Electrical Wifi in Caravan

[stucati]

I will be installing wireless router and NAS into the van, these will be run off an inverter. From experience can you access the network (to stream movies etc) from the car while in transit.

If so what is the easiest NAS app for the kids ipads to access files.

 

[Crusty181]

I just take my home Dlink router camping, which has HD cloud capability by plugging in a hard drive. The Cruskett likes to play his network games, and i backup my photos onto it wirelessly from the tablet.

Any Android File Manager can log in, and I access the hard drive via wifi using ES3 File Explorer on my Android tablet, and Im pretty confident ill be able to do it on the move from the car. Ill load up a few movies and we should be good to go

My router is 12v anyway, with an 240v adapter at home, so its even simpler for me

 

[Drover]

I use one of these 4G WiFi thingies, can hook up 10 wifi devices and runs on normal phone charger car or 240.....works in the car and can even plug in an antennae for better signal.

 

[boots33]

There is a thread here that may be of some use. We use a "Voyager Air " WiFi hard drive and have found it to be very easy to operate. It has Android and Ipad apps and you can also connect laptops via your web browser. The built in battery allows it to run for several hours before it needs to be charged and it comes with a 12v adaptor as well as 240v. When travelling we usually just put it in the centre console and run it on its own battery, then move it to the van when we are setup and plug it into 12v. There are several other manufacturers also with similar products. these types of devices are perfect for use in vans and will use a lot less power than a NAS /router setup running through an inverter.

 

[stucati]

Sorry i should have been clearer, has anyone tried connecting to the caravan router (wifi network) whilst in motion. Can the connection be maintained whilst in transit?

 

[Crusty181]

Sorry i should have been clearer, has anyone tried connecting to the caravan router (wifi network) whilst in motion. Can the connection be maintained whilst in transit?

I understood what your trying to achive. Im at stage 3 of the 4 step process. The tow test is stage 4. I have all the required hardware ... i just need to hitch up the van around for that mobile test. I need to take the van to the dealer as soon as my parts arrive .... ill test it then

I cant see it not working, it all works when stationary and even though its a mighty Navara, im confident not even the Nav can outrun wifi

 

[bigman0510]

It works fine, I have wifi in the car and the van, with a NAS. All works good.
Kids use 8 player app
8player lite by 8soft
https://appsto.re/au/Q531w.i

 

[SkinnyBuddah]

It works fine. Heck using the setup I've got we can have the van router running inside - Have a kid in the car watching the raspberry pi hooked to the DVD player, another inside the van watching a different movie on a r-pi connected to the van TV. Three others with iPads and iPhones and me with my android phone streaming music. All without skipping a beat.

Your mileage may vary depending on how you have yoursetup running. For my setup it had to have the following usability items:

1. No require a jailbroken iDevice to utilise the movies and music
2. Have enough power from a wifi perspective that kids could sit around outside and watch it
3. Provide SMB (Windows Type Sharing) sharing so could be easily utilised by Kodi(XBMC) on many devices
4. Run from 12/5V to keep power requirments to a minimum.

https://jimtech.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/tplink-wr703n-the-caravan-router/

Next step now is to have the router automatically make a duplicate of the main media server here at home whenever its powered up at home. This will mean we take everything away with us for when the weather goes south.

 

[Crusty181]

Hi @James Clark thats sounds great, but I going to need some (read a lot) of dumbing down. You seem to have at the end exactly what I want, but I not understanding the way toward the light. Is there a Caravan WiFi For Dumbies version ???

 

[SkinnyBuddah]

I guess the summarise the steps go

1. Purchase 703N router or 3020 from ebay
2. Change the firmware from the TPLink provided one to OpenWRT
3. Configure OpenWRT to connect to your home wifi so you can install software on it
4. Install the software using the steps I have in the guide
5. Plug in your hard drive to the USB port of the travel router
6. Follow on with the steps. Hopefully you should be able to just copy and paste.

Let me know the part your having trouble with and I'll see if I can't add some more detail. To be quite honest I wrote that blog post and everything else on it as a reminder to myself if i need to do the same thing in future. As it stands have now completed 14 of these setups for the campers at work. The comments are always the same. I pee'd down with rain all weekend and we didn't here a sound from the kids... lol

 

[Bluey]

I guess the summarise the steps go

1. Purchase 703N router or 3020 from ebay
2. Change the firmware from the TPLink provided one to OpenWRT
3. Configure OpenWRT to connect to your home wifi so you can install software on it
4. Install the software using the steps I have in the guide
5. Plug in your hard drive to the USB port of the travel router
6. Follow on with the steps. Hopefully you should be able to just copy and paste.

Let me know the part your having trouble with and I'll see if I can't add some more detail. To be quite honest I wrote that blog post and everything else on it as a reminder to myself if i need to do the same thing in future. As it stands have now completed 14 of these setups for the campers at work. The comments are always the same. I pee'd down with rain all weekend and we didn't here a sound from the kids... lol

wow I could never do this you lost me step 2 but we do need something like this how much to set one up we can easy drive to Ballarat????

 

[Dobbie]

You lost me on step 1....well done Bluey on getting to step 2!

 

[dagree]

Is there a Caravan WiFi For Dumbies version ???

*Try posting a bit more so your post isn't boring*

 

[Dobbie]

Yes.

And I failed it.

 

[bigcol]

I got lost just after step 1 as well................

1. Purchase 703N router or 3020 from ebay

 

[dagree]

I got lost before step1.......

I guess the summarise the steps go

All's good though.... I'll get the 5yo grandson to look into it for me I'll stick to :fish2:
And as long as Mrs Dagree has the wifi internet working I'm a happy chappy :very_drunk:

 

[Dobbie]

I'm now considering a long piece of string after failing the various attempts.

Will also stick with my portable Telstra wifi and it's expensive prepaid scenario.

Might save stress levels in the long term and I can happily admit I failed the tech challenge.

 

[NoWorries]

Telstra do a 2year prepaid plan with 16gb now at $140 or a one year 5gb at $50
this is better than the 1yr 1gb for $100 they used to do.

 

[Dobbie]

Thanks for that!

We've been paying $50 for 5gb and its expired after 2 or 3 months so that's much better.

 

[davemc]

I use my phone for data kids would gooble it up if I let them. Just upgraded to a new plan 16gb a month between Sarah and I to waste shared.
A wifi hard drive in the car although need to work out something better. The drive we have when you plug it into the TV the WIFI goes off.
So your got one or the other when you stop and camping.
Have looked at getting a router and adding a drive to it although then I assume would need to add something to the 12v TV like a WD Live or the like?