Wifi reception in a steel box

Hello,

I have a project that will require a Particle Photon or Core to be put inside a small steel container (actually a petty cash tin like this http://ebay.eu/1HJXiqZ). I’m not sure if the container will form a Faraday cage - it seems unlikely given that the box is painted and of cheap construction.

Does anyone have any experience of how well core or photon will pick up wifi in such a situation?

thanks

Saul

@saulcozens, it does not take much to create a faraday shield which will kill or substantially attenuate the wifi signal. Have you considered an external antenna? Even a flat “pcb” type flex antenna could do the job. The Particle store has two antenna models you can look at. :smile:

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Hi @saulcozens

I don’t think WiFi is going to work very well inside a box like that with the lid closed, but it might work a little.

A better solution is to use a Core or Photon with an external antenna and mount the antenna on the outside of the box.

[And @peekay123 beat me to it!]

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thanks for the replies - I was trying to avoid an obvious antenna but I guess if necessary it’ll be a solution.

I’m going to do some testing and see what I can get away with. I’ll let everyone know.

saul

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Faraday cages must be completely continuous to work, so if you can separate the box into two non-electrically-connected parts, you might be able to turn the box itself into a WiFi antenna. Sort of like what Apple did with using the metal edging as the antenna on the early iPhones.

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You could also use a patch style antenna on the outside of the enclosure and paint it to match the rest of it.

http://www.rfnetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/antenna_patch.jpg

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