The van?

Yes, at least you need the cellular model, you do not need a SIM card or connection, for example if you use a hotspot from your phone or wifi device for internet, I think it is just the antenna for navigation is not fitted in the wifi only model iPads.

@@LukeHames that’s what I thought but I wanted to be sure before I buy a cellular iPad. Thanks

You're welcome

Go for it, such a great addition for a rainy/cold night!

You are best to get a cellular model, even if you do not use it with a sim, it needs the antenna for the GPS to work correctly. As far as I am aware the wifi only options will not work for navigation.

Sorry for the late reply, I was hoping to do a follow up to this and never got round to it. In this van I just cut a piece of wood to fit in the standard single din radio cage, and screwed it in, then screwed the iPad case to the wood, worked great.

I have a wifi and cellular model iPad, however, I do not use the iPad with a sim, only connected to wifi (I have a separate 4G Wifi router in the van). This works great for me, hope this helps.

@@LukeHames I see, why don’t you use a sim for the iPad. I wonder how you got that kind of router specific for the car and what brand is it if that is so, and where you can find it? One other question, what tablet mount do you recommend for your iPad? I’m thinking of doing something similar in my dad’s Toyota Camry. I saw someone us in a iPad Smart Folio and yet they cut off the cover & mounted it to a custom made car mount or something, please advise me, would help a lot.

I have the 4G sim in a TPLink 4G router, this is so we can all connect our phones and laptops etc... to it as well, it has a DC 12v power supply so very easy to run in a car/van. However, if the only thing you need the connection for is the iPad then for sure, skip the router part. Ours is a camper so when we are not driving it is great to have normal wifi. And yes, I think I have a link in the description to the case that I used, it was a cheaper amazon version of the folio case, and you just cut the front cover off. The magnets are super strong, and I have done the same in our new van and not once has it ever fallen or moved while driving.

@@LukeHames That sounds interesting, I wonder why you did not just put the sim into the iPad altogether? I wonder what model it is and what cellular technology it supports. I assume in your camper that you have a 110v plug that you can plug the router into if you need to charge it. What is the exact listing of the amazon folio case so that I can potentially consider it, along with what stand did you use so I can look into this. I would like to know so I can do this for my own car as well. Want to see how fast I am driving in kilometers per hour while the car displays miles per hour on the widgets screen on the dashboard’s center. Did you ever use any speedometer apps for your iPad at the same time?

It is a 4G connection yes, but I have the sim in a 4G router in the van, with an external antenna on the road, this gives a better signal and allows all our phones and laptops etc.. to connect to it to. The iPad itself connects to the router, but it is a cellular model, I just don't have the sim inside the iPad. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks!

MURRRICCCCAAAAA!!!!!

Hey, unfortunately we don’t have the van anymore as we now have a 1972 Mercedes 508d (video’s will come soon) - But from memory it was pretty good on fuel, somewhere between 25-30MPG probably because it didn’t go very fast, usually we would sit around 55mph.

@@LukeHames thanks

That’s because the cellular model iPads have the mobile antennas needed for the gos to work. You don’t need a SIM card or contract, but you need a cellular model iPad if you want to use it for gps, a wifi only model will not work in afraid.

@@LukeHames thanks friend for the answer

Probably the device you are trying to play it on doesn’t support mp4 and it is trying to convert it, give this a try and convert it into a different format and probably it will work fine 🤞

Thanks 👍

No worries, I will search for the closest newer model and update. And you have a few options, in this van it didn’t have a working stereo, so we chose to put in a 5.1 surround system, and we hooked that up with the ipad for when we drove, so the iPad connected to the adaptor via Bluetooth, then from the bluetooth adaptor it was a 3.5mm cable to the surround system amp. If you have a car stereo with a 3.5mm input then I would recommend using one of these bluetooth adaptors and it will be the neatest and best sound quality option. Alternatively, you can just get a car stereo with bluetooth built in for less than £40 these days, and that saves the need for the adaptor. But let me know your setup and what you want to achieve and I can give you my opinion and share any links. We now have another van and have done something completely different, but still using the iPad, so I will be sharing a video on that soon.

Yes, any IP/wifi camera will work. Search Amazon for iPad cctv or baby camera and you will find lots of camera’s that are 100% waterproof and can connect to your wifi or hotspot then via an app you can view it on the iPad. I do not know of anyway to have it automatically turn on when you enter reverse, but I have a different van now and still using the iPad, but with a much improved setup, I will do a new video soon.

I’ve never had any issues like that, with any navigation app on the iPad. Currently we have an iPad Pro, but before this I used an iPad mini as it fired in the dash of the car, and never had any issues there either. It is not a dig at android tablets, but this is why I like and choose iPads, from my experience they just work, always. 👍

@@LukeHames great! Thanks for the info!

Yes we have wifi in the van, if not you could use a 4g connection 👍

I purchased a magnetic ipad case, and cut the cover off, then used part of the cover to create a shelf for the ipad to sit in, the magnets hold it in place, but just encase the shelf is there. I then just screwed the case into the dash. I have now sold and got another van, I will start uploading new videos with the new van in the next few weeks, including setting up the same setup in the new van, but with some improvements.

@@LukeHames thank you very much! I am looking forward to it!!

Yeh it is a must! You can buy a little relay that sits between the batteries that automatically turns on and off when the motor is running, but I preferred to have a manual switch, that way if it is sunny and we have enough solar then I can just leave the motor to charge the starter batteries etc… just have to remember to turn it off when you stop otherwise you risk running your starter battery too low to start the van! But ultimately all you need to do is connect your batteries (as long as you don’t have lithium, for lithium you will need a battery to battery charger).

Thanks, yeh 4K files are likely to get this error message on a less powerful server. Depending on the size of the file it will take a while but you can create an optimised version, probably in 1080 or 720 though so you will loose the 4K quality but at least it will play.

Do you use separate sims for each or they are connected together?

Thanks, that sounds about right, unfortunately we sold our LDV as had a baby and wanted something a little bigger, but I could stand without about 5cm spare and I am around 165cm, so with the insulation and wood on the roof that would make about 185cm total, maybe a little less. But 100% get one, or any van, such a great experience.

I need to do an update of this video, since iPad OS 15 I think ipad is the best option, multitasking has been made much easier, shortcuts also make it easy to open navigation & media side by side as soon as the ipad connects to the bluetooth in the car, making it much more practical.