old-p

Yep spot on and good advice, as with a lot of things you get what you pay for, yes a single or cheap router will often work but a good one like Dr bobs will work better , but the key is a Good quality aerial, definitely not a cheap one, and yes some that sell for over £150 really do make a massive difference, others are a ripoff so always go for one recommended by someone who uses it and who's opinion you trust.

yep we recently had the pleasure of interacting with the southern tunnel keeper, a complete cockwomble if ever I have met one.

for fan envy I vote for one of these

search online for a boost buck converter,. you can pick them up really cheap online and is exactly what you need, just make sure it can handle at least 2.5 amps at 12v.

looks like they finally managed to crack it . http://www.mercuryracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2557_DieselOB_SS_NC1.pdf

yep that centers your location on the map but it doesn't seem to keep your position centered as you move, I was looking for an option that would always keep your current position centered in the map as you move along the cut rather than having to keep taping the arrow to see where you are on it.

Does anyone know how to keep your location centered on the display with open canal map? i'm obviously missing something simple I hope.

Ok after a lot of trying thing out this weekend, thanks everyone for your ideas, we have found the culprit, namely the the other half was using the nesspresso coffee machine on the inverter and every time it is used it causes the problem. I guess its the extra variable load on the Alternator that causes the drop in engine revs as the heater kicks in and out and the pump is in use, however I would have thought the batteries would have smoothed the load out, but I guess not. Still thanks everyone for their Ideas and at least I now know I don't have water in my tank, the filter is not blocked and I don't have any air leaks. time for a coffee me thinks.

thanks for ideas so far, in answer to your followup questions, 1:- yes the problem happens at random times probably 3-4 times a day. 2:- it seems to happen even if the engine is not in gear and putting it into gear does not seem to make the problem better or worse. 3:-when it starts it lasts for 2-3 mins but keeps going up and down at random during the time it is playing up. I will be going back down the boat on Saturday to try out everyones ideas so any other thoughts welcome.

On our recent trip down the Oxford last week we kept experiencing intermittent problems with our Beta 38, cruising at about 1100 rpm every now and again the revs kept dropping 100-200rpm then back up again then blip up and down etc for a few seconds at a time for a couple of mins then back to normal, then ok for an hour or so and then it repeats. We checked for water etc in fuel filter, problems with something around prop, oil level in gearbox etc but for days we could not figure out the problem. before I say what we think it was does anyone have any Ideas for what caused it?

Thanks everyone for your ideas, in the end we went down and stayed in Oxford just before the Isis lock as recommended then went out onto the Thames down to the kings arms for lunch then back up past dukes cut and spent the night moored next to the meadow just north of Eynsham Lock then back down Dukes cut onto the Oxford then back up the canal through Napton and back to Dunchurch, a round trip of 9 days only interrupted by crew going down with food poisoning for 24hrs, otherwise a good trip enjoyed by all.

Thanks everyone for your ideas and comments, looks like we will be going all the way to Oxford and will be getting the day licence to do the loop on the thames. Thanks

We are thinking of spending 8-10 days going down the South Oxford from Braunston, how far do you think we should be able to get before turning back, and anywhere good to stop or avoid?

On the safety sheet for drinking water it says use 10ml Elsil per 100l of water, leave for 30 mins before using, then it remains active for 10 days.

the great thing about using hydrogen peroxide to clean out your boats drinking water system is that when it oxidises in 2-3 hours it breaks down into water and oxygen so it completely safe and does not even need flushing out, its still advisable to flush it out to get rid of the stuff it has cleaned out but not to get rid of the hydrogen peroxide. In addition to cleaning the system out it is also good to use to make fresh potable water last longer when you fill the water tank up and also to refresh water that has been in the tank for a few weeks. This is what is done on the majority of passenger airplanes to treat the water in their water tanks as you cant guarantee the quality of the water you get in some remote airports. It is also used in kidney dialysis units to remove biofilm from the water pipes in their machines, so if its safe and good enough for airplanes and hospitals its good enough for my boats water system. As with all things its important to dose it correctly so I would recommend you use a product designed for this type of thing, I use Elsil which I simply add to the tank after filling it up, it leaves no odour and is good to drink. here is a link to the manufactures information on the product http://www.skykem.co.uk/elsil-purifier you can buy it in smaller bottles for use in boats and motorhomes etc.

