Mobley still not solved

[Matt D]

Isaac, two questions for you sir..

First, why did you abandon the Mobley and go with the Netgear 815S?

Second, can you share the design of your power supply with the group? I can twist up wires, but am a zero at EE. If you’ve already solved the EE side of the problem and would share your success, we can create our own power supply.

Thanks again for your input.

We’ve used a “first gen” Mobley for years without issue. The “second gen” unit we recently purchased has been far less useful. I haven’t returned it simply because I felt someone would eventually solve the riddle, it appears you are that person.

Nice work!

-Matt

[Isaac-1]

I ended up moving my Mobley SIM to an 815S because it started going flaky and spontaneously rebooting whenever I would try to download a large file 2-3 minutes into a 5+ minute download.


As to the design it is rather simple, the adapter I sent Buddy was one I had thrown together quickly while doing some power testing on the Mobley to try to keep it from going to sleep a while back.


It consists of a 14VDC unregulated power supply bought from ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-to-DC-Wa...t/112196227140


The key here is that it is an unregulated transformer style DC power adapter, and not one of those new light weight switch mode power supplies, so its exact voltage output will vary with load, testing on a bench power supply I noted that the Mobleys amp draw jumps around like crazy.


a 2.1 x 5.5mm barrel adapter like one of these https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Set-YP26...V/352286983743 which I had laying around


a small length of wire, connected to a left over OBD plug style connector crimps salvaged from an OBD plug adapter kit like https://www.ebay.com/itm/OBD2-II-16P...ew/31228864575 Building a similar adapter for a relative I used one of these pigtails instead for a more professional look. https://www.ebay.com/itm/16-Pin-Fema...e/293042614174 though note on the one I bought the color code did not match the wiring for I had to Ohm out the 2 pins I used.


From here it is a simple matter of connecting Positive to Pin 16 (bottom left corner pin) and negative to either Pin 4 or Pin 5 ( top row middle, longer pins, does not matter which as they are tied together inside the Mobley). Pin numbers are marked in the connector on the Mobley, but it may take bright light to see them.


p.s. I can't take too much credit here, others did a lot of the grunt work, I just did some testing with a bench power supply, and used a less high tech approach to get the same results others had managed using timers, diodes, and active circuits, by noting the random jumps in amp draw I theorized that an unregulated power supply would cause those same sort of voltage fluctuations a Mobley looks for to think it is in a running car, without the need for fancy electronics.

[buddy110]

Here is a few pictures

Thanks again, Isaac!

[Matt D]

Thanks guys!

-Matt

[kevinantholt]

I changed to Verizon Pre-Paid Unlimited. With my other phones on the plan it ends up being $50 a month. If you didn't have any other phones it would be $65.
This is the true Unlimited with no Throttling of speed or data caps.
Pretty consistent of 15-30Mbps and 5-10 upload.
Been using it for 4 month now with heavy use. I have an RV Whisper that reports Temp and Battery/Shorepower every 5 minutes and it's never disconnected.
Since I am an IT manger professionally I need something that is reliable to remote into servers etc.
I also use Apple TV, Netflix, Prime so my usage is pretty high when on the road.

It's a $200 investment for the Jetpack MiFi 8800L.
But it has a direct antenna port for an external antenna which I only had to use once because the amplifier in the device is pretty strong.
Yes it's a little more expensive but you won't have any problems and Verizon typically has better coverage.

[royals1212]

I think the Verizon prepay plan has gone away. About 2 months ago, I recommended this plan to my brother in law. When we went to the store we found out that it had been discontinued a few days prior. Tried online, no joy there either. The good plans come and go without notice. Luckly I have a AT&T grandfathered unlimited plan with it I stream Direct TV and they do not count the streaming data. I routine burn 120 gig while traveling, I work remote.

Herb

[kevinantholt]

Originally Posted by royals1212

I think the Verizon prepay plan has gone away. About 2 months ago, I recommended this plan to my brother in law. When we went to the store we found out that it had been discontinued a few days prior. Tried online, no joy there either. The good plans come and go without notice. Luckly I have a AT&T grandfathered unlimited plan with it I stream Direct TV and they do not count the streaming data. I routine burn 120 gig while traveling, I work remote.

Herb

Nope,
Still there.
https://www.verizonwireless.com/prepaid/
You just buy the jet pack and set it up under the $65 Unlimited

[royals1212]

Is the unlimited plan on a phone or hotspot? If you are hot spotting from your phone you are usually capped at somewhere around 15 gig per month. I also have the unlimited phone plan as a back up. I have not seen a verizon unlimited plan for a hot spots in a while now.

[buddy110]

The reason I fussed so much over the Mobley was the $20 unlimited plan. It's the best deal I know of

[kevinantholt]

Originally Posted by royals1212

Is the unlimited plan on a phone or hotspot? If you are hot spotting from your phone you are usually capped at somewhere around 15 gig per month. I also have the unlimited phone plan as a back up. I have not seen a verizon unlimited plan for a hot spots in a while now.

Pre Paid does not differentiate.
Just buy the HotSpot and activate the unlimited plan.
I'm telling you I have and it for 4 months now. First month I used over 60gb streaming movies etc.

[Journey39n]

Many Mobley units are pretty temperamental. I got mine last January at the tale end of of the last special deal, unlimited data, no up front cost, $22 per month, couldn't pass it up. Then a month of testing, a/c to mobley, usb to mobley, 12v to mobley using Amazon adapters, I learned a few things.

First it really works great, depending upon the area we are in, I have seen speeds from about 5mbps to well over 50mbps, and after going over the so-called soft limit of 22.5gb, no slowdowns at all.

Second, the finicky part. After setting the time-out bios settings to the max of 2 hours, I found that using the ac or usb adapters, it would shut down exactly at 2 hours, and have to be restarted. But using the RV's 12v power, sometimes it would shut down, sometimes run for hours, and then a strange thing. By accident, I figured out that vibration seemed to affect it. Once after it had shut down, I inadvertently bumped it, and it came back on.

With some experimentation, I found that if I flipped it over and back, it would restart. And if I did that same maneuver once during the 2 hour time period, it would never shut off.

I guess it is set for voltage fluctuations while the car is running, and vibrations while the car is being driven.

Oh in in my many months of near constant use, some times the power lite will go out, but the unit is still working. No particular reason, but if the data bar light is lit, I know it is connected. Comes and goes, doesn't seem to affect performance. I assume a loose connection perhaps on the led.

[Kaputnick]

Stupid question but why replace the Mobley with another? I have the unlimited plan and they said I can get another AT&T hotspot device and keep my plan.
(I saved the online chat just in case), With the newer “g” networks that is an option as I understand it.

[CoachStreamr]

I had no issues with my Jan. '19 Mobley using the right Adapter. But I picked up a used Netgear 815S for only $55 on eBay and been happy with it and this is without using an external antenna. Better class radio vs the Mobley too.

Though our Coach has a dedicated router (and I can tether both Mobley/Netgear 815S and a Visible/Verizon phone, I have been using the Netgear 815S' Wifi for all the Coach clients for the time being (testing).

The Mobley is boxed as a backup.

.

[McLee]

Contact Geoff in Canada. He makes and sells an AC Mobley power supply that has an OBD2 port. Mine works great. His email address is 4thquad1@telus.net.