WLAN in my Minivan

[David Prahl]

I'm a high school nerd who has enough money, free time, and "nerd-ness" to want to build a wireless LAN in the back on my '93 Dodge minivan.

The major issues that I've thought of are listed below:

--How to get enough power.
-Will a decent inverter and normal car battery do the trick? I'm thinking maybe two notebooks and one desktop.

--Internet access?
-I could leech bandwidth off other WLANs, but I'd like my own link. Hmm... How to share a GSM connecting with wi-fi...

--Sharing it!
-I'd LOVE to have a bumper sticker with my WLAN information on it. "Wi-Fi Zone" is not a common bumper sticker, you know! :D How would I "share" the bandwidth from other WLANs over my own?

I've seen half a dozen war driving setups on the web, but this would be a permanent, always on, shared WLAN.

[jeremyweisser]

A very naive but noble idea :) Technically impossible

[Janak Parekh]

A very naive but noble idea :) Technically impossible
Why? I have to admit, sharing a GPRS link is crazy performancewise and reliabilitywise, but it can certainly be done. The problem is finding a dedicated router that can dial out to a GPRS cell phone or somesuch. You could always use a laptop, but that's less convenient.

--janak

[jeremyweisser]

A very naive but noble idea :) Technically impossible
Why? I have to admit, sharing a GPRS link is crazy performancewise and reliabilitywise, but it can certainly be done. The problem is finding a dedicated router that can dial out to a GPRS cell phone or somesuch. You could always use a laptop, but that's less convenient.

--janak

Ok fine, yes it is possible but I guess what I meant is that there is no way to set something up, without significant cost, that would provide usable bandwith to other WLAN users. So why waste your time?

[Gremmie]

I'm a high school nerd who has enough money, free time, and "nerd-ness" to want to build a wireless LAN in the back on my '93 Dodge minivan.


Thats why, he has enough money to waste, enough time to waste, and of course, he wants to waste it. :roll:

What you could do as an alternative to a router is building a small computer (doesn't have to be terribly fast) and buy a PCI WiFi card (<$100) and a 5 1/4 PCMCIA (~$100) adapter in which you could put a GPRS cellular card (~$300) with unlimited internet service ($80/mo. [there is a better tmobile option but with caveats]). The PC would act as a router and would emit a WiFi and GPRS signal, effectivly connecting you to the internet. If you wanna get fancy, you can buy a small lcd from earthlcd.com which you can mount for the display and you could make the PC into your car's stereo system.

[David Prahl]

I've got money to burn, but not THAT much! :lol:

What about electricity? Will a normal inverter and car battery work?

[Gremmie]

Do a search on the internet, you'll be able to find products specifically designed for typical power outlets in the car.

[nirav28]

I've got money to burn, but not THAT much! :lol:

What about electricity? Will a normal inverter and car battery work?


Yes, a inverter (100-150 watts) should work just fine. Make sure your cig outlet can handle it. i.e I have a 99 nissan suv. The front cig adaptor can handle a invertor. But the secondary cig adaptor in the rear seats can't handle it. I have some nav software running on my laptop and occasional gprs connection for getting traffic info and It works just fine. I'm even able to keep the laptop/pda/cell phone charged via the usb ports while the laptop is connected to the invertor. Just don't run it when your engine is not running. 8O

I got my invertor at walmart for $40. It works great.

--nirav

[targetdrone]

Yes, a inverter (100-150 watts) should work just fine.

A 180 watt inverter did NOT work for my laptop. It would provide enough power to charge the laptop if I didn't turn the computer on. I returned it and got a 400 watt which works fine.

[DustyLBottoms]

SUPERNERD_DAVE,

Try this link out, it should point you in the right direction.

:D



http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2002/08/01/highway_lan.html

good luck!

[carphead]

SNDave

http://www.sarian.co.uk/products/gprs/welcome.htm

Runs off a 12V Supply.

Most laptops don't need a inverter just a 12V adaptor. Check the makers accessories list.

For the desktop I'd recommend using a Mini-ITX machine because of the low power needs.

This Google link has some usenet postings about running a AP over solar power but has some useful stuff about 12V AP's Google IT! (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=3E9DDDB9.9040302%40corridor.biz&rnum=6&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26q%3DWAP%2B12v)

Good luck if you do and if you do please post some pictures.

Regards,
Daniel

[David Prahl]

:|
Maybe I should not have said that I have money to burn...that unit costs $1,100! 8O

Is there any way to share a connection from a regular digital cell phone? (without BT or a card)