Possible Portable Power Problems

[niros]

I have been following along with the Hak5 Fon stuff for a while and decided to make a complete package.

The main modifications are 2 neodymium hard drive magnets glued onto the back of the EEEpc screen and the base of the Fon, holding it nice and tight.

The Fon runs:

• OpenWRT

• Jasager v.2.

• Webif

Its in static IP mode so I can use the laptop as the default gateway, this wasn’t working with it set in DHCP mode.

The EEE runs:

• Windows XP (It was backtrack 3 until hamster and ferret)

• Hamster and ferret

• WireShark

• TFTPD

The Fon links to the EEE over Ethernet for data and the power adapter was cut and attached to an old USB cable to give 5v and 500mA

The antenna was bought of eBay for £16, just over $35.

The EEE runs TFTPD as the DHCP server and with the wifi and Ethernet bridged, it pipes through internets from whoever I am connected to.

There are a few problems that I need to address; I was looking for some help on expanding the project.

The problems so far are:

• The Ethernet occasionally drops out, this is most likely just my shoddy use the crimpers and should be easy enough to sort out.

• I am getting poor signal from the Fon, even with the much larger antenna. This may be caused by having less power to throw at the antenna. The USB can provide a maximum of 5V and 500mA the Fons original transformer produced 5V and 2000mA I wonder if it would be possible to cut off another USB cable and directly attach it into to wiring already established. I don’t know if this would create 10V with 1000mA however.

The low signal quality might also be to do with slightly damaged wires leading to the SMA connecter inside the Fon.

In the future I would like to add:

• Messenger sniffing capabilities

• Injection capabilities as simple as Aireplay’s

• UpsidedownTernet

• A little magnet on the antenna and the top of the EEE's screen, to replace the BluTack

Thanks for any help and guidance offered.

[digininja]

Nice rig

[PLuNK]

Doesn't look suspicious what so ever.

[gcninja]

Doesn't look suspicious what so ever.

put it into one of those briefcases, you know that house the laptop perfectly

[niros]

Doesn't look suspicious what so ever.

If I can get some help with the power issues, I will see if I can embed the Fon inside the EEE' case. There seems to be enough room for the board.

[digininja]

At this point wouldn't it be better just to drop a second wireless card in to the eee and just run laptop based tools such as karma?

Having said that, the geek in my likes the idea of having a pc hidden within a pc. If you were going internal then couldn't you just tap the battery directly?

[post_break]

At this point wouldn't it be better just to drop a second wireless card in to the eee and just run laptop based tools such as karma?

Alarm bells were going off in my head when I saw this too. You should really check out airbase-ng. You could do all of this with just an extra wireless adapter instead of a fon.

[niros]

At this point wouldn't it be better just to drop a second wireless card in to the eee and just run laptop based tools such as karma?

Having said that, the geek in my likes the idea of having a pc hidden within a pc. If you were going internal then couldn't you just tap the battery directly?

Thanks for the help digininja I will look into using another wireless card with the EEE. But thats not much of a project (sure its hard, but it's been done to death).

I will keep the Fon external, that way it can be used with any computer with Ethernet and USB. I would still like to get the range issues sorted.

I will try with a dual USB hard drive lead. Just to make sure, that would still only give me 5V and 1000mA. Or would it give 10V?

Thanks again.

[DoDg3]

Hi there,

I had the exact same issues, I hooked up a dual USB lead to power the fon.

The wifi signal increased but it was still unstable and dropped both ethernet and wifi connections.

[digininja]

Thanks for the help digininja I will look into using another wireless card with the EEE. But thats not much of a project (sure its hard, but it's been done to death).

I will keep the Fon external, that way it can be used with any computer with Ethernet and USB. I would still like to get the range issues sorted.

I will try with a dual USB hard drive lead. Just to make sure, that would still only give me 5V and 1000mA. Or would it give 10V?

Thanks again.

Don't quote me on this but I think it just doubles the amps. I have an Alfa wireless card which works with either one or two usb connections, if it needed 10v then it would only work when both were plugged in, with one in it works fine.

From a theory point of view, you are only putting 5v out of each port in parallel so that increases amperage not voltage. If you could get them in series like batteries in a tv remote then you'd be increasing the voltage. I think.

[niros]

I have just taken a multimeter to it, and its is still 5V. I couldn't test the amps because it just turns the eee off as soon as I touch the ground.

Hi there,

I had the exact same issues, I hooked up a dual USB lead to power the fon.

The wifi signal increased but it was still unstable and dropped both ethernet and wifi connections.

