Boosting Wi-Fi in Hangar

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buzzard86

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
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266
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Warrington, PA
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Jim R
Hey gang -

I'm trying to setup a wi-fi outlet in my hangar to remotely control my Reiff preheater. I have a solid two bars of connection with the airport wi-fi when I stand in front of my hangar, but as soon as I step inside and close the door the signal drops almost completely and the switch won't work. I presume that my metal hangar is acting as a faraday cage of sorts. I did try putting a residential wi-fi booster on the end of an extension cord in the rafters, but it only helped marginally.

Has anybody else had a similar situation and found a good solution? Wondering if there is any sort of antenna that I could get to place outside where the signal is strong and then somehow rebroadcast the connection within my hangar. Or any other ideas that might work?

Thanks.

Jim
 
what about using an old cell phone to capture the WiFi and then the hotspot in the hangar?
would airport allow you to hook a repeater up to their network. Any hangars in between you and the WiFi signal?
 
I just got a cellular device instead of trying to boost the already crappy internet. Worked great. Controlled my wifi thermostat, unloaded my engine monitor data, downloaded my nav data/charts and streamed the TV/iPad devices. Well worth the small monthly fee.
 
There are WIFI extenders available that have external antennas which would either help by themselves or allow a remote antenna connection where you could mount the antenna outside of your hangar. Check the Internet for those. Like Kevin said above, I had no local WIFI access so I bought a "Hotspot" device that connects to the Internet via the cellular network and permits WIFI to numerous devices in my hangar including engine heater, cabin heater, lights, etc. I access the WIFI connection from my home via Internet.
 
Thanks guys. I may ultimately go the cellular route like Kevin mentioned, but I'm time building and in a crappy unimproved hangar so the preheater control is really the only thing I need the wifi for. The wifi is great just outside the hangar, strong enough to update ForeFlight and surf the web. Just frustratingly drops off as soon as I'm inside. May also look for weather-resistant extender like Jim mentioned. I'm trying the indoor version now but I think that I need to get outside somehow to get the clear signal for the extender to be effective.

I'm flying every day and we split the electric bill over 10 hangars in our block - I'm pretty much the only one of the 10 that's regularly flying and there's some grumbling that I'm jacking up the bill so the goal here is to find a way to have better control over the preheater, preferably without driving back and forth to plug/unplug.
 
https://www.amazon.com/Solenoid-Control-Wireless-Contact-T-Mobile/dp/B07Q7PKW5Z
Pricey and it looks like you need to wire up your own plugs

https://www.amazon.com/CocinaCo-Remote-Control-Electric-Wireless/dp/B07TPTD9S1
I had one of these for a while, it worked. Apparently they have it set up as one product for a global market- the front outlet is a universal plug, US 110 cords will plug into it. I think the one I got came with a US adapter for the back. Might even have it still somewhere.

Basically you go to the GSM cell provider of your choice (t-mobile or AT&T work). Get the cheapest sim card you can, install it in that box. Then you text commands to the number to operate it. I assume the more expensive unit above works the same way.
 
I just got the Switcheon and couldn’t be happier. No need for wifi signal or a cellular plan.
 
+1 for Switcheon $200 first year then $50 per year though. My airport doesn’t have Wi-Fi.
 
You can do this with two cheap wireless routers. One of them (not all have this functionality) is configured is a wireless client, and placed outside (or at least the antenna is outside). This is connected with an ethernet cable to the inside router, which is configured as a normal router. I did this at our cabin, where the metal screens on the porch acted as a Faraday cage blocking the camp wifi from getting inside.
 
Two things to consider:

1) The cost of the power you are using is less than $30 a month. Might be cheaper to just pay that for the handful of months a year it's needed than to buy hardware.

2) Looking at the weather history for Warrington, there have only been a small handful of days since the start of the year that even required preheating. Check your engine manual for when it's required, that alone might solve your problem.
 
I went the cheaper route of @Radar Contact 's solve . I had an old android phone laying around and got a Tello SIM ($7 month). FEIT WiFi outlet switch from Costco ($20 for 3). I start the pre-heat the night before the flight and have a little shop light in the cabin to take the chill out. With my pre-heater, I don''t leave it on around the clock as it seems to work too well and don't want to have unintended consequences (though it has a thermal sensor on the oil pan).
 
rwellner98 said:
Two things to consider:

1) The cost of the power you are using is less than $30 a month. Might be cheaper to just pay that for the handful of months a year it's needed than to buy hardware.

2) Looking at the weather history for Warrington, there have only been a small handful of days since the start of the year that even required preheating. Check your engine manual for when it's required, that alone might solve your problem.
Click to expand...

This is a great idea. Long story short, you can get a low temperature thermostat, line level or connected to a line relay, that only goes on below, say 25 degrees, or whatever you want. Then, connect that after a timer that runs for your pre-heat timer, say 6am to 9am or whatever, if you typically want to fly at 9 and want 3 hrs of preheat. Then it'll only go on for 3 hours, only on mornings that are below your set temp. I know it sounds like a pita to setup, but once it's done you've got a simple setup that probably costs very little to run.
 
