Builds 2008 LX Live Camera Car and Overlanding Build. (4 Viewers)

[SharpeCat]

Sux

Blessing in disguise brother, without the swingout hitch receiver it is a pain in the ass to include in the packing/unpacking routine; many nights I just sleep with hatch closed even though I prefer it open to allow the breeze through/help the fan get good air flow.

A small price to pay to help a friend out, and honestly doesn’t bother me. I’m just too excited about being able to move a few things out of the car to make room to care.

Also, another piece of great news, the gentleman I met the other day who invited me to see his collection, donated his old RC car to me!!! He said he just wants it to go to someone who will appreciate it. It was at the end of its life with him, as he has other ones he’d prefer to upkeep. It’s going to get a long second life with me!! Well, third since he originally got it off craigslist.

It needs a little TLC and you will see me working on it on stream soon. This baby is more for dirt roads/pavement (not crawler), and will be used for capturing shots where vehicle is going up to 50 mph!!!!

Cant wait to get it working and then mount the live broadcast equipment on there. Time to look into a longer range hdmi transmitter for this baby!

 

[SharpeCat]

Been trying to fix the leaks for a month after Tiger put a 1.5 inch cut in it (climbing onto bed and digging nails into side) and eventually ran out of glue.

I Wanted to try to fix it myself because REI and Exped has already been really kind to me and have replaced it twice already, and I felt bad about asking them to do it again. After over a month of sleeping on a mat that won’t stay inflated for more than an hour, today I caved in and went and asked for another replacement. Once again, no hassle no questions, and I walked out with a new one after less than 15 mins.

I am working on an Exped sponsorship and will ask them to consider a group buy discount, and even if I don’t get the sponsorship I plan on telling everyone about just how great the service from REI and Exped are. I got it on Black Friday and got over 50% off, and for what I paid I am getting many times my moneys worth due to the great customer service, in addition to it simply being the best air/foam mattress I’ve ever slept on.

Can’t wait to see what I can do with all this space! I have a lot of ideas on how I’m going to build a command center in second and first row.

 

[SharpeCat]

@robmobile73

I’m at Joanns, is the outdoor fabric what you meant? Also, what about this foam?

I like the grey one in last pic lemme know if it’s right material and thickness, all but foam are labeled as “outdoor fabrics”. They don’t know what sunbrella fabric is, at least they don’t call it that here.

whoops forgot pic of pattern I liked, here it is:

 

[SharpeCat]

In case rob doesn’t respond in time, what do you guys think? Fabric and Velcro strips or just go for foam and squeeze it in (it should hold itself in place if I cut it at right size). We are talking about insulating/covering the area around the window AC unit.

So I asked the gentleman next to me For a second opinion, and he suggested foam and Add a layer of reflectix to the outside, I think I will try that!

Good chat boys, good chat.

 

[SharpeCat]

So my parents have hundreds of these in their warehouse, I snuck two out.

Okay, everyone saw me take them, but at least I tried to be inconspicuous. Things are much neater now, and it’s secure enough for now but I do plan on getting more ratchet straps.

@grinchy calls these “Trial Drawers”. This may be more foreshadowing than some of you may realize. Let’s just say I’m very excited for drawers next month!

 

[SharpeCat]

No more leaking megamat = We slept like a baby! Only had to wake up to turn on car for AC so will work on fixing the window mount today. By the way, that Honda belongs to my friends dad, and he let me borrow it so I didn’t have to “rough it” this summer when it comes to AC. We definitely lucked out there, and this allowed me to spend my amazon balance on things to progress the command center/streaming setup, instead of a cheap generator!

Also, the foam I bought to insulate around the window AC is perfect for using to compensate for the 1.5 inch difference between the 2nd and 3rd row, in order to level the bed. It also triples as a day time bed for Tiger. The area under the 2nd row gets very hot due to sitting above exhaust, and this will act as a layer between the heat and Tiger.

 

[robmobile73]

You're making good progress. I've been busy with my BJ73. I saw that honda in your pics and realized that if you want to try a smaller genset with your AC to see if it works they probably have them at ACE hardware equipment rental near you. Those hondas are good, but expensive.

 

[SharpeCat]

You're making good progress. I've been busy with my BJ73. I saw that honda in your pics and realized that if you want to try a smaller genset with your AC to see if it works they probably have them at ACE hardware equipment rental near you. Those hondas are good, but expensive.

I have my live stream running and monitoring temp, everything is good so far! Thanks for the advice @robmobile73 really appreciate it. I uncovered the vents on side, tilted it down outwards, and can feel the difference!

Update: I am chilling outside because my car feels like a walk-in freezer now.

