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Old 07-08-2010, 07:36 PM   #1
"Formerly Diplomat Don"
 
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VMSpc Project

I've been wanting to install the SilverLeaf VMSpc system in my coach for several years. I couldn't afford the $2000.00 unit from SilverLeaf and I didn't want to run a large laptop on top of the dash.

I decided to mount a small netbook computer to the left of the dash that was dedicated to just running the VMSpc program. The netbook can also be removed and used for personal use. It's reasonably quick when browsing the web.

Here's what I bought:
-HP mini netbook 110, 10.1" screen, 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB ram with Windows 7. ($275.00 OTD at BestBuy)
-SilverLeaf VMSpc cable. ($359.00 at RVUpgrades)
-HP mini netbook 12 volt charge cable. ($65.00 at HP online)
-2' piece of oak and metal strap ($15.00 at Home Depot)

Total $714.00

I'm really not big on drilling into items like the dash or cabinets so I made the mount so that it attaches to three existing screws on the dash. This first photo is the completed mount.



Brackets



Mounted



Bracket attachments



Netbook





This installation may not appeal to everyone and I know many others are just fine running a large laptop. I thought this might give others some ideas. There is alao a company called Archos who makes a tablet P.C. that has no keyboard and would mount like a large GPS system, but it costs over $500.00. The IPAD could also be used.
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Old 07-08-2010, 08:47 PM   #2
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WOW! That looks great.
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Old 07-08-2010, 09:17 PM   #3
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Great job Don...looks good.
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Old 07-09-2010, 12:53 AM   #4
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Don.. I am not surprised at how meticulous it seems to look. It looks like you did your normal perfect installation...but the photos area bit small.

I can no longer correct your photos...Maybe you can ask a moderator to make them larger so we can see the project better.



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Old 07-09-2010, 01:05 AM   #5
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Don...the Mods can delete this post after they enlarge your photos..but this will help other seeforthe time being...
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Old 07-09-2010, 01:09 AM   #6
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I have a couple of questions to ask now that I can see the pics better....
  • Does it block your reach of any of the buttons/switched?
  • When can you come up and take care of a few such projects for us?
PS..I like your new RV QuickShades on the front windshield!!



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Old 07-09-2010, 09:54 AM   #7
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The headlight switch is under the mount, but easily reached....just can't see it.
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Old 07-10-2010, 07:02 AM   #8
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Looks great Don..I like the way you added your cb bracket also.
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Old 08-18-2010, 09:28 AM   #9
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Don, thank you for the INFO on your project. I have just ordered the VMSpc myself and it should get here Monday. Unfortunately we are heading out first thing Tuesday morning for a two month "great circle route" including the Canadian Rockies and Death valley, ending back north of Allentown, PA. I will need to plug it in and head right out! Could you help me hit the ground running with the Setup Values, Parameters, for the VMSpc Gages? I have gleaned most of them from the manuals, provided by Monaco when I purchased the coach. Could you share a Copy of a .scr file? I am operating a 2005 knight with the ISC 330 and Delorme 2010.
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Old 08-18-2010, 11:17 AM   #10
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Flagelpater......Here's what I did. I initially set up several windows on the screen that I thought I wanted. We took a 2500 mile trip shortly after the intial setup. On the trip I decided I didn't like or need a couple of the windows.

On the left hand side of the screen I put the transmission gauge at the top that shows gear selected and gear achieved. My trans shifter is a single window and I wanted this feature. Even if I had the double window I would still put this on the computer screen. Under that I put the tach. Under that was turbo boost and the last one on the left was speed. I made the background on these all the same color.

The next row I put the oil pressure, under it, the water temp, under that the trans temp and under that, the volt meter. Again I made all of these the same color, but different than the first row. On these gauges, as you design them, you can add an idiot light. I put the idiot light on the oil, temp and trans gauge only. It was annoying on the volt gauge. When you add the idiot light to a gauge, you can then set it to be green when it's in the proper working temp and go to red when it drops below the parameter you set. For instance, I set the oil pressure to be green at 60 PSI and go to red at 10 PSI.

On all of these gauges I checked the abbreviation box during set-up so they fit better on the screen. Depending on what size screen you're using, you may not need to use abbreviations.

The next row of gauges was the the Horsepower with the torque under that. They were made the same color background. One I later added after reading the manual was the Manifold temp gauge. I did this in a different color. I found this gauge stayed at 25 degrees above ambient air temp. It's a good gauge to tell you if you're cooling down properly when you stop. It also tells you within one or two degrees what the outside air temp is. This was in warm weather.

