Mini PCI Express Pinout Question

[Quad5Ny]

I recently purchased a cheap Mini-PCIe to PCIe adapter for $10 USD.

Upon examining it I was looking at the solder on the Mini-PCIe slot and noticed that Pin 14+15 (see arrow) are soldered together.

Is this intentional, or a mistake? I'm assuming it was intentional because 2 of the PCIe contacts are bridged as well (just want to make sure before using the adapter).

 

[mfenn]

Its hard to tell from that shot how the pins on that connector map to side A and side B, but they are probably soldered together because they are both ground.

 

[Quad5Ny]

Thanks, I won't worry about it then. Here are a few more angles just for the hell of it though. 😛

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, from the looks of it, those two pins only connect to a single trace anyway.

 

[Quad5Ny]

Adapter works great. I stuck a AR390 card in it and now have a 3 SS 450Mbps N adapter. =D

On a side note, the build quality on the Hexin adapter sucks! I had to solder on my own mounting hardware and re-drill the holes for the bracket because they were too far back (Power LED doesn't work either). I'm guessing it was only $9 because it was from a bad production run or something.


Now to get some 9dBi antennas. Thanks for the help mfenn. :thumbsup:

 

[mfenn]

No prob! 🙂

 

[kocoman1]

Quad5Ny, where did you buy this adapter for $10?

thanks

 

[Lezter]

I found one almost exactly this design.

What would happen if I cut this in half lengthwise? I need as little of the adapter due to space constraints.

 

[ViRGE]

I found one almost exactly this design.

What would happen if I cut this in half lengthwise? I need as little of the adapter due to space constraints.

I'd wager that you'd probably break it. If you look at the card, there are discrete components on the far side; they're almost certainly there for a good reason.

 

[pitz]

I found one almost exactly this design.

What would happen if I cut this in half lengthwise? I need as little of the adapter due to space constraints.

From what I'm seeing of the traces on the board, the transistor is just to drive the LED, and the resistors are for current limiting (of the LED, and of the input to the base/gate of the transistor). After all, the miniPCI-E card's outputs just aren't strong enough to directly drive the LED.

Can you find a part number on that component? Just to verify that it is a NPN or FET, and not some sort of VREG?

If it is what I think it is, then chopping the far end off wouldn't be a problem. Heck, I think I have an identical one of those in a machine around here, but I'm too lazy to pull it out.

 

[pitz]

Quad5Ny, where did you buy this adapter for $10?

thanks

They're all over eBay from various sellers in Hong Kong and on the Mainland.

As for finding 9dBi antennae, good luck, and let me know if you find some that work well. I find that the issue with these is that the pigtails are pretty hard to work with, especially on the back of a case.