This project was born because my desktop PC which is the one I use for my is did not have a WIFI PCI card, which I needed to be able to use the pc without having to use an Ethernet cable.
So I didn't have the money to buy a wifi card, and that's when I remembered a video I had seen a few years ago about how to reuse the WIFI modules that some tablets come with and said let's try it out and see how these recycled tablet WIFI modules work.
We started, what we're going to need is:
1. Silicone gun and silicone bar
2. USB male cable
3. wifi card of some tablet already damaged
4. Coaxial cable (should normally be on the tablet as well, meets antenna signal.
5. Caution
6. Tin
7. Electrolytic capacitor 22uf 16v or 50v
8. 3.3v voltage regulator
The first thing will be to identify the card and then remove it from the board
Once the wifi module is removed from the card, we will proceed to search the internet for the pinout to make the connections.
In my case, the wifi module I used had this pinout.
Once the pins were identified, I proceeded to make the connections.
It should look like this.
Once everything is connected, I proceeded to connect it to the computer and install the drivers.
As you can see in the images, the computer recognized the WI-FI module without any problem.
Note:
- not all WIFI modules will work, but most of them will
- if you have problems to get the LM1117-33 voltage regulator you can use any other like the AMS 1117- 3.3 or any with similar characteristics like the LF33 but this last one the order of its pins are different, but you just need to identify them and connect them correctly, or you can use LM317 and adjust it to regulate at 3.3 volts, or you can use any regulation method you prefer as long as it respects the module's power supply voltage which is 3.3 volts
- in case that when connecting the module to the WIFI to the PC this one does not work you can try to invert the connection of the cables of data of green and white color, if when connecting again to the PC this one does not work unfortunately the module does not serve and it is necessary to obtain another one
That's all, folks.
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