Completely connected T4R

[Jerryrigged]

Goals:
1) wifi Internet access for anyone who sits down in my 4R.
2) Ability to AirPlay music or other audio from any device in 4R.
3) Ability to share terabytes of data, media, music, etc with anyone / any device in vehicle.

Goals MET!

Hardware:
Started with AT&T Unite Pro mobile hotspot. Sharing 10 GB family plan (normally we use ~4.5 between two smartphones and an iPad). $45 up front, then $20/mo.
Apple Airport Express ($99)
Seagate Central 2TB NAS ($129)

Process:
1) get everything working on kitchen table
2) setup mobile hotspot with SSID and password (let's say '4runner' and '12345678' respectively)
3) plug in Airport Express and start up my MacBook Pro.
4) Run the Airport Utility software on Mac to find and configure Airport Express.
5) Configure Airport Express to join existing network, enter EXACT same SSID and password as on the mobile hotspot.

At this point, I connected everything in the truck, and ran an aux cable from the Airport Express to the Aux in on the stereo. I was able to browse the internet on my iphone (proof I'm connecting to the hotspot) AND I was able to AirPlay music to the stereo (proof I was simultaneously connecting to the Airport Express.

Next, I connected the Seagate NAS drive to my home network and copied over a full length HD movie (The Fifth Element). Back out to the truck... I connect the NAS drive to the Airport Express ethernet port.

At this point I download the FREE Seagate software to my iphone and iPad. Take the truck for a ride. I power everything up, make sure I can still browse internet and airplay audio, then run the Seagate app on my phone. It sees the Seagate NAS drive and after a momentary hesitation begins to stream the movie to my iphone! Once it gets going it is flawless!

Center console has 1 AC outlet. I got a small surge protector so I can have 3 or 4 usable outlets. I plug in airport express and Seagate NAS drive... And to use them, have to turn on AC power. AT&T hotspot will reside in glove box, connected to USB port for power.

I've done lots of computer projects - and from what I'd read was expecting lots of problems - but this was one of the most bug-free I've done!

CONs:
1) I need to work on making everything look neat... The wires are kind of a jumble.
2) I'd like to mount the Seagate drive a little better... Not good for a spinning drive to get bounced around too much.
3) heat... During summer it'll get pretty hot in the cab... I plan to not turn power on till air conditioning has cooled the cabin a bit.

Overall very happy with this project... I'll post pics tomorrow.

 

[TOY2G]

Goals:
1) wifi Internet access for anyone who sits down in my 4R.
2) Ability to AirPlay music or other audio from any device in 4R.
3) Ability to share terabytes of data, media, music, etc with anyone / any device in vehicle.

Goals MET!

Hardware:
Started with AT&T Unite Pro mobile hotspot. Sharing 10 GB family plan (normally we use ~4.5 between two smartphones and an iPad). $45 up front, then $20/mo.
Apple Airport Express ($99)
Seagate Central 2TB NAS ($129)

Process:
1) get everything working on kitchen table
2) setup mobile hotspot with SSID and password (let's say '4runner' and '12345678' respectively)
3) plug in Airport Express and start up my MacBook Pro.
4) Run the Airport Utility software on Mac to find and configure Airport Express.
5) Configure Airport Express to join existing network, enter EXACT same SSID and password as on the mobile hotspot.

At this point, I connected everything in the truck, and ran an aux cable from the Airport Express to the Aux in on the stereo. I was able to browse the internet on my iphone (proof I'm connecting to the hotspot) AND I was able to AirPlay music to the stereo (proof I was simultaneously connecting to the Airport Express.

Next, I connected the Seagate NAS drive to my home network and copied over a full length HD movie (The Fifth Element). Back out to the truck... I connect the NAS drive to the Airport Express ethernet port.

At this point I download the FREE Seagate software to my iphone and iPad. Take the truck for a ride. I power everything up, make sure I can still browse internet and airplay audio, then run the Seagate app on my phone. It sees the Seagate NAS drive and after a momentary hesitation begins to stream the movie to my iphone! Once it gets going it is flawless!

