Campingcar/RV router and connection ideas

Hello all,

after the vacation period I’m going to look for a campingcar or RV as the Americans call it.

Nothing fancy but my intentions are to make it off-grid.

But, for the ICT part I was thinking off using a Gl-inet router.

Maybe I’m swapping my home GL-AX1800 for a newer model and use the AX-1800 in my CC.

My plans for my CC is:

  1. a VPN connection to my home router

  2. a VPN (PIA) connection for some devices

  3. an external antenna for Wifi /4G/5G to connect to external sources

  4. an external antenna (if necessary) for outdoor use of laptop/tablet

  5. IPTV because I have enough (200GB) in my bundle and I’m not so much a linear watcher. I already found how to connect my ShieldTV to the power supply so that will be my main TV source.

So, I was wondering about your ideas and suggestions.

All ideas and/or suggestions are welcome.

Thank you for your help.

Greetings Tom

This won't be fun since you can only enable 1 client connection at the same time. So either PIA or VPN to your home router.

At least while staying on GL firmware.

In fact, there is the Spirit AX. You don't need an external antenna for connecting outside a RV or caravan. Only a compact van could shield too much. Just place the router near a plastic window.

I am used a Slate AX at home and replaced it with the marble lately.
From on the road I can use the WLAN from the camping site, my data card or the data card of my company or use terhering ... My RV is connected when I need it, to get new maps from komoot.

And sometimes, when traveling with the small car, I just pull my shadow, which is using much less power to get a bridge to a transfer net, also with a VPN tunnel to the marble.

Seldom all router setup don't work, because to less power, to long setup, traveling light by public transportation.
On the go my mobile(s) still can build a VPN to the Marble. Even if I trust my mobile carrier, sometimes I need a service from my home country, which is geo blocking my position.

And when I fail to connect, because the super smart App is using GPS from the phone and cashing, I still can use a ssh/RDP/spice connection to a VM at my home servers DMZ.

But to understand your needs, it would be helpful to know the amount of devices, the expected traffic and the power source. Just the board battery? Much driving (charges the board battery), enough solar power? Or long at one place with land line?

Depending on this different routers could make more or less sense.

Hello @admon, thank you for your reply.
What you're telling me is something I already knew.
When connecting to the home router, I do not need the VPN (PIA) at that time. Just for transferring some files.
Maybe I was not clear enough, I was just asking for ideas and suggestions.

Thank you anyhow.

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@LupusE, thank you for your ideas.
I've searched for the spirit AX router but I'll guess you meant the Spitz AX?

At the moment I have an GL-AX1800 at home and two travelrouters AR750S-EXT and the 300M so I can play around a little.

My idea was indeed, to go off-grid for a longer period so I want to install as much as possible, solar panels and other devices on gaz.

At the moment, I'm the only one who will use the RV and my equipment will be:

  1. 32" TV
  2. Nvidia Shield TV
  3. a few cellular phones
  4. Android car radio with GPS
  5. a few laptops
  6. Android tablet
  7. Flashlight (no, just kidding)
  8. Large harddrive
    No satellitedish

Yes, autocorrect ...

The Puli AX comes even with a powerpack. So you could dismount it from the RV and take it anywhere. But it is a little huge with all the antenna for my bag pack.
I would still go back to the Shadow/Mango for mobile work off the grid. But this one is 2,4 GHz only. Not the best for media streaming.

My RV got a sat dish and TV on board, but I rarely use it.
But I played online Xbox with:
Xbox - LAN cable - Shadow - WLAN - 500Mbit Fiber. Works great.

For this amount of energy, I would say you need 2 board battery around 130Ah each. And if you are using LiPoFe4, the GL-iNet router should be not your issue.
The Spitz AX is consuming 14W max, the Slate Plus will be far below that.

But to come back to your first post, what is PIA? I totally ignored this.

@LupuseE

Private Internet Access, a VPN provider.

The main goal for the router in the RV will be ; access to internet using the VPN gateway.
But my homeserver is always online and I want to be able to switch the external WAN to the home VPN so i can access all my files.

