Sky UK ADSL Router PSU upgraded

[m5sime]

Hi tweak fans! Perhaps a little on the madness side, but then tweaking HiFi seems to permit any stone to be turned.

 

Having heard some differences with my streaming music via an 8 port switch with different PSUs and also direct into my broadband router (Sky UK SR102), I wondered whether the on-board PSU was good or not.

 

I found a video on YouTube where a guy was modding his router to gain more WiFi signal from external antennas and also my screening what he claimed was a noisy onboard SMPS. See below for the unit. This is a modular PSU with the mainboard connection on the left side. Its is a 6x2 DIL PCB pin connector and conveniently its 6 Pins of 5V and 6 pins of 0V.

 

 

 

So I thought I would do some tests.. I removed the mainboard as you see below and made a basic connection to a screened USB cable with the end removed. The other end is connected to an Apple iPad 10W charger. I read on another forum some detailed USB PSU reviews and the Apple models (iPhone and iPad) did very well for noise and accuracy.

 

I did quite a few A/B tests with the mains PSU and the USB source..

 

 

The differences were quite subtle, but the external power was a little more natural, slightly wider in soundstage and richer overall.. (I do not really know how to describe this without tipping into superlatives). I am critical in terms of wanting to hear a major difference with a change.. Otherwise I really think 'is it worth it'. Cost wise this is very low.. some of my time and a spare cable and spare Apple charger (I will experiment with others).

 

You can see below I pinched the groups of pins together and soldered my connections. Note +V is on the left in RED.

 

While I was at it, I removed the crappy looking antennas and cables to the mainboard. I use this as a modem, DHCP server and ethernet switch, but not WiFi so thought I might clean it up my removing the Antennas. 

 

I then re-assembled the router and added some cable ties to secure the USB cable. It is now taken through the old mains socket (figure 8).

Actually very simple and a definite upgrade.. Would I say it was night and day.. no.. But then I assume like many tweaks - they are increments of 10% that sum to a greater part.

 

The PSU and crap antenna's are now spares 

 

 

Happy to answer any questions or provide more insights as to what I did.

 

Simon