Center console has 1 AC outlet. I got a small surge protector so I can have 3 or 4 usable outlets. I plug in airport express and Seagate NAS drive... And to use them, have to turn on AC power. AT&T hotspot will reside in glove box, connected to USB port for power.

I've done lots of computer projects - and from what I'd read was expecting lots of problems - but this was one of the most bug-free I've done!

CONs:
1) I need to work on making everything look neat... The wires are kind of a jumble.
2) I'd like to mount the Seagate drive a little better... Not good for a spinning drive to get bounced around too much.
3) heat... During summer it'll get pretty hot in the cab... I plan to not turn power on till air conditioning has cooled the cabin a bit.

Overall very happy with this project... I'll post pics tomorrow.

Pretty cool man, I have thought about trying this, but I'm afraid I would mess it up. We ended up just throwing an old iPhone 4s in the glove box and use it as a hotspot and mobile media device wirelessly. At first we played with it a lot and my kids used it to watch netflix on their iPads, now I never even remember to connect to the hot spot before we hit the road.

I interested to see how yours all works out.

 

[Stifler]

I just bought 4g devices and called it a day lol

 

[gshadow325]

Samsung S3/S4/S5/N1/N2/N3 or any android device and do wifi hotspot. the they can grab their own content off dropbox or google drive, both free services.

You have Apple. You pay now. You can afford it. <----in broken chinese accent

Most carriers it $10 extra per month to tether. My N2 is rooted and i get free tethering on Tmobile(all you cna eat unlimted plan)

 

[Jerryrigged]

Samsung S3/S4/S5/N1/N2/N3 or any android device and do wifi hotspot. the they can grab their own content off dropbox or google drive, both free services.

You have Apple. You pay now. You can afford it. <----in broken chinese accent

Most carriers it $10 extra per month to tether. My N2 is rooted and i get free tethering on Tmobile(all you cna eat unlimted plan)

Yeah, I was using iPhone 5 as hotspot... But that causes some overheating and a bit more limited. Also, phone hotspot doesn't address my goals 2 & 3. The aux-in audio (from the airport express) is markedly better than Bluetooth! I'm not much of an audiophile, but even I noticed a big difference. I'm no big fan of AT&T, but they don't charge for teathering... If I had a wireless iPad, it would cost just as much as this hotspot.

 

[mace.]

I'm curious to see how the NAS drive handles the repetitive power cycling. Not sure how much of a difference there is designing a product that is meant to remain on all of the time vs one that is always powered up and down.

 

[USMCASA]

if you have android and a grandfathered unlimited account like i do download pdanet+. it allows you to tether for free. verizon hates me. just make sure its compatible with your phone first...

FoxFi Devices

 

[WODWorldWide]

I'm happy to see Seagate NAS being thrown around here. I am a Quality Engineer for Seagate and hope everything works out for you.
[MENTION=77504]mace.[/MENTION] the NAS drive is only meant to be powered on 2,080 hours per year (5x8x52) and not run 8760 hours like a Nearline drive. We do ramp loading and unloading and power cycle testing upwards of 600,000 times and have no problems. It should be fine. Just make sure it's not operating at a higher temperature than rated for (usually 60C) or you'll get slower performance (read after writes) which will cause a higher workload and a faster death.

 

[Antman]

Goals:
1) wifi Internet access for anyone who sits down in my 4R.
2) Ability to AirPlay music or other audio from any device in 4R.
3) Ability to share terabytes of data, media, music, etc with anyone / any device in vehicle.

Goals MET!

Hardware:
Started with AT&T Unite Pro mobile hotspot. Sharing 10 GB family plan (normally we use ~4.5 between two smartphones and an iPad). $45 up front, then $20/mo.
Apple Airport Express ($99)
Seagate Central 2TB NAS ($129)

Process:
1) get everything working on kitchen table
2) setup mobile hotspot with SSID and password (let's say '4runner' and '12345678' respectively)
3) plug in Airport Express and start up my MacBook Pro.
4) Run the Airport Utility software on Mac to find and configure Airport Express.
5) Configure Airport Express to join existing network, enter EXACT same SSID and password as on the mobile hotspot.