I also don't mind to switch off completely the 'ICT' devices when not using them but the AR750S-EXT boots so slow, I need to replace that device.
Therefor I was hoping to use the GL-AX1800 (home router) in the RV and at home, a new one.

Okay, I don't trust VPN providers. Not because of security, more because all 'interesting' use cases are blocked for known VPN providers.
If you want to reach your home, just activate DDNS, use the AX1800 as WG server, and you have VPN plus access to your LAN.

I see no need for a VPN provider. As admin mentioned before, with GL-i.Net stock you can only use one VPN at a time. For me it is enough.

A note on the VPN Lan and PIA, you could setup VPN cascading on your Lan router and then have the access to your Lan files but also a connection to your VPN provider.

@j2zero Doing that already on my home network.

@lupusE when connecting to a public wifi network it's more secure tu use a VPN (PIA pa) then connecting directly to the open network.

This is absolutely true. I would never use any 'free/public' WiFi on the route, without VPN.

Free includes:

  • cafe/restaurant
  • hotel
  • camping site
  • Airport
  • ...

But I don't need to pay a VPN provider with my own WireGuard server at home. Do I am wondering why do you need 2 VPN.

@lupusE I do not need two VPN's.
I have only one for security purposes as mentioned before.
But, fyi I live in the south of France, all electrical and communication lines ABOVE ground.
One thunderstorm and I have to restart all devices.
So, it is not weird when I can't reach my home using a WG VPN.

Hello, the purchase of an RV or camping-car, is coming closer and closer.

At home (ADSL), I´m using a Flint AX-1800 router at the moment, which is working good.
I was thinking of buying a Slate AX-1800 for my RV so I could connect to my home or other VPN when I'm on the road.
Because soon, they are implementing fibre at my house, I was wondering if I could use the current Flint AX-1800 (12V/1,5A) in my RV and a new Flint2 AX-1800 at home?
So both locations benefit.

I was thinking of using my mobile phone as wireless hotspot and all other devices connected to the wifi side of the router.

Thank you for your thoughts.

The Spitz AX (and later Spitz Plus) are build for a Power Range from 9V to 36V. A RV provides power around 12V to 14V.

If you are using a converter/power cap/buffer, the flint could work well. But the Spitz is build for this.
Th side effects could be from not regular power loss up to dead device at a power spike.

Today I spend 4h to debug my Truma Combi 6 heater. The issue is "an unstable 12V supply". I really doubt it with 120W solar panel, 100Ah LiPoFe battery. But the heater want 'clean 12V'. And this device is dedicated build for RV.
I narrowed it down, when the heater is on and I cut the landline, the powerful Battery spikes to 14V before the BMS regulate to 13,2V.
The same could happen with your Flint.

I recommend to wait for the Spitz Plus, if the Spitz AX is too expensive.

Thank you for your quick and clear reply.
I took a look at the Spitz plus and it has a dual slot for SIM cards.

I want to use my phone as tethering device so I do not need the sim slots.
My first option was to buy a slate AX-1800 router but because they are going to upgrade the ADSL at my house to fibre, I thought to catch two flies at the same time.

Wouldn't a Volt regulator be possible?
I'm going to use one for my 19V NVidia Shield too.

Greetings Tom

I

Yes, this would be possible. But I change my cars often, so I am happy not need to handle an extra device. This is up to you.

Just for quriosity; I have the Same Issue with my Truma combi (error E654h) , did you find a way to Stabilize the 12V ? This is quite tricky I assume.

As this could help for 'clean power' for a router as well, it is still on topic.

In theory you need a filter, that takes all input and passthrough except the spikes. I think the LiPoFe will cause more overshoots, because the BMS works too slow. Under voltage shouldn't be an issue.

Overvoltage: 10A DC 50V Power Filter EMI Module Audio High Frequency Filter Board
Undervoltage: Some kind of Powerbank. Edit: my calculator says a 4700uF electrolytic capacitor should be enough.

But I have not build a solution now.

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