 

[SharpeCat]

Finally made room for my fishing pole.

Also just drove 10 miles with AC attached, moving spots and Didn’t feel like taking it out and plugging it back in at next stop 2 stops. Looked secure the entire way. I took it easy of course and went around corners very slowly.

 

[SharpeCat]

I picked up a plan with a hotspot feature today, so I will be testing the TTL method for bypassing throttle tonight. My prepaid plan has 10 GBs of hotspot data before I get throttled, and I stream at a bit rate of 6000kbps or 6MBs per second. 10 GBs should sustain the stream for about 30 mins so it won’t take me long to test the method. If I/stream disconnects or drop frames significantly after 30 mins, then you know why (and rip the 10GB limit that came with my 60 dollar plan from T Mobile).

Also, tonight will be first night I run the AC And stream setup while unplugged from a building/house, via the generator. The Honda 2200 has a 1 gallon capacity, which is rated to last 8 hours at quarter load. If I am running the stream and AC at same time, then it’s going at a little past half load.

I don’t mind topping off the generator every 4 hours when streaming, but If I want 8 hours of sleep without waking up to top off the generator, I am guessing I need to run the AC in low cool mode and maybe turn it down from “Max Cool”. I needed to do this anyways so I don’t wake up with frostbites. Alternatively, is there a way to externally add to the fuel capacity, like maybe a gas can I can mount upside down to it, and secure/seal it somehow?

It would be nice to top it off once and be good for at least 10 hours, since I am building every component in the stream to be able to run for 10 hours before needing a power bank swap, so it only makes sense that the generator can keep up.

And @robmobile73 I’m glad my friend lent me this 2200 so I didn’t have to rush finding the right generator for me, because the 1000 watt will have to run at full load and thus only last for a couple hours. If I want 8 hours uninterrupted sleep in really hot climate, then I think 2000 is the minimum. I can also confirm the Honda does not need a capacitor, it fired right up even with AC plugged in and on full blast.

Anyways, I just grabbed a gas can from my parents house (they have a bunch), and I’m off to get some gas then find a nice place to fire up the stream, so that I can test the cellular data connection. The moving vehicle stream test will follow in a few days (when Verizon billing cycle resets and I get my 10GB hotspot feature back), if this stream is successful.

I did drive around today with 1 cellular hotspot, and ran speed tests along the way; it’s maintaining a connection good enough in some areas, and need to be bonded with at least 1 more connection in others. That will translate into a choppy stream in the slower area, which will theoretically be fixed when we add the Verizon line to the mix.

Anyways, fingers crossed! If everything works out the way I anticipate, then I can maybe save @BloggerL from having to spend $10000 on hardware and $1000 in monthly fees by going the satellite route! This route only requires unlimited plans with ability to tether, and a 3 dollar monthly fee for the VPN/bonding service from speedify. I am aiming to keep everything under 200 monthly with the goal of being able to sustain speeds good enough for a 1080P broadcast, anywhere where there is cell signal. This will require a few unlimited plans with hotspot feature that are around 50 bucks each, preferably one from each major provider.

 

[SharpeCat]

Why pay 370 plus tax for new on amazon when you can get it Used on eBay for 40! I did check seller feedback first of course, and assuming it works I’m very excited about this buy. I found this searching for long-range wireless headsets, and read very good things about it. I got the last one at this price and they jump up quite a bit from here.

This will improve quality of stream by keeping my volume consistent across all scenes and different cameras. Right now I’m using internal mics from cams so volume fluctuates based on distance from camera.

 

[SharpeCat]

Ran into a few connection issues, but it did not feel like throttling. You can tell that there was connection issues due to the stream being broken down into 7 different parts, which was result of disconnects and reconnects. My guess is it had to do with generator cutting off a couple times, and due to cell signal fluctuating between strong and weak.

I went at least 50 GBs in, and the last bit of the stream after that was near perfect speeds. That’s great news!

I also moved everything to other side so I can access the plug easier, and so I can access everything from awning side. This is better for how I plan on setting up the work area in the back as well, more on that later! I also mounted a 2nd monitor in front without taking up any extra space, so I finally have a way to monitor feed while using main display as a work area!

All in all, today went great and I’m feeling more confident about the driving stream test in a few days!! Will take better pictures tomorrow when I have more light, and will do more test streams using the T Mobile plan.

I did notice that one of my 2 wifi adapters (external one) was throttled, so my guess is the internal one only jumps 1 so needs a TTL of 65, but the external one jumps twice so it needs a TTL of 66. Leaving this here as a reminder to look for a way to individually set the TTL of each Wifi Adapter.

