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LB-Link USB Wireless-N Adaptor Teardown

I needed a decent WiFi adaptor for my latest Pi LCD project, so after trawling eBay for cheapy USB adaptors, I found this one.

USB WiFi Dongle
USB WiFi Dongle

Unlike most USB WiFi radios these days, it actually has a proper RP-SMA antenna connector, not the low-gain built in jobbies that never seem to work too well.
There are a few versions of this adaptor, all of which seem to use the same casing, there’s a button push cut into the plastic for a WPS button that doesn’t exist on this model. This is fine, as I don’t enable WPS on any of my network equipment anyway. (It’s insecure, and can be cracked in minutes).

MAC Address
MAC Address

Here’s the rest of the essential details, the model is BL-LW08-AR, rated at 300Mbit/s.

PCB Reverse
PCB Reverse

Here’s the PCB removed from the casing, there are a pair of PCB antennas on here, but they’re not connected to the RF circuitry in this model, the links are missing.

Chipset
Chipset

The chipset used is a Realtek RTL8191SU, there isn’t much more in this device, as it’s all built into the silicon.