aVANger Build

[featherliteCT1]

I really like those mounts.

[bdosborn]

I really like those mounts.

They're brand new to the market and I jumped all over it when I saw they were coming out. I forgot to mention that they don't require any drilling. I hate drilling holes in vehicles.
Bruce

[bdosborn]

We just got back from a 2K mile trip to Texas and back and I checked the mileage at each fuel up. Did the fairing help any? Well, it depends. Mileage is going to suck if you're going 75mph with the wind blowing, no matter what the fairing is doing. But the fairing did NOT lower the mileage at any speed. If I had to guess I would say the fairing brought the mileage up by maybe 0.5 mpg.

The trip to Texas is the far right dip in the graph and the dip just before was our trip to Quartzite. The dips 3rd from the right was our trip to the Colorado western slope winerys. The lowest mileage (12mpg) was 75mph hellish journey into a very bad Florida headwind.

My verdict? I would still add the fairing if I had to do it all over again, given this hindsight.
Bruce
P.S. 65 mph seems to be the sweet spot for mileage, I got 17.2 on one tank at mostly this speed. Going 75 mph on average costs you an additional 2 mpg.

[featherliteCT1]

Great data! I appreciate your scientific method of mathematizing the data and then plotting that data on a graph.

My mom had no concept of “scientific method”.

If you asked her how many miles per gallon she got with her car, she would say ”Pretty good … I drove three weeks on a tank of gas”.

One day she was proud of the fact that she got a good deal on meat she purchased at the grocery store. When I asked her “What was the price per pound?” She just looked at me with a puzzled look on her face. I followed up with “Well, how do you know you got a good deal?”. She replied ”I just look at the size of the package, feel the weight of the package in my hand, and look at the total cost”. Sheesh!

She was an excellent cook. But she never used a cook book or a timer. One day she was in the living room, while frying some chicken on the kitchen stove for an unspecified period of time. She hopped out of her seat and announced that the chicken was ready to be turned. I asked “How do you know that”? She replied, “I can tell by the smell”.

[bdosborn]

Great data! I appreciate your scientific method of mathematizing the data and then plotting that data on a graph.

My mom had no concept of “scientific method”. <snip>

I do love me a simple graph.
I've found that people who don't have a concept of “scientific method” are usually more creative than I am. My wife's kind of like that so she's in charge of van colors and decorations. She has a much better feel for such stuff than I do...
Bruce

[bdosborn]

I posted this in the general secton but I'm adding it here for completeness:
I received the Starlink Mini yesterday and I have it connected to my account/working.You need to have a Starlink residential or Roam account already to be eligible for the Mini. Data is capped at a puny 50gb/month, with each GB over that costing $1, but its only $30/month for the plan. It only takes a minute or two to come online after you plug it in. and download speeds are pretty respectable at our house this AM:


I tried connecting the supplied power cord directly to 12V and it doesn't work; the cord is too thin and voltage drop is excessive. I made a 12V cigarette adapter plug from a 5' run of 12 AWG wire and it booted right up. FYI, it's a 5.5 x 2.1 mm barrel plug to connect DC power to the terminal.


It fits on the exterior table very nicely but this will only work if the van is parked in the right orientation. It likes to be oriented to the north at our house and the app helps you align it quickly. It gets surprisingly good download speeds, even partially obstructed on the side of the house:


It does make a quiet buzzing noise but I can't hear it when I'm inside the van. Power fluctuates between 15-25W (I haven't tried it yet with the supplied AC adapter connected to the inverter). I've used this much data in a day just messing around doing speed tests and reading the Facebook. The total time on was probably about an hour.


The data plan definitely isn't a good fit for a van lifer but it will probably work for an occasional week or two camping trip, assuming you just check emails/texts and you resist running Speedtests. Streaming videos will break the bank quick! An old laptop messenger case makes a good carrying case. I've got 30 days to make up my mind about keeping it but I probably will. I'm gambling that they'll roll out a new data plan in 6 months or so after the novelty wears off....
Bruce

[featherliteCT1]

Thanks for the informative review of the starlink.

[bdosborn]

Thanks for the informative review of the starlink.