Last speed test before bed. You see 2 connections in Speedify because i have 2 Wifi Adapters, and Speedify can bond many connections from 1 source, as well as bond many connections from many sources and types/bands/carriers. I'm excited to test with more options as i pick up additional hotspots!

 

[SharpeCat]

LCDC is literally around the corner, so I will be doing all the head scratching this week in terms of wrapping up the first phase of the live stream build (front/drivers POV/moving office and figuring out internet connection), and phase 2 will come in august (building office/gaming area in back).

Stay tuned here if you want the long version of my quest for affordable and unlimited internet with reasonable speeds, and skip all this and stay tuned for the short video if you want it in layman terms.

currently 3 routes I can take, or rather 1 route but different phases/different budgets/demands, and I’ll leave the gist of it here:

1. 1 unlimited data through cellular plan with hotspot feature, plug compatible sim into a 4G/LTE router (this will mask hotspot as cellular usage)

pros is I can get up and running with only 1 plan, con is I’m limited to only Verizon’s coverage area (if I had to pick just 1 for the US, Verizon is a step ahead of everyone else for cellular speeds, will be testing this live for everyone to see)

2. multiple plans with hotspot feature and bond them directly to laptop, skip router

Pros is faster speed when bonded, in areas when 1 signal isn’t enough, and just better coverage all around. This is for really remote places when even Verizon isn’t fast enough.

cons here is cost of multiple data plans as well as susceptible to throttling if traffic does not pass through a router that masks hotspot usage first

3. Multiple plans with multiple hotspot routers,

cons is the obvious cost of multiple plans and multiple routers, or 1 router that can accept multiple sims with different bands and carriers

pro is that this is how we get the best chance of having a good connection just about everywhere where even the smallest signals can reach

Keep in mind bonding can not only bond WiFi with cellular, but multiple different connections of each.

In addition, it can connect to one connection multiple times, then merge the signals into 1. Take for example if you only have 1 built-in WiFi adapter connecting to a campground hotspot, and you get 5mb download through that. Then you add a USB external WiFi adapter, and that gets 10 mb from same campground WiFi. Now with bonding, you have 15 mbs total download to work with. Add more adapters for theoretically faster speeds, although there will be diminishing returns with more connections to same network.

Like I said, if you want the short version wait on the videos for YouTube. If you want to join me in some head scratching, then you are welcome to follow along here this week. Things will get very technical but I promise I will go back at the end of everything, and lay it back down in layman terms for everyone. No one needs to know most of the things I am figuring out, and most only need to know the bare essentials to put the internet issue to rest.

I Have very tight budgets and very high demands, and my hopes is that if I find something that works for me, that chances are it will work for just about everyone else. Wish me luck boys, and I’m pretty sure I will be sprouting another gray hair this week from this, but it will be worth it.

As always, any advice is greatly appreciated, and thank you for helping me get here as well. @grinchy I watched the video, and what I gathered is that maybe I should give the ATT plan a try to see if my mileage will be the same, because I have a feeling they will be targeting me hard with the throttling once they realize I am trying to build a live mobile stream (and trying to help others save on internet cost).

I am looking at visible right now as that is the only plan without hotspot data limit, only catch is 5 mb limit on hotspot speed (which is great for bonding since slower data is better than 3g/throttled/basically no data after hotspot limit). Cellular data Speed is good enough as well.

 

[SharpeCat]

phase 1/low budget build. This should provide enough speed and data for vast majority of users. Heavy users like me will need to move onto phase 2 and 3, which is same as 1 but add more sims and routers to accommodate extra sims, then we bond them.

Current dilemma is which router do I want to test first, they range from 100 to 1000.

start small and work my way up like always.

 

[SharpeCat]

So I spent some time looking at routers and realized that there aren’t too many with the built in TTL feature, which is necessary to mask hotspot usage as cellular.

I will keep looking but so far Only the Mofi 4500 Sim models (different models for different carriers) have a built in TTL function.

 

[SharpeCat]

So I returned everything I could live without for the next month to amazon, in exchange for enough credit for this baby. I went with the sim7 from amazon and will try the Sim4 version from ubify that comes with a month of truly unlimited hotspot for same price as amazon units without service, when it comes back in stock in a few weeks.

in addition, I called after placing the order and got a discount/free upgrade to expedited shipping. It will be here sometime between tomorrow and Friday.

Fingers crossed that this will work, and I will let you guys know.

