Remove Antennas From Think Over Heatsink

[zrm9901]

feSo im slimmin down my wii u and Im just wondering if its safe to remove the wires from the plastic chassis over teh heatsink, in the teardown tutorial im using (anandtech) it says they are wifi anntene and one to interface with the gamepad, can I remove these and replace them with my own?

 

[Lazr]

Yes. Two are for WiFi (Black/White), and the other two are for the Gamepad (Red/Grey).

 

[Stitches]

Just be aware that you can't just replace them with normal wires. The wifi antenna wires are compact shielded wires and must be replaced with comparable shielded wires. You can buy replacements easily online, they have the right connector and errything

 

[zrm9901]

Just be aware that you can't just replace them with normal wires. The wifi antenna wires are compact shielded wires and must be replaced with comparable shielded wires. You can buy replacements easily online, they have the right connector and errything

I’m guessing I need to keep the metal parts intact, in which case, does it matter where they go as long as they aren’t touching any other metal?

 

[Stitches]

I’m guessing I need to keep the metal parts intact, in which case, does it matter where they go as long as they aren’t touching any other metal?

Pretty much, yeah. Ideally you also want to keep the antenna PCB and the wire away from electrically "noisy" components like power lines, regulators, inductor coils, and speakers. They'll mess with the signal integrity.