Launch a range extender or upgrade to mesh network

charlie35slr

Proud yet disappointed to be the 400th vote for this most obviously needed and long demanded feature.

paul0000

I had a smart radiator valve that decided to go offline just over two days ago. I left it as it'd been working fine for weeks prior and wanted to see how long it'd take to come back online.

Today, I remembered reading somewhere on here about adding some foil close by to reflect the signal. I checked the app, the SRV was still offline.

I wrapped a piece of foil halfway around the TRV with the open part pointing in the general direction of the internet bridge.

Re-opened the app and it's back online and has been for about 6 hours.

Thankfully we have only 4 SRV's that drop out so I might be wrapping the others in foil 😀

mperedim

Maybe we should change the title of this thread to "release a smart TRV with built-in adjustable tin foil hat". Surely this is something that Tado can deliver on sooner than the range extender?

CIW

How do you attach extension aerials? What would you solder them to and what aerial would you use? Could some helpful person supply photos?

Pete

I posted photo of a mod I have done to a number of my radiator stats on this page. Improved things for me.
https://community.tado.com/en-gb/discussion/comment/53384/#Comment_53384

Pete

Here is a photo of the wire that I added on to my bridge (excuse my clumsy soldering). This made no real change, I got the best results from adding a wire to the radiator stat.

CIW

thanks so much; that is really helpful.

paul0000

Ariel is my next step when I have some time on my hands.

For now the tin foil hat is still working 😂

Robbie

I found the new re-designed logo of Tado. It suits them well.

paul0000

Brilliant!!

Need to find a way to stick it on properly though. Didn't tell the wife about my bodge and I'm guessing she thought the foil somehow landed there by mistake and stuck the tin hat in the bin, SRV again offline.

I just readded the foil hat, and no joke, within 1 minute the SRV was back online

@Robbie Not quite as elegant, but her she is in her glory 😂 - thankfully the rad is in the far end of the kitchen and it's not very visible

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paul0000

Yep. I’ve “battled” with tado for a long time.

Mornings of the house at <10c, random disconnects after weeks of stability from devices, wife and kids frustrated as rooms cold when they should be warm. Mornings of no hot water for a shower before work … had it all.

My radiators haven’t moved, my boiler is still sat in the same place it has since the last owners installed it 17 years ago. Yet random issues persist.

I love the concept of tado but it simply doesn’t live up to the marketing hype.

I shouldn’t have to spend £1200.00 on a “smart heating system” that gives me the issues above, spend 10x hours troubleshooting myself and put tin foil around devices so they work 😳

It’s pretty stable for me now. But I’m burned by the s**t my family have endured and the time I’ve spent fixing stuff that doesn’t work as advertised.

Soon as I find a viable alternative I am moving. Not even sure I’d resell my tado hardware and risk someone having the same experience.

This forum is a great source of end user support and help but we’re all at the whim of a manufacturer who buries their head in the sand. They’ve had our money and don’t care.

Shame on you tado.

And I mean that in a constructive manner.

Montage

It’s easy to criticise Tado, but they have a number of people turning up and spending upward of 1000 whatever currency on their goods. Even if the benefits are unclear.

Now they are waiting to float under the flag of greener Europe.

CIW

Incidentally those looking for a practical internet bridge holder, to facilitate moving it and adjusting its siting and orientation, can find it on thingiverse if they want to print their own (in my case my daughter is printing it) or for £7:50 on eBay if they are not so fortunate

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3266090

andyblac

is it me, or does this look like a WiFi antenna cable plug, has anyone tried fixing a longer cable to it, and route externally of the tado˚ Hub to see if it extends the range?

something like this.

