Transformers as RVs

This is one more of those units that I'm going to have a tough time justifying. The $500,000+ price tag is bad enough, but the fact that it has 11 rooms on 2 floors seems overkill for my wife and I, even if we dedicate separate rooms to each of our 3 dogs.

On the other hand, having a sundeck and plenty of room for guests could turn our camping into a completely different experience. OK, it's really billed as a hotel, gets around as a semi, and probably wouldn't fit in any RV campground I've ever been in, but how cool is a stainless steel trailer that slides not only horizontally, but vertically as well?

The Mounties are Here

As I've mentioned in a couple previous posts, I have a decent collection of technology within my reach while I'm driving. Short list:

• Lowrance GPS
• Toshiba Satellite laptop running GPS, Outlook, RSS feeds, and podcasts
• AT&T Samsung Blackjack cell phone/IPmodem
• Webcam

My key to being able to handle all this digitroncs is having it all mounted securely at the right location. In order to do that I've installed a collection or RAM Mounts; industrial strength mounting products that let me position nearly every device exactly where it needs to be. And in most case, move them out of the way when necessary.

I have one pedestal mount that bolts under the existing front seat bolts (no drilling necessary) with a swivel/adjustable top. I also have one windshield mount for the GPS unit. The webcam isn't attached to a RAM Mount, but I'll explain that later.

I've used suction mounts before and always had some issue with them. Not usually with the suction part, but with the positioning of the mounted device. I never felt that the grip was solid enough to keep the device exactly where I wanted it. Not so with the RAM system. They use the traditional ball-and-grip method that squeezes the mounting ball between to clamps. But these things are monstrous, and I'm able to tighten them as much as necessary so nothing moves unless I loosen the clamp.

In fact, my laptop mount is held securely in place by a single ball mount. The laptop platform is spring loaded and stretches open to clip the laptop in position. I was able to reposition the 4 side clips where they needed to be in order to allow room for my 3 USB connectors (cell phone, GPS antenna, and webcam).

The rear of the platform is a cable basket that holds my power adapter and a couple other wires. If you look closely at the photos, you'll see there are still way too many wires hanging off the dash, just begging for a better way to route them.

The main mount for the RAM laptop platform has 2 swivels that let me position the unit pretty much anywhere I need. In addition, it telescopes, making it easy to raise above the seat. This would be good for stationary work, which I haven't tried yet.

My vehicle is a Ford E350 XL van, and the mounting system works perfectly. View the specific unit here. The company's website makes it easy to find the model mount you need. This model sells for under $200, but I also have one of the side-mount accessory arms to hold my cell phone.

Great stuff, and way better than a few strips of Velcro holding my laptop to my console.

Boost Your Cell Signal Wherever You Are

Today I'm just South of Portland, Maine in a nice campground about 3 miles from the shore. The campground has cable TV but no WiFi. And the signal for both my AT&T and Verizon cellular connections is mediocre at best. What to do...?

Fortunately I have a device I've been dying to try out. It's the Wi-Ex zBoost. The zBoost is only one of the company's products, and this one is actually intended for use in a home or office where cell signals have a hard time reaching through building walls. So if it will work for a home and concrete/brick walls, my aluminum camper should be a piece of cake.

In fact, performance has absolutely nothing to do with the composition of the walls since the installation process consists of placing an antenna outside, in the location of your best signal, and running a cable (like a TV cable) to a device inside the camper (or house).

I ended up hanging my antenna on the power pole next to the camper and running the cable through the rear door where I plugged it into the booster unit. About as simple as it gets.

I then checked both my cell connections to find that both the Verizon and AT&T were affected... positively. They both read 4-bars, when they previously showed only 2-bars inside the camper. Life is good once again.

I can hardly wait (not totally true... I can easily wait to get home) to try this setup in my office in the basement where I get absolutely NO cellular signal.

Wi-Ex sells a variety of units for different environments. The zBoost sells for $300. They have one specially designed for cars that runs on 12 volts but I opted to try the 110 volt system since it will eventually end up at home. I may need to buy an extra antenna so I can bring it with me when we travel next time. There's no way I'm leaving my cell signal up the the carrier's tower placement again.

Dualing Routing

My current travels have taken me from Western North Carolina to Cape Cod, then to lower Massachusetts. For this first leg of the trip I used two GPS systems.

One reason I'm using dual systems is because I'm trying out a set of mounting systems that attach my handheld GPS to the windshield and my laptop next to my seat. The mounts are provided by Ram Mount and work great, but more about them soon.

I ran my route on my Lowrance iWay 350c self-contained navigator as well as on DeLorme Street Atlas USA 2007 on my laptop. The experience was at times confusing, and at times schizophrenic, but in the end I liked having two systems to rely on because they didn't always agree with each other.

I changed the setup on each from time to time in order to get different perspectives from each. I changed the Lowrance's display from 3D to flat, and from "North Up" to "direction of travel up". It took a bit of getting-used-to, to compare the routings, but in the end it saved me from some U-turns.

There were sections of the routes that didn't agree with each other. That doesn't mean that either was wrong, but it did get confusing at times. Once I selected a course based on one of the systems, the other acquiesced and (usually) matched the current route. But I did find it interesting that even based on the same destination and routing instructions, the systems disagreed so frequently.

I'm off on the next leg of our trip... to Portland, Maine this time. I've been recording the trip with my own version of a dash-mounted webcam, but won't bore you with the 20+ hours of mostly-uninteresting video. But I will show you how I set it up.

Digicam/video/music/and games

I've used a wide variety of digital cameras over the years. Some have been great cameras, some have been great video cams, and some have been pretty poor at whatever they were originally intended to do. Right now I'm using a DXG-589V that's about as much a Swiss Army knife as you can get and still be a camera.

