I would love to be able to connect a router directly to the RVs 12V rail. I think to do this the routers would need to have a broader input voltage range. The spitz I have already runs on 12V but as far as I understand I should not connect it because the voltage in the car can be higher depending on the solar battery charger and other factors.
Other than that:
Nice Idea for a car.
In a RV often the 12V outlet (driving cabin) is off, when motor is stopped. In the back (living room) you have a mix of 230V (EU) and in more modern RVs USB Plugs.
I’ve have had a 12V outlet, but with a smaller socket. I’ve changed it to a double USB (2.4A max).
Maybe we need also differ between ‘own RV’ and ‘rental RV’.
The better solution for a owned RV is a suitable DC/DC converter. I’m waiting for my USB-C Volt-/Amperemeter (and maybe a shunt, direct at the RV battery), before I’ll try this solution.
First post from new member in progress of upgrading my OLD Dovado Tiny AC router for my RV (Caravan actually). After searching intensely, I still have not found a model that fulfill all my wishes. Perhaps this project could be the answer? Except for newer, faster, communication, the Dovado actually fulfill all my wishes. But performance is bad, it has 3G cellular and Wi-Fi 5 (AC). And the manufacturer is no more…
My must-haves for a new RV router:
)Nice to have features:
Please remember that this survey does not fully reflect the broad views of the GL.inet consumers or potential consumers (thousands) but rather those who are members of the forum and have voted (152 at this time). That being said those are some good features to request and interesting results. I’ll add my 2 cents of opinions:
Must have:
Wish list:
Nice, but not needed:
Not needed:
Thanks for the great line of products!
I do see an interesting combination:
Those do not really mix. You have OpenWRT or kali (Kali is also an Operation System). Some of the tool installed by default on kali tools are actually also OpenWRT packages ( aircrack-ng, airmon-ng, reaver to just name some examples).
And some of things that are pretty default for OpenWRT/GL-iNet devices:
I believe pretty much all of GL-iNet’s devices with wifi can connect and repeat wifi networks if you mean that.
Pretty much the default for GL-iNet travel routers to have that. Generally they prefer ethernet, wifi, modem and last tether.
That’s pretty common for OpenWRT. Main issue would be power, so you might need a powered USB-hub depending on the devices you want to connect.
GL-iNet does not have any 4G devices without sim-card slot.
SMA is a good choice, its very common. And easy to find adapters from other types of RF connectors to SMA. TS9… not so much.
I’m currently looking for a solution for my campervan/RV, and im happy to see that this community is already on top of the needs of the RV community. All these great ideas will also cover the marine/boating crowd too!
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned (unless I missed it) is having the option to disable the internal charging circuit if you release a new device that is battery powered. That would allow us to use such a device plugged into external power 24/7 without worrying about frying the internal battery. Also, a device that could handle a wide range voltage would be nice too, like 12v-36v.
I also wanted to stress how important having removable antenna ports would be for both wifi and mobile data. Running wireless communications inside a big metal box like an RV or van really finished the signal, so having the option to mount antennas to the outside is a huge plus.
And lastly, GPS would be a great security addition that would allow us to track our RV in the event it is stolen, or just to map our travels in case of an emergency situation where someone becomes missing.
What kind of GPS features do you as a RV user want specifically? Some of our 4G routers have GPS built-in, and currently we can do mapping as below, but we only provide this GPS function to business clients for further development.
Since we haven’t get the GPS feature consumer ready, we would love to learn more.
Yes, the GPS mapping example you provided is generally what would interest RV, Trucking, and Boating customers. Sure we can currently use our phone GPS with an app like Waze to track our travel, but that doesn’t work very well inside of a metal box, especially out in the countryside where there is no phone reception. And a phone cannot accept an external antenna. It requires using an expensive cell booster like the WeBoost.
Here’s a good example of a product that offers optional GPS, 4G, and WiFi, in a compact MDVR with removable antenna connectors for all 3. It’s a CCTV security camera system that can operate on DC12v-32v.
They’re most commonly used by big rig trucks to monitor their blind spots, provide security for their cargo, and act as a dash cam in case of traffic accidents. People are starting to use these systems for their RV’s more often now.
The GPS allows people to track their routes, similar to the pic you posted. The 4G and WiFi options allow them to connect to the system remotely to monitor their cameras or access stored data and video footage.
The only thing missing that would make this a perfect solution for RV’s is built-in openWRT router features and an ethernet port. Maybe you guys could partner with them and offer a micro router package that would slide into the 2.5” hard drive bay? It could be powered by the pre-existing SATA connector, which I believe can deliver 5v/4.5A.
I plan to order this CCTV security cam system soon, and was going to see how much space was available inside the MDVR case so I could find a router product to fit inside. The Mudi circuit board (without battery) looks like it might.
I had planned to use a Mudi, Spitz v2, or a Slate Plus with Netgear M1) to supply internet access to this system, but still have not decided yet.
Most Truck/RV security cam systems currently available on the market or already in use do not have GPS or 4G built in, so for those vehicles that are already built and cannot be modified, they could use your routers to easily add WiFi and GPS capabilities.
