53:04 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
18:53:05 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
18:53:06 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
18:53:07 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
18:53:08 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
18:53:09 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
18:53:11 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
18:53:12 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
18:53:13 Link Quality=49/70 Signal level=-61 dBm
Average Signal level over 10 samples: -61 dBm
sovol@SPI-XI:~$ sum=0;n=0; for i in {1..10}; do line=“$(iwconfig wlan0 2>/dev/null | grep -iE ‘Link Quality|Signal level’)”; dbm=“$(printf ‘%s\n’ “$line” | sed -nE ‘s/.Signal level=(-?[0-9]+) dBm./\1/p’)”; printf '%s ’ “$(date ‘+%H:%M:%S’)”; printf ‘%s\n’ “$line” | grep -iE --color=always ‘quality|signal level’ | tr ‘\n’ ’ '; echo; [ -n “$dbm” ] && sum=$((sum+dbm)) && n=$((n+1)); sleep 1; done; [ “$n” -gt 0 ] && echo “Average Signal level over $n samples: $((sum/n)) dBm” || echo “No Signal level samples found.”
19:10:19 Link Quality=45/70 Signal level=-65 dBm
19:10:20 Link Quality=45/70 Signal level=-65 dBm
19:10:21 Link Quality=46/70 Signal level=-64 dBm
19:10:22 Link Quality=46/70 Signal level=-64 dBm
19:10:23 Link Quality=46/70 Signal level=-64 dBm
19:10:24 Link Quality=46/70 Signal level=-64 dBm
19:10:25 Link Quality=45/70 Signal level=-65 dBm
19:10:26 Link Quality=45/70 Signal level=-65 dBm
19:10:27 Link Quality=45/70 Signal level=-65 dBm
19:10:28 Link Quality=45/70 Signal level=-65 dBm
The signal can vary depending on many factors, sampling for a average is preferred, it should be relatively steady.
Signal strength reference:
| Signal Strength | TL;DR | Required for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| -30 dBm | Amazing | Max achievable signal strength. The client can only be a few feet from the AP to achieve this. Not typical or desirable in the real world. | N/A |
| -67 dBm | Very Good | Minimum signal strength for applications that require very reliable, timely delivery of data packets. | VoIP/VoWi-Fi, streaming video |
| -70 dBm | Okay | Minimum signal strength for reliable packet delivery. | Email, web |
| -80 dBm | Not Good | Minimum signal strength for basic connectivity. Packet delivery may be unreliable. | N/A |
| -90 dBm | Unusable | Approaching or drowning in the noise floor. Any functionality is highly unlikely. | N/A |
Cheers,
-Mike
Well that’s an amazing amount of detail! Thanks so much for the share. I think my print will wrap up before tomorrow morning and then I will dive into this. I need to move shelves and tables around anyway so it’ll be a good point to pause and think about things.
ty!
Another path to consider…
The WiFi hardware on the mainboard isn’t the greatest. A better antenna will help but can only do so much.
A WiFi bridge would allow you to have cabled ethernet available to all the devices in your “workshop” without having to run ethernet all the way to your router. Nearly any router can be configured as a bridge. Many also support better security protocols thanWPA2.
Just add a wifi range extender. Ultimately, a cabled connection is best.
Ok, so here’s something interesting and lesson which can be summarized as the old “Always check Layer 1”…
I let a couple of local young guys from the Uni Engineering program put the MAX together because they were really interested in 3d printing. They did a fine job but … I attempted to swap an antenna from a dead WAP onto the MAX with no luck. As in no signal at all. So I re-installed the OEM antenna. Not only is it working again but it is working flawlessly. No drops.
So my guess is that it was not tight when originally installed and I gave it a bit more grunt when I re-attached.
I’m just happy I don’t have to run yards and yard of Cat6 in this old building. 
Nice, yes, Layer 1… that’s one of the better layers out of the 7 
Glad you got it figured out!
Cheers,
-Mike