Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: Technology Upgrades for the Rpod

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Technology Upgrades for the Rpod

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Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10424
Printed Date: 16 May 2024 at 4:41pm
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Topic: Technology Upgrades for the Rpod

Posted By: PilotPodder
Subject: Technology Upgrades for the Rpod
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2017 at 3:57pm

I am interested in what others have done upgrading any technology in their Rpods. I put a video together for my top 5 tech helps. If you have any special technology you use, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

https://youtu.be/Py0LezAFEbM - My Top 5 Tech Helps Video

John

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Portage, MI — 2017 RPod 179 - sold / 2017 Toyota Tundra — https://johnmarucci.com/r-pod-video-list/ - My RPod YouTube Videos

Replies:

Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2017 at 7:28pm

Thanks for the well done video John. I am sure many will benefit from your presentation. As for us we don't do much more in our 177 except eat and sleep. Usually out biking or hiking, even on rainy days we will hang out under the R-Dome. We may consider getting an A/C for our 177 in a couple years if we start to do some serious camping in the summer months down south. Right now, in Michigan A/C is something we don't really need and most of our serious camping takes place in spring or fall in the mountains, so the furnace gets a heavy duty workout. Has been for 6 years, still runs like a charm.

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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."

Posted By: PilotPodder
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2017 at 7:51pm

That's good to hear. You also show Michigan up well and I totally agree that no real need to run the A/C much even in the summer up here, especially up where you are! And of course, it's hard to beat our state parks for sure. I have a habit of watching a show before I hit the hay at night, so the iPad and some stored video content works well for anywhere. The gooseneck tech arm to hold my phone is also nice for having a clock to see at night.

All the best from a fellow Michigander!

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Portage, MI — 2017 RPod 179 - sold / 2017 Toyota Tundra — https://johnmarucci.com/r-pod-video-list/ - My RPod YouTube Videos

Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2017 at 8:52pm

A couple weeks ago we camped "down south" at Lakeport S.P. just north of Port Huron. It is a great park, BUT, for those of us who have verizon, no coverage. I was told that Verizon covers Port Huron but where the park is located a local outfit has a monopoly on the internet. Only other options would be satellite like Hughes Net or something similar. So we went cold turkey w/o coverage for a couple days. Living like the way we did in the 80's and before.

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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."

Posted By: podenvy
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2017 at 7:28am

A travel router turns our R-Pod into a wifi streaming hotspot. Handy when you have no signal and inclement weather keeping you inside the pod, plus helps extend a campground wifi to multiple devices when you're limited to one device login.

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2013 FJ Cruiser + 2015 rpod 179 HRE

Posted By: TheBum
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2017 at 12:22pm

We have an Apple TV connected to the HDMI input of a 24" Samsung LED TV. The network on the Apple TV is configured to connect to my phone's mobile hotspot when I turn it on. We have AT&T Wireless and DirecTV Now, which allows us to watch streaming TV without using our allotted data.

Posted By: PilotPodder
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2017 at 6:54pm

Great ideas. Podenvy, do you mind listing the make and model of the travel router you are using? TheBum, how do you limit your bandwidth usage with the AT&T hotspot? I have the same that I have used for work (see my https://youtu.be/zRHush8RiiY - Top 5 Helps when Working from the RPod video on my Youtube channel). I tried to use the hotspot with an Amazon firestick but was burning through my data plan too fast, and I didn't see any way to watch in lesser quality/slower usage.

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Portage, MI — 2017 RPod 179 - sold / 2017 Toyota Tundra — https://johnmarucci.com/r-pod-video-list/ - My RPod YouTube Videos

Posted By: Q7-retired
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2017 at 3:56pm

I just installed a WiFi extender to boost weak campground signals. Only tested at home from 100' away from inside wireless router, but it reproduces the signal at 100% speed.

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Best regards, Jim
2015-RP178
TV 2015 Audi Q7 TDI and 2017 Ford F150
At home in "Our Pod"

Posted By: fwunder
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2017 at 4:39pm

Gear Ties!! ==> http://www.niteize.com/collection/Gear-Tie.asp - http://www.niteize.com/collection/Gear-Tie.asp

https://www.pinterest.com/niteize/how-to-use-a-gear-tie/ - https://www.pinterest.com/niteize/how-to-use-a-gear-tie/

And I love Anderson connectors, water transfer pump and second bathroom for Henry, the camping cat!

Nice job on your videos, John.

fred

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2014 RPod 178 => https://goo.gl/CV446f - MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!

Posted By: TheBum
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2017 at 5:27pm

Originally posted by PilotPodder

TheBum, how do you limit your bandwidth usage with the AT&T hotspot? I have the same that I have used for work (see my https://youtu.be/zRHush8RiiY - Top 5 Helps when Working from the RPod video on my Youtube channel). I tried to use the hotspot with an Amazon firestick but was burning through my data plan too fast, and I didn't see any way to watch in lesser quality/slower usage.

As I said, I'm an AT&T subscriber and use DirecTV Now. With that combination, I don't burn through *any* of my data because of the way AT&T has it set up. AT&T owns DirecTV.

Posted By: fwunder
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2017 at 5:32pm

Originally posted by PilotPodder

I tried to use the hotspot with an Amazon firestick but was burning through my data plan too fast, and I didn't see any way to watch in lesser quality/slower usage.

Can't you use Stream Saver with your hotspot? => http://about.att.com/story/att_introduces_stream_saver.html - http://about.att.com/story/att_introduces_stream_saver.html

Yeah, it will decrease video quality, but save you lots of data.

Nerd alert!!

As a proof of concept I was streaming local network TV and cable channels to my laptop last week. The local TV network and cable channel lineup was New York market. I was in Düsseldorf, Germany. Normally, this would be geo-blocked.

Using https://www.privateinternetaccess.com - PIA VPN (Private Internet Access) and https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/manual-geolocation/jpiefjlgcjmciajdcinaejedejjfjgki?hl=en - Manual Geolocation extension for Chrome I appeared to the streaming service ( https://tv.youtube.com/ - Google Youtube TV ) to be back in the states. It streamed flawlessly. Hard part was getting used to the 6 hour time difference for programming.

*If* you have the bandwidth *and* you want your TV lineup (especially sports) when traveling, https://tv.youtube.com/ - Google Youtube TV is a viable option if it is available in your market. It's all about bandwidth...

fred

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2014 RPod 178 => https://goo.gl/CV446f - MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!

Posted By: podenvy
Date Posted: 06 Aug 2017 at 10:51am

This is how you stream to your devices while in the pod without using any data plan:

1. Get a travel router that allows you to attach and recognizes a USB portable 1TB+ hard drive as a storage device (we use a HooToo Tripmate Elite and corresponding apps). There are many different options for this, and the key is to look for a travel router that has wifi storage apps in either the iOS app store and/or Google app store. The goal is to create a wifi network in the pod, not tether or hotspot from phones.

2. Copy all your movies onto the 1TB+ hard drive. Attach it to the travel router.

3. Have all the devices join the travel router's wifi network. Use the router's storage/fie browser app on devices to access the movies.

Link to HooToo Tripmate Elite: http://a.co/68QJRxP

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2013 FJ Cruiser + 2015 rpod 179 HRE