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ZTE MF286D permanent UART Mod

shantur

Pro Member
Hi all,

I came across ZTE MF286D idea on this forum and was really helpful.
I ordered MF286D on Ebay for £39.99 which was supposed to be Grade C but was practically unused. The first thing I did was try the Three to Openwrt Framework and router didn't come up neither the ethernet or Wifi and I had to do what I was avoiding.... opening it up and solder UART.

I opened the router and made a permanent UART mod that allows me to connect to UART whenever needed without opening up the router and any hanging wires.

** Images in IMGUR as I am not allowed to upload more than 2**

You would need

1. Female to Female DuPont cables ( https://www.google.com/search?q=dupont+cable )
2. 3 Pin of straight cable header ( https://www.google.com/search?q=straight+pin+header )
3. Usual soldering tools
4. Pliers
5. PC USB to TTL adapter

After the mod you will end up with a clean router like this

IMG_20230413_130742.webp


Steps for Mod
  1. Disassemble the router as per https://openwrt.org/toh/zte/mf286d#opening_the_case
  2. Cut 3 straight pin headers from the row and bend the bottom pins with pliers to make a 90 degree turn
  3. Solder these on the router board on the side where X8 is written like this -
  4. Connect 3 female to female Dupont cables to this header -
  5. While putting the router board back in the case, route the other end of the cables out of external antenna connector hole. There is space to keep some slack straight down of the antenna connector.
  6. You can now test the connections with USB to UART with 115200 8N1 connection to confirm if the connections are alright.
  7. IMG_20230413_130151.webp
  8. Once Happy, assemble the rest of covers and the cable can again be routed via the antenna hole in outer white shell and safely left around the connector. -
  9. The antenna hole can be covered with the original cover and router looks as original.
  10. Whenever UART is needed just open the antenna cover pull the cables and connect to UART directly or via a Male - Female Dupont cable as extension.
  11. Continue hacking the router
 
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