I made an AirTag expansion card! This is my first hardware project, and I did it the jankiest way possible.
I wanted the speaker intact and didn’t want to mess with the battery at all, so I just ground down the plastic casing around the AirTag until it fit inside this old expansion card I had lying around:
Yes, they are ugly. I also have to use electrical tape to keep the battery in. The good news is it doesn’t look too bad when in the Framework:
Everything is functional, including the AirTag’s speaker and ultra-wideband. This is a bit shocking given the tag is enclosed in metal. The distance you can use it from is definitely less than a normal AirTag, but it’s still usable. I can find my laptop from 25ft away.
Now, is this a useful project? Sort of, it would help a lot in case of theft. I also don’t need to deal with third-party software for tracking. Also, if my laptop dies, the tag will remain on. Although, the tag can also die.
Is it kind of wasteful? I’m going to use it, but yeah, it does feel kind of wasteful in hindsight. I don’t really know what I’m going to do with the expansion card internals. I really wish I had a 3D printer for making these cards, that would have come in handy.
Now I have three questions:
- Given that the tag is enclosed in a metal body (both the expansion card and laptop), could it affect signal strength for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth?
- The card goes in with some resistance. Is it okay to have a mild amount of pressure in the expansion slot? Is this okay for the AirTag’s button battery?
- Am I going to get flagged by the TSA for having this in my laptop. It looks so janky, omg.
Thank you for witnessing my janky project. If you have any recommendations for how to make it less janky, I will appreciate them very much!