Weboost install

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Dennawayne

Howdy,
My wife and I just started living in our 2015 30’ International Signature. I bought the 4gx with omnidirectional exterior antenna, how would you suggest mounting it. I was thinking directly to the top of the trailer or on top of a telescoping pole attached to the bumper. I would take it down when under way.I bought one amplifier for the TV that I would bring into the trailer once at a site and find a place to mount it and use theRV indoor antenna and hook it up to the exterior antenna. When it’s in the truck I use the candy bar and small magnetic exterior antennas.

Hi

It's way more convenient to mount the antenna on the roof of the trailer. One less thing to set up. One less thing to store someplace. The pole approach lets you do a directional antenna. That may be helpful in a few cases. It does add yet another thing to fiddle with getting up and going.

Bob

[larry9000]

Since I have another rooftop project going on, I decided to attach the directional Yagi antenna to the rotatable Weingard TV antenna on my 16' Bambi. I'm using the technique that Rocinante did by strapping an aluminum pole to the Weingard that the Yagi is attached to. When operating, the Yagi will be raised a few feet above the shell of the trailer, and pointed to the nearest cell tower. Unfortunately, the amplifier and desktop antenna will be directly below.

Will it oscillate? Who knows? I decided that even if it doesn't work, the system is still good if I ever get a hot spot card that I can attach an antenna to (without amplifier). And I will always have my current fall back, 20' of antenna cable that I can run to an external directional antenna held in place by a portable bike stand.

It'll be a couple weeks before the project is done, and maybe a couple weeks afterwards when I can do an adequate test on the road. But I will report back how this works.

[billrector]

I see that the unit comes with an AC adapter. Is there a way to power the Weboost using 12V DC?

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by billrector

I see that the unit comes with an AC adapter. Is there a way to power the Weboost using 12V DC?

Your AS's inverter should be able to handle this IMO. What are the watts for each? Of course your batteries will run down faster if the weBoost unit is on all the time. Also what do the weBoost specs say about voltage input from the AC adaptor? Does the mfg. offer a 12-volt cigarette lighter style plug [which your 2017 AS may not have? ]

Could you post a current link for the unit you are considering? We are in the market for one also. Is this the one?

https://www.weboost.com/products/drive-4gx

Have you considered the Drive Sleek?

https://www.weboost.com/products/drive-sleek

Or maybe this small home version with 120v adaptor?

https://www.weboost.com/products/connect-home-4g

Thanks,

Peter

PS -- FYI other threads listed here:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f451/
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f452/

"weBoost" search results: https://www.google.com/search?q=weBo...=airforums.com

[Firedog1]

We had a 12 volt outlet installed to power the weboost so we can use when boondocking and do not need to run house inverter.

[OTRA15]

Our 2014 FC20 has a 12-volt outlet thankfully. Which weBoost unit do you use, plus an outdoor antenna?

Thanks,

Peter

[TheGreatleys]

Originally Posted by billrector

I see that the unit comes with an AC adapter. Is there a way to power the Weboost using 12V DC?

Our weboost came with a hardwire 12V adapter. It converts to 5v DC. Ran the wire to the fuse box. We have the 4g-x RV.

[Rocinante]

Our WeBoost 4Gx came with a 12V adapter, so yes you can get one. I installed a set of three 12V adapters where I wanted to put the WeBoost, in the cabinet above the dinette. Works great.

[billrector]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

Our WeBoost 4Gx came with a 12V adapter, so yes you can get one. I installed a set of three 12V adapters where I wanted to put the WeBoost, in the cabinet above the dinette. Works great.

By 12V adapter, I assume this is plugged into a 120V outlet? We plan to do a lot of boondocking so have little access to AC power. What adapter did you install?

[OTRA15]

I think he is referring to 12-volt outlets, the cigarette lighter style ones, as he said his weBoost came with a 12-volt adaptor/plug, which [from what I have seen] goes into the old-fashioned 12-volt outlets. Similar to this one IMO:

https://www.amazon.com/Wilson-Electr...HY8NN2KFKVDP36

Plugging directly into a 12-volt outlet, thereby eliminating the inverter [12-volt to 120-volt, then back to 12-volt] from the circuit, is more efficient.

In the old days, Airstreams had many 12-volt outlets, as shore power was less commonly available, as were generators. Our old 1985 25' in the 90's had a few:

-- head for 12-volt charging of electric razors
-- galley marine-style kitchen implements like tea kettles and immersion heaters
-- sofa/lounge area for misc. charging and portable radios etc..

Airstream eliminated the 12-volt outlets recently, and the new AS are less useful without them IMO.

"12-volt outlet" search results: https://www.google.com/search?q=12+v...=airforums.com

Cheers,

Peter

[billrector]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

I think he is referring to 12-volt outlets, the cigarette lighter style ones, as he said his weBoost came with a 12-volt plug, which from what I have seen goes into the old-fashioned 12-volt outlets.

Ah....got it! Thanks!

