Category: Motorhome

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Malvern Rally

Big show, lots and lots of Motorhomes, loads of clubs and even bigger general area. We counted 3 venues in the evening, big stages, lots of music and sadly dancing, people dressed for the occasion. Fortunately having the dog we did not have to enter into the spirit of things.

Huge number of stalls laid out in a way to confuse. But everything and everybody there, we spent too much.

We bought:

  • Driveaway awning, Vango Kela
  • Jormax 5m wind break, tried cheap these will last
  • Fiamma tie down kit
  • 2 light chairs, fir the picnic cinema
  • Peg bags

We could have bought:

  • Upholstery
  • Electric bike for Jacqui
  • Satellite dish

 

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Wifi at Malvern

It works, phone tablet and computer 3 poor connections, switch kit on 26 connections available, BT appeared not there previously.

Need to work at how to fix the antenna as the magnetic base is useless on Aluminium or GRP bodywork, suction cups and cable ties.  Settings for the various 3/4G dongles need to be worked out as do the settings for the BT Wifi, but it is difficult to do any when the signals are poor have to wait for next trip.

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Motorhome Wifi 2

Received all the various bits for the extended wifi access this morning, all looked as expected slightly better in fact although the 3 pin power adapter for the R36 was a bit odd, worked fine though.

Connected it all up each component worked but the R36 did not recognise the Alfa AWUS036NHR USB Wifi Network Adapter, upgraded the firmware for the R36 still no joy, so downgraded the R36 firmware to an earlier version (1.2.1.2 for AWUS036NH/NHR/TubeU(N)/UBDo-n series ) that specifically states NHR, rebooted everything suddenly blue power light appears on the Alfa AWUS036NHR and the Site Survey button rather than hanging brings up a big long list of all the Wifi networks within the vicinity.

Stuck the bigger antenna on and the same list appears so not sure whether that works any better but we shall see, when it is put into action this weekend at Malvern.  Seems quite straightforward to use and easy once the correct procedure is known.

 

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Motorhome Wifi

Just purchased a wifi booster/range extender for the MH.  After looking at the offerings from the 2 main providers at the Rallies that we have been to, MotorhomeWifi and WifiOnBoard, decided to risk it and Do It Myself (DIM, hmmm!!).  Nothing wrong with either of the offerings I saw but the prices seemed quite high, a basic system would cost anything from 130 to 160 pounds for just wifi and that included compromises, could be up as high as 350.  Of the 2 options, WifiOnBoard is probably more flexible antennas, 3/4G etc.., but MotorhomeWifi is the easier to use and setup with a much better interface therefore possibly more reliable.

When I looked at what they did and how, basically they had combined the following:

  • decent antenna
  • wifi router
  • wifi network adapter

So, I have just bought from Amazon:

  • Alfa R36 802.11 B, G N, Repeater And Range Extender For Awus036H (56.99)
  • Alfa AWUS036NHR – High-Gain 2000mw 2W 802.11 B/G/N Wireless USB Network Adaptor (20.00)
  • although the AWUS036NHR comes with a 5dBi antenna, I also bought a seperate CSL 12dBi antenna for wifi, comes with a nice long cable and a stand for outside (8.85)
  • Total outlay 85 pounds delivered, could have got it for less than 70 but wanted it asap.

How it Works

The AWUS036NHR via the supplied Antenna picks up the external Wifi connection, this plugs into the Alfa R36 via a USB cable, the Alfa R36 is powered either via 230v or 12v connection.  The Alfa R36 provides a wifi and lan cable connection for my devices in the MH.

In theory this should provide similar functionality to the WifiOnBoard and MotorhomeWifi systems and if necessary allow me to use any 3/4G dongle to replace the AWUS036NHR if wifi is not available and mobile data is.

There are YouTube videos to demonstrate the above setup and driver updates available, so it should be a easy enough.  Will be setting up at home and then testing at Malvern and Cannock.

We shall see?

 

 

 

 

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Motorhome Purchase

Just bought a Motorhome, an Adria Matrix M680SL from Travelworld in Telford.

Very happy with the MH and just about coming to terms with the purchasing experience.

Found Travelworld really irritating to buy from, they failed at every step to keep us informed of progress, never did any of the expected work without prompting and correcting, failed to clean it, failed to provide paperwork, fabricated paperwork, failed to meet pick up dates (twice), changed kit being installed and did not tell us, did not know what was installed in the MH, or how it worked, just chaotic and awful experience buying and picking up the MH.

So we were not hopeful of the after sales after the buying and pickup experience, but they have been excellent!  Really surprising, they have fixed issues and have exceeded my expectations (they did start quite low though).

On whole they seem short staffed, the salespeople (not short of) are an inconvenience, the workshop I think know what they are doing but only if you get their attention and they put the right people on the job, they must be good at what they do as the MH’s they sell are top end vehicles 100k plus, but they hide it well.

My advice is give them a go if they have the right vehicle, but be prepared to wait and double check absolutely everything, even all the paperwork prior to paying anything, make sure everything is written down, and most importantly be prepared to go away and come back as many times as necessary.  I suppose these things are true for all MH purchases, but we still made the mistake of putting ourselves under pressure to accept a vehicle that was not ready.

It has all ended well and we are happy with the vehicle now. But it was a very frustrating experience.

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