Its main purpose is as a digital camcorder, and it does a decent job recording 5megapix video. But it also takes still images, records voice, and can store MP3 files... becoming a music player. The interesting part is that it does all these things pretty well. The videos are usable, as are the still images. That said, you won't ever mistake the images you take with the 589 for those you took with your Canon or JVC camcorder, or your Nikon digicam.

There are a couple very nice things about the unit that make it well worth its $200 price tag.

- It's small enough to put in a pocket

- It uses SD memory cards that let you easily move your files to your computer

- The 3" display tilts and rotates, and is clear and bright

Unfortunately there is no optical zoom, but there is a 3x digital zoom that I recommend only be used in video mode (you can crop your stills on the computer and get equal or better results).

But the most important part of this cam is that your travel companion can use it to play any of its 20 included games. I think it's a great use of the beautiful 3" display when it isn't being used for taking photos or video. Most of the games are old-style, but I like the version of billiards and a couple of the blaster type games as well.

The DXG-589V won't take the place of my digital SLR, but it's always in my pocket where I can grab a quick shot or video... or chill with a quick game of Final Escape.

Cooling Your Lap

One of the joys of camping, or more specifically camping while working (as opposed to working while camping... there IS a difference) is being able to take my laptop outside in the open; either under the awning, under the trees, or right out in the open. But I've either had to balance my laptop on my legs, or resort to the picnic table, neither of which is really comfortable.

I may have found a solution in the Belkin CushTop, a sloping, padded, ventilated cushion that I can easily put under my laptop and on my legs. It's slanted, so it holds the laptop at a nice angle, and made out of stiff foam making it comfortable. The foam also insulates my legs from the heat of the laptop, which can get pretty uncomfortable at times.

The CushTop sells for $35, and you can store your power cord, mouse, or a very skinny sandwich inside the slot for easy carrying.

Freezer or Fridge?

My camper's fridge has been a freezer since we purchased it over a year ago. You might think having too much cooling would be a good thing, but just try using yogurt or mayonnaise after it's been frozen... and forget veggies.

My pleas to online forums and phone calls to Dometic were no help at all. I followed suggestions about moving the thermistor up or down on the cooling fins, checking the camper for horizontal placement, all to no avail.

Eventually I did replace the thermistor, thinking that it was simply not sending a signal to the cooling system saying ENOUGH!! Still no change.

Along the way I kept thinking there must be a temperature control somewhere on the fridge. But I guess in the great white north of DometicLand there is no differentiation between cold and COLD. So the temperature is set by the electronics on the control board behind the fridge.

Then it dawned on me that the only thing left to test was the controller board itself. I called Dometic customer support (who attempted to be very helpful in fact) who advised me to go to a dealer/service center to have the unit looked at. Since the nearest service was over 100 miles from me and I didn't want to disrupt my camping to wait at a service center I went to a local 'unauthorized' service center and gave them the part number for the control unit that Dometic provided to me.

Surprisingly the service center owner pulled out a unit with the part number on it (he had bought it for a customer that never picked it up) and offered it to me for $150. Since Dometic told me the list price for the part was $120, I was sceptical and took a closer look at the card. It didn't look like the card in my fridge. It was smaller, but sure enough it had the correct Dometic part number on it. I decided to take a closer look at the card in my unit and bring it in to compare.

When I looked at the card in my fridge I saw that it was, in fact, not a Dometic part, but a Dinosaur component (strange, I thought). It even had a "For service and support call..." sticker on it, and so I did call. I also noticed when looking at the card that there was a small dial marked "Cooler" and "Warmer". Wow! Temperature control on a Dometic!

After a very informative call to the service department I was able to order a replacement card for about $110 that included the temperature control. The card arrived 3 days later, and after labeling each connected wire, I was able to replace the old card in about 15 minutes.

I put a cup of water in the fridge and left it overnight to see if it would be magically turned to ice the next morning. It didn't!

If you've been longing to be able to control the temp fo your Dometic fridge, check out RG-elecrtospec.com for your replacement control unit. Service is great and the product makes a simple and effective replacement.

Wireless on the move

Like many of you, I'm on my annual escapade for the Summer months. Right now, we're in Cape Cod enjoying way too much lobster and clam strips. We're in a campground that advertises "Wi-Fi High Speed Internet Access".

To their credit, they have free access in the store area where you can carry your laptop, or even use a computer they have set up for free Internet access. Nice! However access at the sites is definitely not free. It's a subscription service that charges (like most) $10/day or $30/week, etc. Not really all that bad, but not free.

But I came prepared this time. I have a new Panasonic Toughbook CF-74 with me. To me, this is the perfect camping laptop. Toughbooks are... well, tough. They are shock protected and water/sand tolerant. So if you drop the thing in the sand you can brush it off. I haven't tried taking it to the beach to brave the salt water, and probably won't. But I could!

The Toughbook has built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, and Verizon cellular. When I booted up the first time, the WiFi kicked in and found the hotspot. When I saw that it wanted me to pony-up I switched off the WiFi and let the Verison connection take over. How sweet.

The Verizon EV-DO connection is nearly as fast as a normal WiFi link, and at no extra charge. Of course that doesn't mean it's free. Verizon charges about the same monthly rate for unlimited data connections as Sprint and AT&T; $60.

The only issue with cellular services is knowing which service is active in what location. Unfortunately, there is no global service, yet. To combat that issue, I have added a data plan to my AT&T Blackjack phone that can serve as a modem when connected to a laptop. The monthly charge is about the same as the other services, but with the variety of connections I have, I'm pretty sure I can get connected anywhere that's near an interstate or a town.