It looks like I am either going to be hooking up all 3 USB ports, or ripping it directly from the battery. Any ideas on how to take 5V and 2000mA from the battery without too much impact on the stability of the EEE?

Thanks again for all your help.

[digininja]

You've already pushed my electronics genius as far as it will go. There has to be someone else here who can help.

While they are at it, they can help me with my usb question which is in another thread.

[webjockey]

I was thinking, maybe just have the fon in your pocket and connect to it via its wireless? Would that create a stack error? I dunno, I don't have a fon to play with.

[niros]

I was thinking, maybe just have the fon in your pocket and connect to it via its wireless? Would that create a stack error? I dunno, I don't have a fon to play with.

Wouldn't the Fon still need power. I could use a battery pack, but my aim was to get both running on the same power.

As for connecting to the Fon by wireless and using it for wireless hacking. You might have to create 2 interfaces. And add that interface to the BSSID exclusion zone for Jasager.

[Bitstream]

Hi there,

I had the exact same issues, I hooked up a dual USB lead to power the fon.

The wifi signal increased but it was still unstable and dropped both ethernet and wifi connections.

Are you sure it is a power issue as I have powered mine from the AC outlet and still encounter drops of wifi connections...mainly my connection to the fon from the mitm laptop. Been pissing me off trying to figure out why that link drops for no apparent reason.

[DoDg3]

As for connecting to the Fon by wireless and using it for wireless hacking. You might have to create 2 interfaces. And add that interface to the BSSID exclusion zone for Jasager.

So far this is the only way I can get the internet to share to the clients. Having difficulty setting up a dhcp server for some unknown reason tftpd keeps changing to my main device.

This is my setup that sometimes works!!

Fon - 192.168.0.101 (DHCP) (ESSID - Pineapple)

2nd Wifi - 192.168.0.1 (connects to Pineapple, Pineapple added to Blacklist)

ICS Wifi - 192.168.1.65 (Connected to Internet Gateway)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I would to recreate how Darren's setup during episode 412 but just cannot for life of me get a DHCP server working.

Fon - 192.168.0.101 (DHCP) (ESSID - Pineapple)

2nd Ethernet - 192.168.0.1 (connects directly to FON via ethernet).

ICS Wifi - 192.168.1.65

The DHCP from the ICS is crap, tried TFTPD and do not get any response because im sure it keeps defaulting back to 192.168.1.65.

At the moment it seems the FON is unstable and unusable in field use.

[SoliliquySavira]

Hi there,

I had the exact same issues, I hooked up a dual USB lead to power the fon.

The wifi signal increased but it was still unstable and dropped both ethernet and wifi connections.

Try tying the positive of one to the negative of the other. Just be warned, you're gonna stuff a extra five volts through that usb port when you connect it.

[HacDan]

That would be bad, Especially if hooked to a fon. I seriously doubt a lack of volts is the problem here. Also, I'm guessing that 10 volts to the lil guy wouldn't do him much good.

[niros]

I have simulated the connection, and it doesn't give 10V. It only increases the Amps. To get 10V I would have to connect them in series (instead of parallel)

Thanks for your help though.

[33W@rl0r)]

If I can get some help with the power issues, I will see if I can embed the Fon inside the EEE' case. There seems to be enough room for the board.

I've played around quite a bit with various power options for the FON, so you actually do have some options. Here's my thoughts -

My initial thought it that you will have a significant challenges with moving the FON inside the EEE case due to the heat the FON Chip generates. But, if you somehow manage to put the board in there, and deal with the heat, you'll have access to all of the different voltage sources available, not just USB power.

There should be a module that the battery plugs into with a harness of wires coming off of it. The wires in that harness may actually contain power of a few different voltage levels (as some components may require different voltage levels: system board, hard drives, screen, screen back light, etc...)

I would very carefully measure the voltage levels, and try to trace the wires to determine what power source is going to what system. There might be one you can leverage that is more appropriate than the USB power. You also get lucky and find the "raw" battery output, and find that it's voltage is within the range of input voltages the FON supports. (I'm not sure of the battery voltage is on the EEE.)

Also, internally the FON runs on 3.3V, but it's voltage regulator requires at least 4.2V or so to run (it drops the voltage by about .7V). In a worst case scenario, you can replace the stock voltage reg with a "low dropout" regulator, and power the FON off of the 3.3V that it runs on internally anyway.

I'd start by opening your EEE and investigating what voltage sources are available "under-the hood". As you know, "USB power" has limitations and you may have an easy way to avoid it.

I hope this helps a bit,

33\/\/