For me, I’ll echo a few points that others have said. Note that this assumes the “normal” GL.iNet features are also present
Able to run off 12v power - but ideally also with it’s own capacitor or similar (like a dashcam) for “clean” shutdowns. Also note that such power can be a bit wobbly.
Phyiscal on/off button. For times you want to save power.
Water/moisture/temperature tolerance
“This would be cool” idea: do a cell phone booster in it too.
Seperate antennas - Use cases there are:
For me, USB-C with PowerDelivery support is very important in such a device.
We will connect it almost anywhere without losses due to converters. I’ve already seen USB-C chargers with a battery and a super capacitor. There really is a solution because it is standardized all over the world. This makes energy saving very important.
Of course, another very important factor is a good antenna that will ensure that the device is useful to us.
The router should have a modem of at least 4G. I am leaning more towards 5G here because of the cost of the solution. On the other hand, it was worth having 5G support because some of its bands offer very good coverage. Here everything is a matter of price.
The device should be based on the current version of OpenWRT.
It should contain at least 2 GbE ports including one POE port. The USB 3 port is useful in the current times.
The size of the device may be slightly larger than the AXT1800. However, it would be good to keep the dimensions a little smaller than the AX1800.
As for the performance of the SoC, it should offer around 100-200 Mbps bandwidth for VPN. Higher bandwidths are not required for convenient use of the Internet on the go.
Wi-Fi AX with a bandwidth of 1800 Mbps is a nice solution because it offers good bandwidth and coverage on 2.4 GHz.
Such a small and cool function will definitely be a USB gadget for Ethernet.
Another nice option will be microSD up to 512GB. This will allow you to make backup copies of the materials you took during the tour.
POE in (feeding itself from POE) or POE out (feeding another device)?
For technical and price reasons, it seems to me that only PoE in.
To support PoE out GL.iNet would need to implement USB-C PD 3.x (EPR) to handle the 48V input using USB Type-C. For this, the device would have to have a power converter.
For now, chargers with USB-C PD 3.x support are very expensive and poorly available.
I’m using a Slate in my RV, with Starlink (via Ethernet) and 4G backup via a USB modem (tethering mode.) The good points about the Slate are:
The bad:
Generally it all works well but for a specialist RV unit I would add:
- 12V power supply - USB power is ok, but there is some extra power loss in the double conversion. POE in would not be any advantage.
When using USB-C with PowerDelivery support, there is no noticeable energy loss.
Try finding a USB-C PD supply that runs from 12V. The only ones I have found are for use in cigarette lighter sockets, which is unsuitable. And in any case it will still have a switch mode converter inside which will have an efficiency of 90-95% at best, similarly a router with USB PD input will have an internal switch mode converter with about the same efficiency, so there is 10-20% loss between the two. If the internal power converter ran directly from 12V (actually 11-14V range required) you would eliminate half that loss.
And if it’s aimed at RVs why even bother with USB power?
For RV use you really want something that looks more like an industrial unit than consumer. The Teltonika routers are worth looking at to see what they offer. I was using an RUT950 before switching to the Slate - the main drawback was no Gigabit ethernet. The RUTX11 has all the features I want - something equivalent minus the GPS and Bluetooth and at a better price point would be ideal IMHO.
There are several reasons:
Product popularity and producer margin. If the product can be more popular and uniform, the final price can be lower. Niche solutions are usually more expensive. Thanks to USB-C, we give the device the ability to go beyond caravans.
Easy power supply from a power bank, super capacitor or ordinary phone charger. This is very useful when you want to conveniently configure the device at home and then insert it in the vehicle. In the event of a power failure in the vehicle and no phone coverage, you will be able to call for help using this device and a regular phone powerbank. Of course, assuming that the GL.iNet device will have a better range than a phone.
Unfortunately, I have not come across information that would agree with the information you presented about energy loss from USB-C PD.
Could you provide a link to information where I could learn about this topic.
I was looking for information on the internet about this topic a moment ago and I managed to find information that for USB-C PD GaN the efficiency is above 95%.
Yes, GaN can increase efficiency, but I have been unable to find any USB GaN power supplies that operate from 12V in the market, and I have been looking, both for this application and for charging other devices like laptops.
I suspect part of the reason is that for 12V operation the supply would need to be a buck-boost converter rather than a simpler buck-only down-converter. And maybe GaN is too new to have filtered through to more niche applications.
One option for the router would be to use USB PD input but add an additional connector to allow direct connection of 12V - it should be easy enough for the internal converter to work from 10V (USB PD) or 12V. I assume you only need 3.3V or less internally so only down conversion is required.
I do however take your point about wider market appeal with USB as a power source, and we are only talking about a marginal difference in efficiency, so it’s not a must-have. SMA antenna connectors would be a much more important feature IMHO.
USB-C PD 3 GaN car chargers exist, below I attach a link to an example of such a review of my favorite website that tests innovative power supplies.
Of the more interesting things, this charger has 65W, is very small and has great energy efficiency. Supports ultra-fast charging with PPS.
Other interesting things are that it can deliver up to 20V from the 14V voltage in the car circuit to the USB-C port using PD.