At this point, I connected everything in the truck, and ran an aux cable from the Airport Express to the Aux in on the stereo. I was able to browse the internet on my iphone (proof I'm connecting to the hotspot) AND I was able to AirPlay music to the stereo (proof I was simultaneously connecting to the Airport Express.

Next, I connected the Seagate NAS drive to my home network and copied over a full length HD movie (The Fifth Element). Back out to the truck... I connect the NAS drive to the Airport Express ethernet port.

At this point I download the FREE Seagate software to my iphone and iPad. Take the truck for a ride. I power everything up, make sure I can still browse internet and airplay audio, then run the Seagate app on my phone. It sees the Seagate NAS drive and after a momentary hesitation begins to stream the movie to my iphone! Once it gets going it is flawless!

Center console has 1 AC outlet. I got a small surge protector so I can have 3 or 4 usable outlets. I plug in airport express and Seagate NAS drive... And to use them, have to turn on AC power. AT&T hotspot will reside in glove box, connected to USB port for power.

I've done lots of computer projects - and from what I'd read was expecting lots of problems - but this was one of the most bug-free I've done!

CONs:
1) I need to work on making everything look neat... The wires are kind of a jumble.
2) I'd like to mount the Seagate drive a little better... Not good for a spinning drive to get bounced around too much.
3) heat... During summer it'll get pretty hot in the cab... I plan to not turn power on till air conditioning has cooled the cabin a bit.

Overall very happy with this project... I'll post pics tomorrow.

Damn I'm old. Half of this post is written in some unbeknownst to me language...

Understand the end result though- good job!

 

[Jerryrigged]

I'm happy to see Seagate NAS being thrown around here. I am a Quality Engineer for Seagate and hope everything works out for you.

[MENTION=77504]mace.[/MENTION] the NAS drive is only meant to be powered on 2,080 hours per year (5x8x52) and not run 8760 hours like a Nearline drive. We do ramp loading and unloading and power cycle testing upwards of 600,000 times and have no problems. It should be fine. Just make sure it's not operating at a higher temperature than rated for (usually 60C) or you'll get slower performance (read after writes) which will cause a higher workload and a faster death.

Wow... that's good to know! The one downside of the NAS is that copying the video files from my home server to the NAS over ethernet is SLOW (about 7 hours to copy over 7 movies - maybe 30 GB). I've still got about 140 more movies to copy over. I'm thinking of just connecting a separate USB drive to the USB port. It is a USB 3 drive so I can transfer the files faster from my network, but I'm not sure exactly how the NAS views attached drives.

Also, I'm probably not going to power up the NAS for every drive into work. But I do a lot of long weekend trips. Will only power up for extended drives. The rest of the T4R network has no moving parts and can power up every time I start up.

Also, by the way... I only use Seagate drives in my home server. I have a Drobo 5D Thunderbolt array with 3 x 4TB HDDs and a single 2TB drive. Gives me about 9 or 10 TB usable with redundancy. Those drives run 24 x 7 for about the last 6 months. I've also got several Seagate portables around the office.

 

[mace.]

[MENTION=102185]WODWorldWide[/MENTION] Thanks for filling us in. Definitely some interesting info there.
[MENTION=78711]Jerryrigged[/MENTION] That does seem slow. If I move a 8gb file from my mac to my synology and both are connected to a gigabit switch it takes about 4-5 min.

 

[WODWorldWide]

Wow... that's good to know! The one downside of the NAS is that copying the video files from my home server to the NAS over ethernet is SLOW (about 7 hours to copy over 7 movies - maybe 30 GB). I've still got about 140 more movies to copy over. I'm thinking of just connecting a separate USB drive to the USB port. It is a USB 3 drive so I can transfer the files faster from my network, but I'm not sure exactly how the NAS views attached drives.

Also, I'm probably not going to power up the NAS for every drive into work. But I do a lot of long weekend trips. Will only power up for extended drives. The rest of the T4R network has no moving parts and can power up every time I start up.