Terry M - 3CK (Chicago) said:
@Albany Tom every morning if it’s below x degrees it pre heats? Even if you aren’t flying or do you somehow control it remotely?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was the suggestion above, I believe. If electricity is about $.15/kwh, and the heater is about 300W (guessing), then you're looking at about $.14 a day if you only run it for 3 hours in the morning. That's less than $5/month if you run it every single day, if my math is right. If the weather is similar to here...which is north of PA...that may be only under 30 degrees or so half the months in the winter. So potentially the electricity cost is less than the cell cost. It's being limited by both ambient temp and a timer.

This is assuming you'd just be pre-heating in the morning hours, for morning flights. Goes out the window a bit if the plan is to be able to fly any time of day or night.
 
rwellner98 said:
Two things to consider:

1) The cost of the power you are using is less than $30 a month. Might be cheaper to just pay that for the handful of months a year it's needed than to buy hardware.

2) Looking at the weather history for Warrington, there have only been a small handful of days since the start of the year that even required preheating. Check your engine manual for when it's required, that alone might solve your problem.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think that the increase in the bill was only like $7-10 dollars per hangar over the year. But someone made an issue so I'm trying to be a good neighbor. I offered to throw in extra, but the collective consensus was that there was no way of knowing who used how much so we just decided to split it evenly. As we hash this out here, I think it's more and more unlikely that my preheating practices were the reason for the increase - there's a space heater that runs all day in the "lounge". :)

I do fly daily and like a good soak if the overnight temp drops below 40F so I've definitely used the preheater quite a but since mid-December or so. I know I could lower this threshold, but it definitely starts easier and I can launch almost right away so I think it's a good practice on my low time engine.
 
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Ignore my note about using an old phone. Found my phone dead in the hangar - probably killed by some 0F days.
 
I ran with a GSMAuto for a long time. Even then I had to put a remote antenna on it as when the doors are shut on my metal hangar there's no cell phone coverage either.
My other solution was a cheap line-voltage thermostat (like for electric baseboards) and an Intermatic seven day timer. I'd just run preheat on Fri/Sat/Sun early in the morning any day it was below 45 degrees.

An odd solution might be to find some place where the coverage is better and run extension cords up to relocate the wifi plug thing there. For example, there's a gap at above the door and below the metal roofing that was where I stuck my remote cell phone antenna.
 
My Hangar Wifi is a Raspberry Pi with a Yagi antenna and USB WiFi pointing at the FBO from inside the hangar and using the Pi's internal WiFi to rebroadcast. Plenty of gain to get through the metal door. Could do the same as mentioned up-thread with 2 Wireless routers/bridges/access points and a cable as long as one has a removable antenna. As a bonus I use it to report the hangar temp and humidity.
 
chartbundle said:
My Hangar Wifi is a Raspberry Pi with a Yagi antenna and USB WiFi pointing at the FBO from inside the hangar and using the Pi's internal WiFi to rebroadcast. Plenty of gain to get through the metal door. Could do the same as mentioned up-thread with 2 Wireless routers/bridges/access points and a cable as long as one has a removable antenna. As a bonus I use it to report the hangar temp and humidity.
Click to expand...

Any chance you can point me to more specific directions for this setup? I have an extra Pi that I can repurpose.

I *thought* I'd made some progress this week with the indoor extender up in the rafters rebroadcasting the wifi to a Wyze outlet to control the heater on/off. But, it only worked for a few days and then randomly the outlet is unable to connect.
 
buzzard86 said:
Any chance you can point me to more specific directions for this setup? I have an extra Pi that I can repurpose.

I *thought* I'd made some progress this week with the indoor extender up in the rafters rebroadcasting the wifi to a Wyze outlet to control the heater on/off. But, it only worked for a few days and then randomly the outlet is unable to connect.
Click to expand...
I really don't. It's just "Raspberry Pi As Access Point" and setting it up to use a second Wifi device(wifi1) for the upstream internet source instead of its on-board Ethernet(eth0).

https://www.raspberrypi.com/documen...tml#setting-up-a-routed-wireless-access-point
there's also one for Bridged, both should work.
 
+1 for the hotspot. I also use a verizon jetpack. The jetpack's support external antennae. Right now just having the antennae up higher in the hangar helps and eventually when we finish out the hangar that antennae will be outside. Its one of the magnetic camper style units. The only issue I have is that about every 2-3 weeks the jetpack either loses its IP address (they kick it) or the unit itself locks up. I placed a small christmas tree light inside a enclosure to keep it warmer since we are seeing as cold as -30F a few times over the past month. The small light doesn't seem to mess with any wifi signals. Its just $10/month. And like @Radar Contact - used for many other things when I get there. The tablet can update. We have (2) dual switch wifi remote power devices so I can remote the battery tender, tannis and two other devices if needed. Plus (4) blink cameras and wifi garage door opener for the back room if I forget.
 
Given my phone died in the cold, and I would worry the same about the mobile hotspots cold/hot/wet potentially killing them, I bought a cheap LTE Wi-Fi router. It's weatherized and no battery gives me piece of mind. Popped the sim in, made some basic and strategic setting edit (removed the Chinese DNS) and it has been solid 3 days so far.
 
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