Just returned from our summer travels. Approx. 4700 miles from Mission, TX, to Rapid City, SD, to Bryce Canyon, UT to Farmington, NM and back to Mission, Texas. All went well Foretravel-wise. We used our Delorme Street Atlas and a GPS on an old Windows XP laptop. We also made a quick stop in Nacogdoches for some estimates on a variety of upgrades (paint, carpet, Koni's). One interior upgrade I'd like is to install the SilverLeaf VMSpc software on the laptop. However, the mapping software was very difficult to see on sunny days. I even made a cardboard sun screen to shield the laptop. It was located in the center of our dash and facing straight back. Both the driver and passenger could see the screen-kind of....
I reviewed posts starting on 9/17/11 on the VMSpc and have looked at Barry B, and John Haygarth's photos and cannot mount my 15 inch laptop in those positions. So how visible would the VMSpc program be with the laptop sitting on the middle of the dash? I do not want to spend the money, if I cannot monitor the screen.
Thanks
Bob
2000 U270
Bob,
I just have my lap top placed in the middle of the dash tilted toward me and I have not had a problem viewing in the sunlight. I had the Delorme running on the laptop in a split screen, but could not find a output that I really liked. I guess it made the VMSpc screen to small so I purchased a 7in Magellan GPS and have it mounted on the left window. I just use my VMSpc as a poor man's glass dash and rarely look at the dash gauges at all.
Thanks,
Brad
Gee, I laugh because I could not have said it better Brad, your setup is exactly like mine except I use the Garmin mounted on the left window just below the rear outside mirror, so it is perfectly located for ME. Surely most folks will or have found the perfect fit for them.
The only item I look at dash for is the two air pressure gauges. Maybe one day they will have them included in the VMSpc.
Cheers
Dave M
I just use my VMSpc as a poor man's glass dash and rarely look at the dash gauges at all.
The only item I look at dash for is the two air pressure gauges
That makes three, probaly a lot more
I'm part of that "lot more". I have the VMSpc on a lap top on a arm just to the right of the dash. The VMSpc display is on the left and right side of the display with Street&Trips in the middle for my big picture of where I'm at. I use my Rand McNally 5510, on another arm directly above the dash, for my point to point routing, finding campgrounds, rest stops, fuel stops, current speed limit, etc.
I'm very pleased with the functionality and visibility. However, the mounting arms are strictly an ugly prototype. This winter I plan on designing and building a pretty version.
I run mine in the middle of the dash angled toward me and have no issues with glare. I did find the white screen too bright at night. The newer version has wallpaper options I haven't tried yet, and I rarely drive at night. I consider the VMS product the single most effective tool you can have for know what's going on with you coach.
Dave, No joke about the white screen at night, I solved that by making the screen black, and mostly filling it with the data info large enough to cover most of the screen, now at night I tilt the screen slightly toward me, and it works just great. I mix up the colors of each gauge reading. What I love the very best it how exacting I find the fuel gauge, mpg, mph, gals left in fuel tank, Ir is very close, so the fuel gauge on dash is about useless.
FWIW
I thought I would submit a photo of how I mounted my PC on the dash. I machined an aluminum adapter that fits in the cup holder. The RAM-Mount PC swing arm bolts to the adapter. All the wiring is routed up from underneath the cup holder and makes for a very clean installation. The PC is a Dell D-820. I have had no trouble seeing the screen during daylight hours. I do find that I need to turn the screen brightness down at night. If anyone is interested in the particulars about the adapted or the RAM-Mount I used, give me a shout at wamu1david@yahoo.com
Dave VanAmburg
'99 U320 42ft
Hi Bob. We met you and your wife at Bryce this summer. Sounds like you had a good trip.
We use our Silverleaf on my Dell laptop and I just sit it on the dash. Works fine and Pat can see it too from the passenger's side (mainly concerned with the speed!).
For night driving you might give this free red screen application a try. I use it for astronomy, but it should work fine for viewing the Silverleaf at night. The darkness of the red is fully adjustable. We never drive at night.
AstroDigital.Net - Astrophotography by Panagiotis Xipteras (http://www.astrodigital.net/download/redscreen_windows/redscreen_windows.html)
Dave, your set up looks very neat and tidy but does it not obscure some view as it sits up quite high, that is why I kept mine low in the sight line. I see you cannot use the kind of arm I made but if the alum' adapter is a decent fit in the cup hole then it would not come out adapting an arm to keep it low. Just a thought.
BobW, is your cup tray the same as mine or like Dave's?
I now have fastened the tire monitor to the base so I have that in full view too.
John
Bob,
I have mine just to the right of the dash and have no problems. The display can be just black and white with large numerals so is easy to see all the time. There are quite a few options in setting up the display to your liking.
BTW: Don't mean to insult your intelligence but is the screen brightness adjust correctly?
Keith
I have a question about the VMSpc, Does it give the readings for the storage tank and propane levels in addition to all the engine related functions?
It gets the data from the th Cummins ECU, no connections to the audit system for those levels.
Silverleaf now has a "Total Coach" unit that monitors tank levels. The standard laptop software only looks at Engine & Transmission and calculates fuel levels from that. No other tank level info.
Here is their website:
SilverLeaf Electronics, Inc. | Knowledge is Horsepower (http://www.silverleafelectronics.com/)
Keith
This is not quite 'on-thread' but night be useful.
Among the features of many of the new laptops is something from Intel called WiDi (wireless display). There are a few vendors that make boxes that talk to the laptop wirelessly - the one I have is 'Push-to-TV' from NetGear. It copies the PC screen and redisplays it through an HDMI connection to a flatscreen.
My wife won't let me use it to navigate. She won't even let me look at the laptop running Delome on the dash.... She says I'm distracted enough as it is.
Never the less... here are a couple of pictures I made from the proof of concept phase.
(I do have a 750 GB usb drive full of movies for those times that there is no TV that she will let me watch ::)
HTH
elliott bray
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