Also, by the way... I only use Seagate drives in my home server. I have a Drobo 5D Thunderbolt array with 3 x 4TB HDDs and a single 2TB drive. Gives me about 9 or 10 TB usable with redundancy. Those drives run 24 x 7 for about the last 6 months. I've also got several Seagate portables around the office.

Do you have the Constellation ES.3 4TBs? That's a solid drive and I started right when we released that product. That thing is designed to run 24/7 for 5 years +.

For data rates, you are looking at around 175 MB/s sustained. Faster on our 6TB and mission critical stuff. Another cool drive to check out is the Wireless Plus link. Just hooks up to your wireless router and can stream movies anywhere for up to 10 hours. I have one myself that a coworker gave me. I love the thing.

 

[Jerryrigged]

Do you have the Constellation ES.3 4TBs? That's a solid drive and I started right when we released that product. That thing is designed to run 24/7 for 5 years +.

The 4TB drives in my home server are the basic retail (non-constellation) versions... They're the ST4000DM000 (that might be the bare drive part #?). I have redundancy, nightly local backups and rotating off-site backups... So didn't pay the extra for enterprise class drives.

 

[rick.deckard]

Goals:
1) wifi Internet access for anyone who sits down in my 4R.
2) Ability to AirPlay music or other audio from any device in 4R.
3) Ability to share terabytes of data, media, music, etc with anyone / any device in vehicle.

Goals MET!

Hardware:
Started with AT&T Unite Pro mobile hotspot. Sharing 10 GB family plan (normally we use ~4.5 between two smartphones and an iPad). $45 up front, then $20/mo.
Apple Airport Express ($99)
Seagate Central 2TB NAS ($129)

Process:
1) get everything working on kitchen table
2) setup mobile hotspot with SSID and password (let's say '4runner' and '12345678' respectively)
3) plug in Airport Express and start up my MacBook Pro.
4) Run the Airport Utility software on Mac to find and configure Airport Express.
5) Configure Airport Express to join existing network, enter EXACT same SSID and password as on the mobile hotspot.

At this point, I connected everything in the truck, and ran an aux cable from the Airport Express to the Aux in on the stereo. I was able to browse the internet on my iphone (proof I'm connecting to the hotspot) AND I was able to AirPlay music to the stereo (proof I was simultaneously connecting to the Airport Express.

Next, I connected the Seagate NAS drive to my home network and copied over a full length HD movie (The Fifth Element). Back out to the truck... I connect the NAS drive to the Airport Express ethernet port.

At this point I download the FREE Seagate software to my iphone and iPad. Take the truck for a ride. I power everything up, make sure I can still browse internet and airplay audio, then run the Seagate app on my phone. It sees the Seagate NAS drive and after a momentary hesitation begins to stream the movie to my iphone! Once it gets going it is flawless!

Center console has 1 AC outlet. I got a small surge protector so I can have 3 or 4 usable outlets. I plug in airport express and Seagate NAS drive... And to use them, have to turn on AC power. AT&T hotspot will reside in glove box, connected to USB port for power.

I've done lots of computer projects - and from what I'd read was expecting lots of problems - but this was one of the most bug-free I've done!

CONs:
1) I need to work on making everything look neat... The wires are kind of a jumble.
2) I'd like to mount the Seagate drive a little better... Not good for a spinning drive to get bounced around too much.
3) heat... During summer it'll get pretty hot in the cab... I plan to not turn power on till air conditioning has cooled the cabin a bit.

Overall very happy with this project... I'll post pics tomorrow.

Nice setup. I do the same thing using my phone as a personal hotspot. I've been thinking about doing something similar with an Apple TV and Mac Mini. But first, I'm going to get some solar panels and a Goal Zero generator installed. Looking forward to some pics tomorrow!

 

[SigSense]

Great install, your friends must be grateful for the rolling free WiFi.

 

[Quentin]

Being able to airplay to the 4Runner's radio is nice. That is wayyyyy cleaner than just connecting every phone, tablet, etc to the 4Runner's radio and going through the arduous process of switching devices by stabbing the screen while you try to drive.