I added both the Instant mpg and the Rolling mpg to the screen, but found that the Instant mpg was all over the place. I deleted it and used just the Rolling mpg. I found that it raced up and down with every little movement of the coach. I corrected this radical movement by clicking on Advanced at the top of the screen and then click on Engine Corrections. You'll see a field near the bottom that says Rolling MPG. It should be set at 150. I changed that a couple of times and found 170 made the Rolling MPG really stable and it changed more smoothly/gradually.

* Don't forget that after you've made changes and are ready to log off that you do a "Save As" to the system to save your changes. Each time I made a change I just saved it as the same thing. I didn't need a bunch of different set-ups.

Finally, I added odometers. I added three of them. All the same size and stacked on top of each other. The first odometer (placed at the bottom) I included the mileage fuel consumed and average mpg. When you're creating this odometer, click on the "start from day one" box. This will show every mile ever logged on your coach. Once I created this one, it showed that I had a little over 2000 more miles than my dash odometer stated (my coach had 36000 at the time of setup and the computer showed 38000). I felt my coach odometer was fairly accurate and I didn't want the two to be different, or that far off from each other. If you right click on the odometer that you created with the pointer and then right click on Advanced at the top of the screen and then on Engine Corrections, you'll see a window that allows you to change the values. Under Multiplier, you'll see Odometer. The value should be .97 as the default. Because my odometer showed less miles I changed that number to 1.05 and clicked okay. That got me within about 400 miles from the two odometer numbers. I went back and changed to 1.045 and got within two miles between the two odometers. You'll need to make changes in small increments until they're really close.

The same thing needs to be done with the mpg. It showed I was getting 9.2 since the engine first started. I've kept really accurate records and know that I was getting about 8.5. I played with the mpg values in the same window and got it to 8.5 mpg.

This all sounds complicated, but once you play around in the windows, it only takes a few minutes to do this.

Once I had that odometer set, I created two more that were the same. You don't need to do all of the adjustments on the ones you make after the first one. The parameters you adjusted are applied to everything.

The second odometer I used as a trip odometer for my entire trip. Worked GREAT. Gave me my total miles traveled, mpg for the trip and how much fuel I used.

The third odometer I used for distance between fueling. I found that if I made sure the coach was level during each fueling, the gauge was within a gallon of what I had burned since the last fueling. Once your done fueling, you just double click the window and it resets that gauge only. It was nice to see that some legs of the trip I was getting 9.9. Others dropped into the low eights.

The parameter changes that I discussed above will eventually even out. I had set the mpg for 8.5 for the overall life of the coach. During the 2500 mile trip, the gauged adjusted to 8.6 mpg.

I know this was long, but if you print it out you could read through the setting of each gauge.

I hooked my system to a laptop running Windows 7. The program did not want to load the drivers (a problem they've been having). You have to look at the VMSpc program once it's loaded, click on the driver files, there are two and tell them to run. It will come back with, you need Administrator Authority. Just click run and they will load.

You also will see a window telling you there is an error until you load which motor you have. A window will open and allow to pick your engine. Once you do that the system is ready to go.

One last item I just remembered. My OBD plug is a six pin plug. When I connected their black box to my plug, I saw that the box was always on, even when the coach was off. I didn't like this idea and I called Silverleaf. They said Monaco ran contant power to the OBD plug. On the cable that comes from their black box to the plug is a red wire that runs outside the other cable. It's the power lead. They told me I could cut that lead and connect it to an ignition power source. I did that and now the box only comes on when the ignition is on.
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Old 08-18-2010, 11:53 AM   #11
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Thank you very much Don. I was wondering how the Start From Day One worked. It makes more sense now. I really appreciate your rapid and concise reply! Did you set up a Maintenance Schedule?
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Old 08-18-2010, 12:07 PM   #12
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I keep a large 3 ring binder with all of my maintenance stuff. I haven't really played with the VMSpc. I due my yearly maintenace sometime between February and May and the mileage is often different so I wasn't really interested in the maintenance portion. If it were a car with the miles and time frame coming around frequently I probably would.
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Old 08-18-2010, 12:20 PM   #13
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Don that is a nice set up, I have been using the VMSpc program for about 9 yrs with a large laptop but like the idea of the small laptop and mount.
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Old 08-18-2010, 01:14 PM   #14
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Don, Nice job as usual.
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