Installing a Mobile 4G WiFi router and external antenna in a Campervan / RV - Poynting Puck 2
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- Hi all, welcome back to my 2014 Ford Transit Custom campervan conversion.
Any of this useful? Feel free to buy me a beer - www.buymeacoffee.com/nickthegeek
In this video I install a 4G Mobile Internet WiFi router in to my camper.
To do this, I use a Huawei E5577 MiFi device, combined with a Poynting Puck 2 antenna, which I mount on to the roof of the van.
I also install a USB power adapter in the van and run some speed tests showing the results with and without the antenna included.
0:00 - Intro
0:20 - Why install a mobile 4G / LTE wifi router?
1:13 - Equipment used
3:55 - Costings
5:04 - Mounting plans
5:25 - Mounting the Poynting Puck 2 on the roof of the van
6:45 - Internal work, cabling, setting up USB and mounting the E5577
9:23 - Speed tests with and without the antenna
10:47 - Mobile network choice and costs
Links to products used are below
Huawei E5577 was from eBay
Poynting Puck 2 - amzn.to/3jwzZbx *
12v USB Sockets - amzn.to/3t2tRuJ *
SMA to TS9 pigtails - amzn.to/3jwMK6b *
Smarty mobile referral link - i.smarty.co.uk/Y9ouwpp
* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
My aim with this project is to turn my #campervan in to a fully #offgrid #mobileoffice. Doing this would allow me to become a #digitalnomad should I wish. Why work from home when I can work from van?
As always, if you have any questions or comments then please leave them in the comment section.
If any of this helped, then please leave a like.
If you want to see more then feel free to subscribe.
Thanks for watching.
Hi all - what I hadn't noticed at the time was that at 9:34 when the antenna is connected you can see there are three bars of signal. Once the antenna is disconnected you can see at 9:58 there are no bars whatsoever.
Cheers, Nick
I’d be keen to hear what signal you got up in Scotland & Cornwall. I’ve been with Three for a number of years now & I find their signs hit and miss. I haven’t travelled for a while now though.. what have you found?
I've not taken this setup to Scotland and Cornwall yet, unfortunately. Had a few days in Wales (Llanystumdwy) and the signal at the campsite was quite poor - the router was flipping between 3G and Edge(!) frequently - the aerial was doing something though as when I disconnected it I got nothing at all. My mobile (on EE) wasn't doing too well in the campsite either.
Out and about though, in Snowdonia / around Caernarfon it was great signal through the aerial / router set up.
When I get to a few more places I'll update. I've had 3 contracts quite a bit over the years (since the very beginning of 3, actually) and in some places I've had far better signal than other networks. I remember watching the football on an iPad using Sky Go via 3 at a campsite in Dorset while my mates couldn't get any signal whatsoever on their Voda etc. contracts!
I'll update after I've got around a bit more :)
Your router is cat 4 because is you have slower speed.I have E5785 unlocked cat 6 and netgear ac810s cat 11 very good routers.
@@prenosi7496 I have the E5786, a great router, even without an exterior antenna.
Good video. After watching I have got exactly the same set up and I found that if you plug the 2 antenna into the ports or the router and get a speed test then try swapping the 2 antenna around into the opposite ports then I have found it can give a much better performance. I’ve found that the antenna like to be in particular ports for best performance.
Is this true? I shall certainly give it a go 👍
nailed it. I looked around at good value options to get decent mobile internet in the van, but all the solutions were either $500 AU or didn't have an external antenna, or were cheap repeaters which apparently doesn't work for vans. This is a good option!
Puck (omnidirectional) antennas are good for van drivers that are doing a lot of city to city motorway driving. For campers your better off with a directional antenna that you can then set when your on site.
As an engineer with 22 years in the mobile phone industry , I agree with this statement, especially if you're going off grid.....
@@hazpicsphotography1627 what would the recommendations be
And how would you monitor the best signal direction?
@@theshizzle2000 To monitor a signal in in a particular direction, you will need a Yagi . not just an ordinary Yagi, but a log periodic that covers all the cellular frequencies
Nice one, Nick! Would be great to see a multi SIM / bonded cellular setup too.
