Surface Pro 7 antenna

[Big Jim]

Have just taken apart a surface pro 7 1866

Screen was pretty shattered so had to be extremely careful around the antennas (for those not familiar they are stuck to the frame of the chassis underneath the glass)

They both look in pretty good shape, but there doesn't seem to be a physical connection to the motherboard.
pictures of the plastic strip they are connected to and the antennas themselves in the link

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003032596259.html

the antennas stick to the plastic strip with adhesive tape, the plastic strip has 2 metal contacts underneath that line up with a contacts on the board, but I can't see any link from the contact underneath the plastic strip to the wifi antenna that is stuck to the top of it. surely this wouldn't work ?

 

[britechguy]

surely this wouldn't work ?

Why not? Two electrically conductive surfaces kept in constant contact will conduct. It's essentially a mutant variant of the classic ribbon cable where the tape is the clamp.

 

[Big Jim]

i don't think I've explained it very well.
The antenna(s) stick with adhesive tape to the top of the piece of plastic.
the piece of plastic has a metal contact on the underside that contacts with the motherboard
there is (as far as I can tell) no physical contact from the antenna to the metal contact under the plastic.

Look at the picture of the underside the piece of plastic in the link and the 2 antennas seperately

 

[britechguy]

there is (as far as I can tell) no physical contact from the antenna to the metal contact under the plastic.

Not having this to look at, live an in person, makes it difficult to say much of anything. But, no antenna works if "air gapped" so it can't possibly be so.

 

[Big Jim]

Not having this to look at, live an in person, makes it difficult to say much of anything. But, no antenna works if "air gapped" so it can't possibly be so.

nope, it makes no sense, what also makes no sense, lets say that it wasn't air gapped, there is only a single contact point per antenna, I would expect there to be 2 contact points per antenna in order to "complete the loop"

 

[Markverhyden]

Something is missing here. The pictures in the link provide nothing. Can't see any detail and not much else when searching on my own. There has to be a proper conductive path for an antenna to pass the signal along. If I search for "Original 1866 WiFi Antenna for Surface Pro 7" I do see hits with the typical antenna cable and connector. Had it been opened by someone else? @gadgetfixup, who does this type of work, has mentioned that those antenna are almost always destroyed during work so he just includes new ones in quotes to customers.

 

[gadgetfixup]

Big Jim you're correct wifi antennas have a thin strip that wraps around that plastic to those metal contacts on the bottom. If your wifi antennas came off with the screen, stuck to the tape, then they tore. While you can purchase just those thin strips and glue them to the old plastic, we just purchase that whole top piece with new wifi antennas already attached. Make sure you get the correct one, there are two different ones for those surface pros.

I think MS ships to UK as Sorin gets parts from MS.

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[Big Jim]

the left antenna doesn't have a strip that wraps around. (as per the pictures)

the right antenna has a small part of the adhesive that wraps underneath but where it wraps around isn't near the metal contact underneath, and there is no metal in the bit that wraps around.

I know the obvious answer here is that I damaged something, but I am confident that I haven't, both strips were intact, after I had removed the screen the right hand one was still covered in glass , which I removed very carefully afterwards using plenty of heat and taking time not to damage the strip. The left hand one was still stuck down with no real marks on it.

Something is missing here. The pictures in the link provide nothing. Can't see any detail and not much else when searching on my own. There has to be a proper conductive path for an antenna to pass the signal along. If I search for "Original 1866 WiFi Antenna for Surface Pro 7" I do see hits with the typical antenna cable and connector. Had it been opened by someone else? @gadgetfixup, who does this type of work, has mentioned that those antenna are almost always destroyed during work so he just includes new ones in quotes to customers.

The ones with "normal" antennas on them are for the surface pro 7+ not the 7


The new screen is due to arrive tomorrow, so we'll see how the wifi behaves once I have a usable display.

 

[Big Jim]

I've taken as many pictures as I can to try and illustrate what I am saying in the OP.

The antennas that stick on top of this piece of plastic are not damaged, and do not "wrap around" to the underside in anyway. there is no link between the metal contact on the underside and the antenna on the top.

There are some short wifi antennas that connect to the wifi card and the other end connects to the motherboard.

Tested today with new screen and wifi works with this piece of plastic with the fake antennas on it completely removed.

 

[gadgetfixup]

The plastic tabs on the top aren't connected to the actual antenna, they act as RF amplifiers for the antenna inside the plastic. Here is a schematic image and a boardview image of a SP6 to better explain. Those copper pads on the bottom connect the antenna to the board through spring clips MP5003 AND MP5006. You will get WiFi connection without the top plastic strips but it may be weaker. The strips act as a signal amplifier or gatherer for the antenna inside the plastic.

 

[gadgetfixup]

The older Surface Pros have contacts on those plastic strips that wrap around and pinch to those spring clips under the plastic. I think it's SP3 and older. The newer ones have the antenna in the plastic and those strips just act as signal amplifiers.

SP3 with the wrap-around antennas