WiFi Signal when Arduino is in a Metal Enclosure?

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Hi all,

I’m making a temperature controller for beer brewing. I was going to purchase the Arduino MKR 1010 Wifi so I could use the Blynk app to monitor and control the brewing process. However, the controller enclosure is 16 gauge steel and will probably block the Wifi signal. I wanted to run an antenna from the board to the outside of the box to overcome this issue. But this MKR 1010 has no option for an external antenna to be attached.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a different board that:

  1. has an external antenna attachment option

  2. has a small form factor similar to the MKR 1010

Other ideas are welcome like a separate WiFi module that can connect to an Arduino Pro Mini or something (space is limited in the enclosure).

Note: I was looking at the SparkFun ESP8266 Thing board but its ADC only measures up to 1V and I need to measure an analog input up to 3.3V for a separate voltage divider circuit.

Thanks!

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its ADC only measures up to 1V and I need to measure an analog input up to 3.3V

Not a problem. Just use a voltage divider, say 27K and 10K for a 3.7 to 1 ratio.

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Update: I found a board called the Particle Photon that looks easier to work with so I’m going with that.