Tag: Technology
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Nerd Post – Controlling Refrigerator Fans with a Microcontroller
No travel on this post. Just nerd stuff. 🙂 We’ve been mucking around with the refrigerator since the campervan was new. Coachmen didn’t vent the fridge properly and issued a service bulletin to correct the venting. My glorious dealer claimed to have fixed the issue. I discovered that not only did the dealer do a…
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Rooftop Solar – Magnetic Mount
A year ago I bought a couple of portable solar panels, thinking that they would be useful for charging the batteries in cases where we camp more than a couple days in one spot. At the time, running the engine didn’t charge the batteries very quickly and running the generator was (and is) far too…
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Managing Data While Traveling
We’re finally back on the road again, this time heading south to find something interesting in Louisiana or thereabouts. Part of our pre-trip activity is to set our devices up to minimize data usage. We’ve always had low limits on our cell phone data plans, so staying online without burning through our plan has been…
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Keeping my Lithium Battery Warm
If you are familiar with lithium batteries (LiFePo4) you know that they are not happy when they are cold. Charging a LifePo4 battery when the battery is below freezing or storing it below -4°F will damage the battery. Some batteries have built-in circuitry that cuts off charging at damaging temperatures and some have built-in heaters.…
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Traveling Technology – Navigation and Mapping
No doubt that modern navigation technology – GPS & mapping apps – have made navigation much easier. Navigation apps however, still have a lots of opportunity for improvement. Here’s my rant take on the current state of smartphone navigation apps. A navigation application usable for long distance travel needs to have a features that are…
Michael Janke 