Thursday, March 22, 2012

Upgrading our RV

In the last few weeks, I have been busy upgrading our 5th wheel. I focused on two areas: Electrical systems and internet connectivity.

First, I installed a 2,000 Watt inverter/charger. An inverter takes the 12V DC from the battery and transforms it into 120V AC, which is necessary to run TV, microwave, computer screen, and various small kitchen appliances. We will need that whenever we are at a campground that does not provide electricity hookups, like in most national parks and forests.

Second, I bought a data plan from Verizon that allows us to connect to the internet whenever a cell phone tower is in the vicinity. Because this is not always the case, especially in the thinly populated western states, I installed a cell phone antenna with an amplifier which greatly enhances range and quality of the cell phone signal. Because many campgrounds and RV parks offer wireless internet (WiFi), I also installed a WiFi antenna and a booster as an alternative gateway to the internet. Both antennas can be raised 6 feet above the roof of the trailer, when we are stationary on a campground or a parking lot.

No comments:

Post a Comment