yep I agree I was sceptical so I asked and they pointed me at this press release and said to read the notes to editors at the bottom. http://www.virginmedia.com/corporate/media-centre/press-releases/virgin-mobile-launches-the-uks-first-truly-unlimited-mobile-plan.html also Gizmodo seem to think its true http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2018/02/virgin-mobile-is-launching-an-unlimited-data-plan-with-zero-limits-even-for-tethering/ I think the catch is you have to already have virgin broadband connection to qualify for the tariff which is probably to stop people using it as a home broadband replacement.

yep here it is, just ordered one for myself , under virgin TV and broadband customer exclusive. http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/sim-only/pay-monthly-sim.html

a great deal is available for existing virgin broadband customers . virgin are offering a 4g virgin media unlimited data tariff , inc teathering with no caps or restrictions for £25 per month. sorry if this is seen as an advert so admin please delete if you feel it violates rules.

one thing i forgot to say is when choosing an external aerial and router make sure they support all uk 4g/lte bands i.e 800mhz to 2600mhz as well as the router supporting LTE-A to make sure you have the best chance to get maximum data rate available.

Ok let me start by saying that if you dont have a good signal you will never get the service that you are looking for, but most people should be able to get a good solution if it is designed and installed correctly. Start by looking at the coverage maps for mobile networks for their 4G networks, if it says that you should get good indoor 4G coverage then you will be ok, even if it says good outdoors coverage there are things you can do to make sure you get a good connection.. Now to the bit I will guess will cause some comments. If you want a business grade service a consumer MIFI type device will not provide you with the type of service you are looking for, well not one that I would bet my business on anyway. firstly you need a good external aerial, my recommendation is a good quality omni directional aerial, again people will start to say a directional yagi etc etc will be better and there is something in what they say but also with LTE ( 4G) it can also make things much worse so on average a good omini will work better more often. Also you need two of them and its best to place then a few feet apart, again you can buy great aerials which actually have two seperate aerials in one housing and they have two cables coming out of them ( I use one of this type and mine also has 2 wifi and a GPS aerial in it as well so 5 cables coming out and mine works ok). Next you need a good LTE ( 4G) router and here you definitely get what you pay for, go for one that is designed to work in vehicle and run on 12v and it should work well. If you want a belt and braces solution go for a router that supports two sims, then you run on two seperate networks which gives you better odds of having a good signal. my preference based on network coverage and performance is EE and Vodafone. Then you have the choice to connect an internal WIFI device in the boat to extend your data connection or use a wired connection, wired is always better. now there are mobile solutions that are used by coaches to provide WIFI streaming to its passengers, also the police use systems that then use their patrol car to act as a local data point that the on foot offices connect through to provide a performant and secure connection for personal video and data . So what would this cost, well I doubt you could set up a system for much less than £800- £1000. and such a system is not for the average narrow boat user but if you are running a business then its a different matter. As to how good could this be, I have installed similar systems in high street retailers to run all their in store systems on and they are stable and work great, there are however some locations where it wont work and we have to put in a land line but that is less than 5% of locations and getting less every month. As to router manufacturers the main commercial grade ones I have seen that work well are peplink and cradlepoint or Sierra Wireless who between them have most of this market and antennas two makes I have had good results with are Panorama Antennas and Mobile mark. I have no connection to these companies other than as a satisfied customer so I would advise that you speak to on of them or similar specialists in commercial mobile data solutions. Wireless Connectivity, Westbase and Aquamare Marine. Personally I have set up that allows me to work from the boat and I use webex conferences, stream video and transfer files as good as if I was in my home office, I also use Now tv and Netflix for streaming video, occasionally it buffers but not enough to be annoying and my clients are amazed when I say I am working from my narrowboat. you absolutely get what you pay for but make sure you pay for good advice as that is the best money you will spend.