[OTRA15]

Bill you grabbed that quote as I was still editing the earlier comment FYI, so you might want to read the full comment. Which weBoost do you have?

Thanks,

Peter

[billrector]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Bill you grabbed that quote as I was still editing the earlier comment FYI, so you might want to read the full comment. Which weBoost do you have?

Thanks,

Peter

Thanks for the clarification, I had planned to install some of these anyway as our Bose Bluetooth speaker that we use outside can be charged this way. I have not purchased the Weboost yet as I'm still a bit unsure of how to run the wires from the refrigerator vent to the console over my dinette. I assume people only put out the indoor antenna after getting to their location?

I am planning to buy the RV solution from 3gstore.com

[Rocinante]

Yep, that's right. I installed a set of three 12V outlets for cigarette-style plugs, and I power the WeBoost 4GX via a 12V adapter, mentioned above, plugged into one of those sockets.

[DaveP]

I installed the WeBoost Home 4G. I mounted the external antenna on a tri-pod so I can easily aim the antenna at the strongest signal/cell tower and also I can maximize the separation from the internal antenna.

(With all this technology, I wish I could figure out how to orient these pictures... )

[uncle_bob]

Hi

The inverter is a disaster for running something like the WeBoost that pulls a couple of amps off of 12V. One cute place to pick up 12V are the wiring harnesses that lead to the lights in the various storage compartments. You aren't putting enough of a load on them to do anything crazy to the wires or fuse with a WeBoost. Dropping a 1,000W sub-woofer in that way .... not a good idea ....

Bob

[larry9000]

Rocinante, I'm following your system and attaching a directional antenna to my bat wing antenna...tomorrow. It will be an experiment to see if it is too close to the amplifier below. Worse case, it's still a useful antenna if we go the RF modem route.

Quick question if you get this- when you fished the antenna cable to the media cabinet through the light fixture- was that where it stayed? Or did you drill an additional hole in the interior shell? I couldn't see how the light fixture and the antenna cable could both fit through the same hole. Thanks!

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by larry9000

Rocinante, I'm following your system and attaching a directional antenna to my bat wing antenna...tomorrow. It will be an experiment to see if it is too close to the amplifier below. Worse case, it's still a useful antenna if we go the RF modem route.



Quick question if you get this- when you fished the antenna cable to the media cabinet through the light fixture- was that where it stayed? Or did you drill an additional hole in the interior shell? I couldn't see how the light fixture and the antenna cable could both fit through the same hole. Thanks!

I fished the antenna cable into the area behind the radio (in our case it is a Sony). From there, I ran it into the area behind where the DVD player lives so any new holes in the cabinetry would be hidden. Then I used a hole saw as needed to get that cable up on top of the DVD cabinet, and mounted the booster there. Had to take out that DVD cabinet and the divider wall there, and re-install them to do this. Not too difficult, though time-consuming.

[larry9000]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

I fished the antenna cable into the area behind the radio (in our case it is a Sony). From there, I ran it into the area behind where the DVD player lives so any new holes in the cabinetry would be hidden. Then I used a hole saw as needed to get that cable up on top of the DVD cabinet, and mounted the booster there. Had to take out that DVD cabinet and the divider wall there, and re-install them to do this. Not too difficult, though time-consuming.

Thank you. I looked up photos of your trailer model and see what you are saying. What I didn't understand is that your blog said that the cables were fished to a light fixture hole. Why would there be a light fixture hole behind the Sony in a totally enclosed area? Perhaps it was the same size hole, but no lamp.

My Bambi also has a Sony radio in an enclosed area. I once tried to get access behind the Sony by removing the dividing wall, but couldn't unhook the Audio switch plate (with wires attached) to remove the wall. The wires kept the wall from moving much distance, and I couldn't figure out how to unsnap the audio switch plate without potentially breaking something. I got the Sony radio removal tool, and may try removing the radio to gain access, and perhaps being able to snap out the audio switch from behind.

All of this is to gain access to the rest of the cabinet over the dinette, where the cellular booster sits. This is why I was thinking of merely fishing the cable to a light fixture in that part of the cabinet and avoiding the whole "removing the Sony and the wall" thing. I already have 12v power available. When I saw your references to a light fixture hole, I said "aha!". If I find it to difficult to remove the Sony and the wall, I may still do that.

[Rocinante]

I'll try to reduce confusion: I drilled one hole in the external shell above each of the light fixtures in that cabinet. I brought the cable into the space between inner / outer shell fishing them in via the light fixtures, which I replaced after getting the cables where I wanted them to be. Sure, you could drill a separate hole in the inner shell if you wanted to, just above where you plan to install the booster.

Oh, and I did *not* remove the radio. I removed the DVD player and the cabinet into which it was installed. Then I removed the wall between the DVD player and the space where the radio is installed. On this wall there was already a 12V socket. If you have a newer trailer, it might be a USB port. That was relatively easy to remove. It's also a great place to install more 12V sockets, one of which you would use for the booster.