You're welcome!
I had planned on getting a Garmin inReach eventually for far flung locations, which is ~$15/month. I bet the Starlink Mini puts a dent in their sales.
Bruce

[bdosborn]

I put together a secret agent travel kit for the Starlink Mini. Everything fits in the old laptop bag we had stored (hoarded) in the basement. A camera tripod is bunged to the handles:


Here's everything that's inside the bag (XT60 connectors throughout):


Clockwise from the upper left corner and ignoring Dishy in the middle:
1. 10' of #12 awg extension.
2. Cigarette plug with male, center positive, 5.5x2.1mm barrel plug. This plugs directly into the dishy and supplies 12V power. Dishy is sensitive to voltage drop below 12V so I used #12 awg wire. Same goes for the extension cord, 10' is as long as I thought I would try to avoid excessive VD (it worked). I haven't tried it when the house batteries are partially discharged and the system voltage drops. I do have the snow melt feature disabled to avoid any surprise shut downs.
3. Female 5.5x2.1mm barrel plug adapter. This plugs into the Starlink power cable (grey cable on top of the dishy). The Starlink power cable wires are too puny to work directly from 12V, you'll need a voltage booster to get it to work.
4. Dishy pipe mount with a camera tripod rig added.
5. Dishy ground kickstand.
6. DC energy meter.
7. 12V to 24V voltage booster for use with the Starlink power cable. This will be handy if I need a longer cable to get out from under trees. Or I might end up using it if the house battery voltage dips too low for Dishy.
8. Dishy 120V power adapter. I can always turn the inverter on, take the conversion penalty and use this if all my 12V rigs fail.

I used a 12V to 24V adapter because I had one in the old parts pile from an earlier experiment. I'd probably get a 12V to 36V adapter if I was buying one as the Starlink AC adapter outputs 30V DC and Dishy is rated for 12v-48V.


Here's the camera tripod mount, it's a somewhat janky V1.0. But I had the parts laying around in the garage so here we are:


The aftermarket barrel connectors are not weatherproof like the Starlink power cable is so these are fair weather only mods. These kind of things always work great in my driveway so we'll see how they work in actual use. Starlink is supposed to come out with a USB C DC power adapter but who knows how long that will take or if they actually release it.
Bruce
P.S. This would probably need the addition of a Walter PPK to be a true secret agent travel kit but I didn't have one.

[featherliteCT1]

Your posts make me want to buy a starlink set up. If and when I do so, I will be duplicating your set up.

Thanks for taking the time to document what you have done, especially by posting all the photos.

I appreciate it!

PS: You need a 9mm of some kind for personal protection.

[bdosborn]

I gotta say that the Starlink Mini was really an indulgence as I've been very satisfied with the T-Mobile 5G Home internet gateway. BUT, T-Mobile keeps grumbling that they are going to geolock it so it doesn't work away from your home address. We just took it up to our cabin that is 2-1/2 hours away and so far no geolock. I guess it all depends on where you spend your time when camping; the T-Mobile is unlimited data at $45/mo but only works when you have cell reception. The Starlink Mini is $30/mo for 50GB/mo ($50/mo as of Friday) but works everywhere. So I guess I have the best of both worlds for 1/2 the price of the Starlink unlimited mobile data plan ($150/mo). At least till T-Mobile rains on my parade.



Bruce
P.S. Starlink lets you pause the service so you don't have to pay for it in the off season if you don't want to....

[bdosborn]

A recent camping trip with a ton trees showed that the nicest camping spots can have the worst Starlink reception. I recently converted over to Milwaukee tools and got new 5 a-hr batteries. I bought a connector so I can run the Starlink from the battery and place it anywhere there's a view to the open sky. I ran some tests with the dish on the pickup bed cover to see how long the battery would last:




Three hours is the best case scenario, less if you're downloading a lot as the dish power ramps up with usage. The connector I bought has a low voltage disconnect, which is important since the battery BMS doesn't have one. The low voltage disconnect is built into the tools. There are cheaper connectors that don't have a LV disconnect and they will run the battery all the way to zero charge and damage it.
Bruce

[featherliteCT1]

I hope you do not develop the Milwaukee tool addiction.

[bdosborn]

I hope you do not develop the Milwaukee tool addiction.

A cordless drill is good for about one camper build and then the batteries are shot (at least for me). Bosch was okay but I decided to go with the big boy tools this time. Milwaukee is the only brand I ever saw when I was walking through job sites.
Bruce

[bdosborn]

We just made a bulkhead curtain for our van using the an insulated slider door curtain. Jean added curtain rod holes from Joan's Fabric and hemmed them to the correct length. It has a nifty magnetic opening down the middle for easy cab access.






The good:
Cheap at $45 so I doubt you could buy the material to make one for cheaper.
Already quilted so labor saving.
Water resistant (I guess that's good)
The magnetic opening closes very well.

The Bad:
100% petroleum based material so you can't iron it to add pleats.
Doesn't fold down as tidily as the previous blackout curtains we were using.
The insulation is barely 1/8" thick but I guess it would be even harder to stow if it was any thicker.

We haven't tried it in cold weather yet so I don't know if it helps keep the van warmer. We'll be sleeping in the van over Christmas so we'll know soon...
Bruce