Hardwiring a Mifi hotspot

Leebroath · May 22, 2017

hey guys

Has anyone on here tried to hardware a mobile Wifi hotspot into their car?

I've just fitted the Blackvue Dashcam and apparently if you connect to a Mifi the car can be fracked anywhere in the world. Pretty good if the car is pinched, it also sends an alert to your phone if the car is bumped which is also a good feature.

Just wondering if it can be done and how easy?

I was thinking there is a fuse box in the boot of the B8 so maybe a way of hardwiring it up to a switch fuse so it goes on and off and remaind on unti the battery is depleted

Steveredman · May 23, 2017

You could do something similar to what I did for my active phone cradle, butcher a cigarette lighter adaptor to usb charger plug and wire it into a 12v feed. Afaik most of these mobile data hotspot devices have a USB charger.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Leebroath · May 24, 2017

I went for the TP-Link M7350 which is being delivered today from Amazon along with a 12gb data SIM from o2, the daughter can use this for her mini iPad which makes her happy, especially now that she can go pokemon hunting with her mum

It will arrive with a micro USB port for the power supply

My only concern now is if I hardwire it to the constant it will drain the car battery, if it's on a switched fuse (on / off ignition) the unit will switch off and back on again but won't power up it will stay in standby thus not emitting a wifi signal

rum4mo · May 24, 2017

I'd think that in "standby" mode, ie when you are not actually using the MiFi to download/upload loads of data, the power usage will be minimal as it just keeps in touch with the local mast. What it will do if you are in a fringe area and the O2 signal is very weak or intermittent, I can't say - but if you want this connectivity 24/7 that is a price you will have to pay. There will be voltage monitoring controllers (relay plus bits) around to prevent you ever coming back to a car that will not start due to its battery condition, really you need to suck it and see and if worried about losing the use of the MiFi and camera over what is for you a typically normal period away from the car - and even resort to having a back-up battery for that purpose only. Maybe even replacing the battery in the camera and the MiFi with a "super capacitor" if you are worried about the losses and possible dangers of having a small cell on charge 24/7.

On the other hand, your typical car usage might allow you to have this 24/7 connectivity with no issues.

RAF_S7 · May 24, 2017

I'm actually doing this mod at the moment.

I've installed the BlackVue 650S-2Ch, and I'm also using the TP-Link M7350 with a "3" 12Gb data only sim for £30, valid for 12 months.

The mifi is always powered on, with wifi connected to the BlackVue, so there is no standby period.

The BlackVue is hard wired using the Power Magic Pro, so as not to flatten the battery during an extended parking period.

Car has built-in wifi, but it powers down once the car is switched off, so useless for continuous cloud services.

I've decided to install an external battery pack - this one here as l've found that the mifi battery lasts for a lot less than the spec 10 hours, so one overnight and it's dead.

The idea is the external battery powers the mifi when the car is switched off, and when the car is running, it's charging the battery pack (which is powering the mifi.) Hopefully it will easily take the mifi on period to days :racer:

j

Leebroath · May 25, 2017

Been working like a treat today, minus the small headache I had when nothing was connecting from the M7350. Couldn't understand what was going on until after a few firmware updates, each the same to overwrite the previous, switching off, scrolling through the internet, to a lot of scratching my head

And all along all I had forgot to do was activate the new 12gb SIM card

DOH ?!?!?

Anyway it's all working fine now, just watch if your watching videos on Blackvue software on computer which is connecting to your Cloud, I watched about half hour and already used 200mb, but then it was only a once off, see how cool it is type thing.

Ok next thing I'm going to try and do is hotwire the Mifi in the boots fuse box,

I've picked a perfect match I think, which has a micro USB on one end and wires on the other end, a sort of battery protector. Although I'm unsure if I can wire up both ends to a constant, I'll go for a constant with one or both? Or one constant and one wire switch

Amazon product

Need to dig into that more, and if going constant I'm pretty sure it hardly uses any battery and we drive the car every day so as to boost the battery back up. If I knew the car was sitting I'd turn the Magic and Mifi off

RAF_S7 · May 25, 2017

You are limited to how much cloud viewing you can do.

If you go to the app menu (left hand side) and click on "Add paid Features" you can see what the limits are.

Leebroath · May 25, 2017

Yes looked at that when I downloaded it a few days ago

You only get 10min with the starter pack and there are other plans

burratha · Jul 7, 2021

RAF_S7 said:
I'm actually doing this mod at the moment.

...I've decided to install an external battery pack - this one here as l've found that the mifi battery lasts for a lot less than the spec 10 hours, so one overnight and it's dead.

The idea is the external battery powers the mifi when the car is switched off, and when the car is running, it's charging the battery pack (which is powering the mifi.) Hopefully it will easily take the mifi on period to days j

did this work at all? I checked the Amazon link you posted, but it doesn't seem to point to a battery pack now.

the only problem I've found with external / booster batteries is that they need you to press a button to begin the charging, rather than trickle-charge like you'd like them to.

RAF_S7 · Jul 7, 2021

Hi Steve,

Looks like the RavPower bank is no longer available, and it doesn't show on their website now either. (The USB ports were always powered)

I ended up going with an alternative solution, but never really found an acceptable long term solution. The USB ports on the car typically power down around 10 minutes after the car engine stops, to save from draining the battery.

What I ended up with was a large external 12v battery pack - which I had to charge plugged into the mains, and then using that whenever I was going to leave the car. This had a standard cig lighter socket attached, and I then plugged in a car USB charger into that, feeding the MiFi unit. Typically gave 3~4 days of MiFi access, but I then found that the dashcam (Blackvue DR650 2Channel) would power down before the MiFi battery ran out.....
The Blackvue was connected to the car battery via one of their Power Magic Pro boxes, which turns off power once it senses below a certain battery voltage - to prevent the battery getting so low it couldn't start the car.

This is the 12v battery I ended up using --> Here and I still use this when I need to - Not that I've parked the car at the airport for over a year.

John.

burratha · Jul 7, 2021

RAF_S7 said:
Hi Steve,

Looks like the RavPower bank is no longer available, and it doesn't show on their website now either. (The USB ports were always powered)

I ended up going with an alternative solution, but never really found an acceptable long term solution. The USB ports on the car typically power down around 10 minutes after the car engine stops, to save from draining the battery.

What I ended up with was a large external 12v battery pack - which I had to charge plugged into the mains, and then using that whenever I was going to leave the car. This had a standard cig lighter socket attached, and I then plugged in a car USB charger into that, feeding the MiFi unit. Typically gave 3~4 days of MiFi access, but I then found that the dashcam (Blackvue DR650 2Channel) would power down before the MiFi battery ran out.....
The Blackvue was connected to the car battery via one of their Power Magic Pro boxes, which turns off power once it senses below a certain battery voltage - to prevent the battery getting so low it couldn't start the car.

This is the 12v battery I ended up using --> Here and I still use this when I need to - Not that I've parked the car at the airport for over a year.

John.

Cheers for that. Looks a fair beast!

I'll keep looking, I think. I have a couple of small 3G Mifi's that are fine, but they only have 1400mah batteries. Ideally, I'd like a charging block to extend that to about 24 hours...

the problem I've found is that the charing ports on the power blocks only activate when a button is pressed on the block - I need something that's constantly powered.

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Hardwiring a Mifi hotspot

Leebroath

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Steveredman

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Leebroath

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rum4mo

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RAF_S7

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Leebroath

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RAF_S7

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Leebroath

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burratha

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RAF_S7

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burratha

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