Bingfu WiFi Antenna Aerial 2.4GHz 5GHz 5.8GHz 8dBi RP-SMA Male Antenna & 25cm U.FL IPX IPEX MHF4 to RP-SMA Female Extension Cable 2-Pack for M.2 NGFF Intel Wireless Network Card WiFi Adapter Laptop: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

https://community.tado.com/en-gb/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FBingfu-Antenna-Extension-Wireless-Network-RP-SMA-Cable%2Fdp%2FB08FX3QXRQ

Shop Bingfu WiFi Antenna Aerial 2.4GHz 5GHz 5.8GHz 8dBi RP-SMA Male Antenna & 25cm U.FL IPX IPEX MHF4 to RP-SMA Female Extension Cable 2-Pack for M.2 NGFF Intel Wireless Network Card WiFi Adapter Laptop. Free delivery and returns on eligible orders.

Pete

@andyblac
Been there, tried it. It's actually an assembly line test point so the similar sized sma connector doesn't fit.

andyblac

@Pete looking at the traces it looks like it does connect to the antenna trace line, whats the size, maybe we can find something to fit ?

andyblac

looks like it's a U.FL connector like this

U.FL Connectors

SMA are great, but they are also fairly bulky and heavy. Every gram counts when it comes to FPV drones, so UFL is introduced to video transmitters.

As known as IPEX, U.FL is a miniature surface-mount coaxial connector that has been widely used in small size video transmitters and antennas. They are also very popular in radio receivers due to their compact sizes.

Montage

Some kind of sub-GHz antenna would be a better match.

andyblac

maybe something like this is what is needed ?

DollaTek 433/470MHZ ESP32 wireless shell SX1276 LoRaWAN WIFI BLE module with 433MHZ anntenna for Arduino: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

https://community.tado.com/en-gb/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FDollaTek-wireless-LoRaWAN-anntenna-Arduino%2Fdp%2FB07VKN44RM%2Fref%253Dsr_1_20%3Fcrid%3D29F1MKHY9I51P%26keywords%3Du.fl%2B433%2Bmhz%2Bantenna%26qid%3D1674908743%26sprefix%3Du.fl%2B433%2Bmhz%2Bantenna%252Caps%252C79%26sr%3D8-20

Free delivery and returns on eligible orders. Buy DollaTek 433/470MHZ ESP32 wireless shell SX1276 LoRaWAN WIFI BLE module with 433MHZ anntenna for Arduino at Amazon UK.

andyblac

or maybe this, as we don't need the actual module.

Staccatory 433Mhz Antenna 3Dbi RP- Plug Rubber Waterproof Lorawan Antenna + IPX to Small Cable Extension : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

https://community.tado.com/en-gb/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FStaccatory-Antenna-Waterproof-Lorawan-Extension%2Fdp%2FB0BPRQHL36

Staccatory 433Mhz Antenna 3Dbi RP- Plug Rubber Waterproof Lorawan Antenna + IPX to Small Cable Extension : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

for £2.61 might be worth a try for those of you having connection issues.

andyblac

here is another might be worth a try

EBYTE 433MHz Wifi Antenna IPX 2dBi TX433-FPC-4516 FPC Internal Antenna Omnidirectional Antenna : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

https://community.tado.com/en-gb/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FEbyte-Antenna-TX433-FPC-4516-Internal-Omnidirectional%2Fdp%2FB07XG5QSYC

Buy

Robbie

Upgrading the bridge’ antenna will not work if you don’t manage to do the same for the problematic clients.

I challenge Pete to open one up ;)

Pete

I already extended antenna for radiator valves. That's helped. See link above.
The connector on the board is not a plug, it's for temporarily inserting a probe. I'd love to be proved wrong but sadly I'm not wrong. :-(

andyblac

@Pete maybe it a female IPX / U.FL and not a male as normal ?

Montage

It’s in the 850-900 MHz range. Look for 868 MHz.

DibbleDobble

Having waded through 19 pages of posts i’m surprised this thread was left on an exciting cliffhanger about antennas !

Robbie

What kind of plot twist would you have written for this drama piece?

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Robbie

Probably also the unfortunate moment we lose connection again. So make sure to let them wear tinfoil hats, tado style.