signal strength degradation

[Rajashri]

Hiiii In our industrial product we are using nrf24l01+ on PCB which will be going to fully coat with epoxy material while manufacturing. My question is that , whether this coating material will degrade the signal strength of nrf or not? we are using this device as gas safety for 20 to 30 feet distance apart.

[FormerMember]

Plastic materials will typically not degrade a signal. However, I would recommend you to test the range with and without the coating. If there is a difference in range, it could be that coating changes the impedance of the antenna, and hence, reduces the range.

[Rajashri]

okay, thanks Kristin for your suggestion,but we are not using plastic material,we will use epoxy or PU resin compounding material for encapsulation. I want to ask one more query that if we will place this coated PCB into a box of having small pores for air ventilation, then also signal can pass with same strength or not? Does anybody encounter such type of issue earlier? Kindly suggest best advice...

[FormerMember]

Unfortunately, I'm not a material expert, so I don't know how much those materials will degrade a RF signals. Yes, signals can pass through pores. Therefore, a box with small pores will have less signal degradation than a box without pores.

Metal is the material that blocks/degrades a 2.4 GHz signal the most.