We get 100gb from BT through EE which includes roaming. £15. I like the Smarty idea of pausing.
I have the puck aerial and have found it to be slower than the internal aerials on my HUAWEI B535. The best speed I found using £3 rabbit ear aerials and stand the box in the plastic window. The Puck is handy to use when driving as I have the Huawei mounted in a cupboard and the slower speeds don’t matter too much.
Do you have a link for these rabbit ear aerials? Ta
Do you know if wifi extender mode uses the external antenna to pick up the wifi network in addition to the 4G signal? Thanks.
I have got one of this with aariel on the top hard wired to the leisure battery I'm trying to fit Wi-Fi cameras but cannot get it to connect to this Wi-Fi does anybody know why I take the cameras back upstairs and have it connected to my TalkTalk and it works
I can't find any sub 200 MiFi with SMA connectors I bought an e577 and it didn't have them on the new model.
Cheers
What would you say is the best mobile WiFi ???
Nice, I have the same antenna but went for a netgear from aliexpress. 9 months later the netgear has bricked itself so I'm looking for a replacement. Do you like this router? Prices have all gone up.
nice vid..thanks !!
I got the puck-2 yesterday but I´m getting worse speeds then with the original antennas får mig TPLINK Archer MR600 4g+ router?!?
Nice video, thanks for making it!
I have been trying to find this model with the connection ports on but the e5577 I was sent didn't have them on. Do you know how to get hold of them. Not on amazon and Huawei don't have a clue
I think the model you are looking for is the Huawei E5577c
Nice and simple video, very helpful, thanks. Is there a video of how you connected / wired up the USB port please? The rest looks straightforward enough, but I wouldn't know where to start to connect the electrics. Is it a case of disconnecting all power and splicing into a lighting wires? Do you need an inline fuse etc? Any info would be helpful. Cheers.
Hi Bob - apologies for not responding sooner. I’m not sure about how you’ve got your electrics so can’t really give accurate advice… but the way I’ve got my setup in the van is that I have a fusebox coming off the leisure battery… I’ve run dedicated wires from that directly to the usb port and used a 7.5amp fuse to keep it safe. I’d not risk splicing in to lighting wires, personally.
When I was learning how to wire my van I found Greg Virgoe a massive source of information - check this video out and it may help… ua-cam.com/video/rVkDPzrA-zw/v-deo.html
@@NicktheGeekUK great, thank you.👍
hi do any settings need to be changed in the router to make it look for an external antenna ?
No, just plug it in and away you go
@@NicktheGeekUK thanks ...
I know I’m going slightly off topic but why isn’t there any insulation in the roof, condensation on them wires equals problems.
It’s a fair point. The front half of the van has insulation. I was running out by the time I got to the back part so there are only a couple of paltry strips. Never got round to adding more. Should do at some point…
Fascinating video! One for the committed digital nomad I think. My own cheapskate solution is to lean my phone up against the window and point the van towards the mast :-D
I like the method to fix your ceiling up with trim clips - have they been secure so far?
Hah - either for the committed digital nomad, or for the IT Geek who can't resist tinkering and adding more tech wherever they can! Was utterly useless in the Langdales last week though. Couldn't get a signal from it (or my mobile, tbf) for love or money!
Trim clips - yeah, work perfectly on the roof lining... not sure what other vans are like, but it's almost as if the Transit Custom is intended for it. They're up, and they ain't coming down without a fight.
WHY PUT IT INSIDE A CUPBOARD? I PUT MY ROUTER SAME AS YOURS OUTSIDE WHEN ITS DRY IR NEXT TO WINDOW WHEN WET
Hi Peter - I wanted it ‘permanently’ fitted in, wired up and hidden which is why it’s in the cupboard. I can leave it in there plugged in and switched on and nobody knows it’s there :)
FIRGOT I BOUGHT 3 SIMS OFF EBAY 24 GIG 30 QUID AND LAST 2 YEARS SO DONT LOSE DATA, OF COURSE ITS FOR OCCASIONAL USE NOT STREAMING
Wrong. Antenna makes zero difference its been proven. Put your mifi near window works perfectly at top speed.
There's way more vids out there that prove external aerials make a huge difference.