Also, t mobile was not able to detect my hotspot usage, as it shows up on my statement as 11Gbs of cellular data used for the test stream. Because of that they went in and manually throttled both my t mobile and sprint accounts, including the cellular data portion which is supposed to be unlimited with “network management/deprioritization” after 50 gbs. They throttled everything on my t mobile account after 11Gbs of recorded cellular usage and little hotspot usage, and went as far as throttling my Sprint account BEFORE I even bought the plan.

Basically, I had a brand new of their best plan, hadn’t even used it, did some speed tests in store and could not get past 1 mb upload and download. I had the reps around me run a speed test and they all got 20-40 MBs in the same spot I got 1 in, with the same plans.

After 5 visits to different sprint and t mobile stores, 2 tickets created, 4 phone reps and me being very vocal about them breaking their own terms of service, they finally unthrottled the download speed but my upload speed still can’t get past 1mb on sprint (again, new plan barely any data used, with a 100gb hotspot limit that I have barely touched).

I know it sounds crazy, to throttle a new account before it’s even created, by flagging my name/info, but I know a throttle when I see it. First half second of every speed test, the needle skyrockets then immediately drops and settles at exactly .5-.6mb, aka the definition of 2g/3g. This is for cellular data that I am supposed to get “unlimited” of, and 50 gbs before “deprioritization”, not for hotspot data where the terms specifically says “throttled to 3g”. They are literally breaking their own TOS and none of the t mobile reps can figure out why both cellular and hotspot is stuck at 3g speeds. So I basically paid over 70 bucks for 10 gbs and 1 day of usage, and I’m told by their reps that my account is locked/throttled for the remainder of the month. I don’t even get the rest of my cellular data I paid for.

T mobile is literally forcing me to go the bypass route or go with a different carrier; I choose to go with a different carrier and I will be saying goodbye to sprint as well.

Yes I do realize that my shipping address is on there, and I trust that for every person that wants to send me a bomb, that there will be at least 99 more that will Send me a cake instead. I gave up on trying to hide anything a while ago, when I decided to become a streamer.

 

[SharpeCat]

So a recap from earlier - I am very frustrated at T Mobile and Sprint who have obviously manually throttled me, and have began looking at smaller carriers.

I did find a workaround to Sprints super slow upload speeds, especially when in hotspot mode, and it involves getting multiple usb WiFi adapters and connecting to the hotspot multiple times, then bonding the signals into 1. With enough cheap usb WiFi adapters and USB ports, even sprints Slow upload speed can work. Then it’s just a matter of working within the 100GB limits for hotspots (unless you go bypass route).

The combo I am trying this week is visibles unlimited hotspot plan, which operate on Verizon’s towers, and I am using the Mofi 4500 SIM7 as a way to strengthen the signal. The Mofi does have a feature to change TTL built in to disguise tethered (hotspot) data as non tethered, but I will not be using that feature with visible. That feature is for plans with low hotspot limits, which isn’t the case with Visibles “unlimited hotspot” plan.

Next month when Ubifys Mofi routers and data plans are back in stock, I will test the Mofi 4500 SIM4 with ubify’s unlimited hotspot plan.

I think I will only need a total of 2 plans if I am using routers to boost signals, and using plans with unlimited hotspots, whether it be through TTL feature or through “unlimited hotspot” plans.

 

[SharpeCat]

Deleted per marks request.

 

[SharpeCat]

@BloggerL So this test run was done using 1 LTE/4G Router and 1 Visible unlimited hotspot & 1 sprint plan, but trust me when i say the sprint connection did nothing and it was all the visible connection that did the bulk of the work. It's sad that the sprint plan costs more than twice as much... but couldn't even do 1/10th of the work. I left the speedify meters onscreen to show how much the sprint did, or didn't do.

Total cost for this run was $300 for the router, and $25 for first month of visible service. It is 40 per month after first month for unlimited hotspot. The visible plan will expire soon and you will need to get it soon to be grandfathered into the "unlimited hotspot" aspect of the plan.

I plugged the visible sim card into the LTE router, then connected it via ethernet, and then connected via wifi adapter on top and then i bonded the signals. With more cheap usb wifi adapters (7 dollars on amazon), i could boost the signal even more by adding more connections to the visible hotspot and then bonding them with speedify (automated process if speedify is open). Tomorrow i will run it with just the visible connection only to show that it is all you need to get started, then the more cell plans you have the better your chances of getting good signal in remote areas. All i needed was 5 mb upload speed to send out a 1080P broadcast (although i did run it at 720p this time to be safe).

I ran the stream for hours on and off without any real issues with dropped frames (less than 1%). I was surprised at how stable it was even when on the highway, even with essentially 1 cheap cell phone plan doing all the work of keeping the connection strong enough.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions!

 

[BloggerL]

Really interesting stuff. Thank you for sharing this!