315

u/AlephBaker 26d ago

Is there a worse connector on earth than the u.fl connector? I can't think of one.

Also, I wish they didn't have those two wires cross over each other, it's annoying.

175

u/hibbitydibbidy 26d ago

Just because they're hard as balls to connect, feel like they're going to break when you DO get them connected, and seem like they're going to fall off once they are connected? Why would you say that?

55

u/tankerkiller125real 26d ago

Do people really struggle that much with these connectors? I've never really had an issue with them, a nice soft plastic flathead and a good movement and just like that it's connected. When the plastic isn't available, pointer finger, in a nice rolling motion (left to right or right to left), and the connector is on with no issues.

41

u/AlephBaker 25d ago

I can never get the damn things aligned. The head of the connector entirely obscuring the base doesn't help, either.

16

u/tankerkiller125real 25d ago

I just slide the connector over at an angle until so if I'm connecting it say from right to left, the left side of the connector is higher than the right hand side, as I slide the right side eventually "catches" on the edge of the male connector on the board. And then from there a simple roll of my finger generally attaches it no problem.

7

u/AlephBaker 25d ago

Ah, I'm usually working inside an Intel NUC when I'm facing them, but I'll give that a try next time if space permits.

5

u/cxaiverb 25d ago

I just made a comment about how ive never had an issue with this connector, other than on a nuc. The nuc ones are so damn tiny, im pretty sure they use a smaller connector, at least in the intel nuc 7 thru 10 that i work on

7

u/cxaiverb 25d ago

I repair cisco access points and printers with wireless cards that have internal antennas, and out of the thousands of plugging and unplugging of this little connector, i have only damaged 1, but it wasnt even the normal u.fl, it was an even tinier version of it on an intel nuk

3

u/ImaginaryCat5914 25d ago

yeah putting them on is fine, but for me its removing. the females just ALWAYS snap off of the pcb with the males still attached, only when u really need them to not.

1

u/mlnm_falcon 23d ago

I snapped tje connector clean off when trying to disassemble my iPhone 6, in my defense the phone had some water damage corrosion

1

u/floswamp 22d ago

The smaller ones are worst.

6

u/Shad64 25d ago

Go check out the w.fl version.

4

u/AlephBaker 25d ago

Looking at them side by side, I think perhaps I've been dealing with w.fl connectors lately.

4

u/Shad64 25d ago

Hah, fair. U.fl was usually just slightly annoying, w.fl has probably taken years off my life.

3

u/adamdoesmusic 25d ago

Ever used Socapex? Different scale, same pain.

2

u/Supergeek13579 25d ago

A similar cable came to my mind too. The audio snake cables are a similar pain. 80 pin connector with a locking ring that was near impossible to spin. We’d keep a pipe wrench in the sound booth to get them apart

1

u/pcpartlickerr 25d ago

Check out the Dell Latitude Rugged 5430 radio wires..

1

u/PomegranateOld7836 19d ago

RF gonna do what RF wants to do

1

u/Lena-Luthor 19d ago

whatever could you mean, they're rated for a whole tens of connection cycles lol

105

u/Bad_Mechanic 26d ago

I know it's petty, but I HATE that the white and grey cross each other. It would have been so easy to avoid!

29

u/cullend 25d ago

I mean look at the white paint traces on the board. They seem to be very specifically lay it out to indicate they’re supposed to overlay.

12

u/abezuska 26d ago

totally agree, that was the one thing that irked me, haha

1

u/Dare-Potential 21d ago

Not necessarily easy. My guess is that the pinout on the RF chip didn’t align well with how the antenna designer wanted to lay out the antennas in the enclosure.

Crossing those cables could be better than crossing the feeds on the board.

-2

u/Snowdeo720 26d ago

Came here to say exactly this.

It really would’ve been a simple adjustment with such a worthwhile result.

24

u/abezuska 26d ago

Verizon Internet Gateway (WNC-CR200A) found at goodwill bin (pay by weight $1.79/lb)

I actually bought it for the interesting looking outer housing that has a very xbox series x inspired design. The inside was very interestingly engineered and you can tell a lot of thought and pride was spent on designing the device, it had 8 antennas all oriented in different directions and the components all looked high quality.

1

u/ZPrimed 23d ago

Some of these are cellular for WAN, others are WiFi for clients/LAN.

I have no clue what is what since the labeling makes zero sense though

6

u/rootbear75 25d ago

I like the painted labels that show where/how the cables should be routed... Plus the built in clips!

4

u/tmstksbk 25d ago

RF terminators everywhere!

2

u/EVPN 25d ago

Any RF or cellular guy here who can tell us what each one is?

3

u/HippodamianButtocks 23d ago

Each one connects to a different antenna. The labels could be indicators of a destination board or band function. At least 4 are likely to be for cellular wireless antennas in a MIMO configuration, 1 is likely to be a GPS receiver for timing, and 1 or 2 are likely for a WLAN signal. There may be some redundancy for different cell bands.

1

u/EVPN 21d ago

Thanks! Redundant because they fail or redundant to receive the signal twice and do some calculations to be more reliable?

2

u/HippodamianButtocks 18d ago

'Redundant' in the sense of having different frequency capability because they won't be broadcasting or transmitting on every band simultaneously, and antennas will have different optimum geometry and filtering depending on the target frequency.

For LTE verizon uses 700, 850, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz. A single antenna geometry could likely serve the 1700-2100MHz range and a different antenna set would be used for the lower frequency range.

1

u/EVPN 18d ago

Sick. Thanks

2

u/cat1554 25d ago

Built in clips are awesome

1

u/Purple_Drag_7572 25d ago

Yup, just saw all of this when I disconnected the internal antenna for external waveform

1

u/Mysterious_Item_8789 24d ago

I guess cable porn now is "Cables routed through the manufacturer-provided routing".

1

u/WeeZr1 24d ago

does it need more antennas?

1

u/Heysoos_Christo 23d ago

I think DIN connectors are the absolute worst.

1

u/ch-ville 22d ago

I think the gray and black are supposed to overlap the other way.

-1

u/Samwise2k 25d ago

Gross. Not porn

Found inside a Verizon gateway

Verizon Internet Gateway (WNC-CR200A) found at goodwill bin (pay by weight $1.79/lb)