For some insane reason, our Airstream came from the factory with a single-stage charger. When connected to shore power (or a generator), the converter provides both 12V DC power to the Airstream, and also charges the house batteries. As a single-stage converter, it has only one mode: charge. This single charge mode is neither fast…
When I mentioned a power upgrade on Instagram, I received plenty of recommendations, and an overwhelming vote of confidence from those convinced I could do the install myself. I had been planning on having a professional installer do the work, and I thought I’d enumerate my reservations about doing a self-install here, for enlightenment, humor,…
The time has come for operation “Airstream Power Upgrade” or APU for short. When we bought our Airstream, we replaced the 5 year old batteries with flooded batteries from Costco. It was cheap, easy and we didn’t want to figure out other options or power configurations. Lately we’ve been spending more time off grid (or boondocking) and…
During our first 6 month round of travel, I managed to keep connected with just a loose Verizon Hotspot, with service through Millinicom. When I say ‘loose’ I literally mean the hotspot was usually sitting on the table. I also had a Wilson SleekV 4G cradle booster, and a tiny magnetic antenna that I could…
I’m using this one: http://3gstore.com/product/3047_3g4g-full-band-outdoor-omni-antenna.html
Well, two of them, as I use one for pulling in external wifi, and the other for the mifi hotspot, either directly or through the booster.ReplyCancel
We have only been at Airstreaming for 18 months, but have been loving it! We just returned from 6 weeks in Florida, and last Srping we spent 7 weeks in the West. Our blog shares pictures and some writing about our travels.
I loved your article on WIFI, and had a question. Does the set up you installed simply strengthen the signal offered by an RV park, or does it connect to the internet without RV park wifi?
Both, and….. neither. The PepWave device creates it’s own Wifi Hotspot, and it can connect to the internet via 3 methods. Most common is via a USB connection to a Verizon Mifi device. Second is a connection to another Wifi Access Point, such as campground wifi. Third is via a Cat5 cable plugged into the device. (We’ve never used this, but it is possible).
so the device doesn’t connect to the internet itself, but can use any of the methods described. Does that make sense?ReplyCancel
OK, I’d love to pick your brain about your internet setup.
We just bought an RV and my wife directed me to your blog. We’re taking off in a month and I plan on working on the road — and next to being able to concentrate in such tight quarters with the kids, my biggest fear is making sure internet and electricity keep humming.
I bought a Wifi Ranger antenna and Go2 router and signed up for the biggest Verizon data plan I could afford (20gb) with a Jetpack myfi hotspot and a Wilson / weboost signal booster.
I don’t know if I’m just throwing money at a problem I don’t understand.
I’ll have a challenge figuring out how to mount and wire it up but now I’m worried about how to power it all. We only have two 6 volt batteries in series and a 10 watt trickle charge solar panel. We also have an Onan 7000 watt generator but can’t run that 8 hours a day.
It is now easy to see how stressful it was to always make sure we stayed at campgrounds with electric hook-ups. “Big Sur? Ummm… maybe we could make it one night?” “That boondocking spot looks awesome, but I don’t think we’d last very long.” Some of the best campgrounds we’ve seen or heard about are…
We just had our solar setup serviced, our charge controller was playing up, and I am surprised by just how much power we’re now getting from our old 100 Watt panel. With regular use, the batteries are almost always at 100% on a sunny day.
Of course we are not full timing, so our power requirements are probably somewhat lower than yours and on a rainy day or in the shade all bets are off.
I’ve been thinking about getting a Honda generator myself to give us even more freedom on where we camp. Like you, I think the combination of solar and a backup generator is probably the sweet spot. ReplyCancel
Replacing the converter is a great idea. I replaced our 7355 with a Powermax Boondocker so our AGM batteries would not get fried by the stock converter.
You may want to look into a Trimetric battery monitor (http://www.bogartengineering.com/products/TriMetric) if you don’t have anything already. It is a great way to watch your battery usage.
Roger
Hi Folks,
I also swapped out the converter and the series 24 batteries with 2 Full River series 27 6volt 220 Amp ADM batteries. They fit in same compartment. You do have to remove the series 24 plastic base holder and the cover to slide them in. Once in re-rivet cover back on. The batteries are great for us, can run furnace all night (lowest 17° outside) and still have 75 to 80% capacity in AM. We use a generator to charge them back up.
Mike
Dual 6 Volts are our most likely upgrade. The upgraded converter did a great job reducing our generator usage, which I do appreciate. Though today, my panels did all the charging!
Please add me to your mailing list.
thanks
[…] Plan for Self Installing Solar Panels Drop-in Multi-State Converter Upgrade Solar Power Install Part I – Panel Mounting Solar Install Part II – Self-Install […]