I want to check out that the settings on a Dakar combi are set correctly , I have the manual for the CSCP which shows the setup options but it dosen't say what they are or how to set them, specifically I am after understanding "return amps" and " average time consump." and how to set them. Allso does anyone know if you can use AGM batteries with this charger and if so how do I change the settings? Thanks in advance. Mark.

after Lurking for a while I thought I would make my first post on a subject close to my heart. I have been reading with interest the threads on mobile internet connection on Narrowboats, I have to declare an interest here as I work in the mobile industry so I probably have some bias here and there regarding networks ;-) . The problem I needed to solve was to be able to set up a reliable system that would allow me to work from “home” from our narrowboat, this means I needed to put a reliable system in place that has the best chance of working and not necessary the cheapest solution. After a lot of research and speaking to some of our technical design engineers who design mobile data solutions for emergency services they came up with a spec that seemed to me to be worth trying. My other requirement was that I would like to connect to static wifi services if available and then if that connection is not present to replace it with a 4g LTE connection and only is that is not available to switch to 3G . I then wanted the WAN connection to be repeated via a separate single wifi access point inside the boat to which our devices could then connect. The solution I settled on was an external mounted antenna on the roof which contains 5 separate internal antenna’s 2 MIMO for 4G/LTE/3G, two MIMO for WIFI and a single GPS aerial. This was then connected to a 12v router in the boat. And the router also had a separate 12v powered access point connected to it ( I needed 2 AP’s so I can separate the WAN connection from the Lan connection and therefore improve performance) The router had the capability for 2 separate SIMS so I went for a three sim as my main sim ( as the data plan is much cheaper) followed by an EE sim which I think gives the best overall coverage on the network ( but I am biased here, see disclaimer above). I then have 2-3 public and marina WIFI services that I subscribe to. For the roof mounted antenna its really important to make sure your aerial supports the frequency bands for the mobile operator you chose, make sure you check as a lot of the antenna don’t support all the UK 4G LTE frequency’s, and will not work so well if its not supported. Also try and find a router that will restart and set up when power is connected and is happy to switch off by having the power removed or switched off, again home 4G routers don’t like this behavior. Now I know that there have been discussions on using directional aerials and not omni directional ones, now whilst this works better for a TV and radio signal it is not necessary better for a wifi or Mobile data solution, trust me on this one but a good omni directional aerial will almost always work better than a directional aerial unless you can see the mobile mast , and if you can see it an omni will be fine J. Now the equipment I installed was as follows:- Antenna was a “MOBILE MARK LTM502 AERIAL WITH 4.5M LEADS” . Router was a “Pepwave max BR1 LTE” Internal access point was a “Pepwave AP One AC mini” My choice was based on the antenna being the best low profile multi antenna I could find in the UK that supports all UK 3G & 4G LTE frequencies, the router I chose because it is used by a lot of police forces to provide exactly this solution, it is also water and vibration resistant and will accept a wide range of supply voltages which removes the need for a separate 12v regulator, the AP choice was simply because the router can configure it so it made the setup and operation easier. You probably haven't heard of Pepwave much in the UK but in the US they are one of the market leaders in mobile Routers. Now I guess the feedback on how it works, well so far I have been running it for 4 months and it is working really well, I have rarely not had a working connection and it happy running all our laptops, tablets and phones etc. an added bonus is that the router also has a built in GPS which it can broadcast on the LAN which means that my laptop running WaterNAV also has a functional GPS inside the boat. So am I happy... yes I’m happy with the solution I have installed, as I said earlier its not the cheapest solution but if you must have a reliable connection then I would recommend you consider this type of setup.