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Laptop "Jotto Desk" mounting, CoPilot, VMSpc, Doran-Pressure Pro

 

May, 2010 update:

The Jotto Desk works great and it is now on its third laptop (a Toshiba Satellite Pro). I no longer need to run VMSpc on the same display as CoPilot GPS navigation - now VMSpc runs on its own 7" monitor placed for easy driver viewing.

Speaking of CoPilot live Laptop , the last good version (in my opinion) was 10. I bought version 11 and I was greatly disappointed with it. It would faithfully crash after a couple of hours (on Windows XP!) and of the list of ten complaints I emailed to ALK, eight of them were due to features no longer available in version 11. I have been beta testing a new version of CoPilot live Laptop and it is significantly improved over version 11, but still it does not have a route favor/avoid feature. Amazing, just amazing.

Moving on to the Doran/Pressure Pro (I never have figured out the business relationship between these two companies), after 55,000 miles of using the system, I must say I am greatly disappointed with it. Every tire leak I have ever had on the coach or Jeep has been due to a sensor gasket problem. I have a sensor sitting in the drawer right now that won't read correctly after a few hours of use. I'm pretty much done with with this system, in fact at the moment I only have three functioning sensors on the coach's six tires. It will be replaced one of these days with a different product.


 

I wanted to use a laptop PC for GPS navigation and to run an excellent engine monitoring program called VMSpc. The mechanical issue for using a laptop in the cockpit area (where it would be convenient to operate by the passenger) is where to put it or mount it. Some RVs have a pull out tray on the dash for a laptop, but we didn't have that feature. After some looking around, I settled on a Jotto Desk model (425-5214) that would screw to the floor and be suitable for our mounting location.

 

Jotto Desk as installed

Yes - carbide drill bit right through the pretty tile floor! (No pain, no gain!)

 

Jotto Desk as installed

Another view - it was a huge debate about where to install the mounting plate!

PC with VMSpc and CoPilot running

Jane is intently studying the VMSpc engine data center (right hand side of the screen)

Vies from driver's seat

View from the pilot's seat

Another screen shot

This is a shot of CoPilot Live and VMSpc happily co-existing together. VMSpc can be extensively customized to display only the engine information you want! NN means I have selected neutral gear, and neutral gear is attained. The next two blocks down are the temperature gauges - it rotates what value I selected - the green dot means the value is nominal. It will also sound an alarm if a preset value is exceeded. NEAT STUFF! This is better than having two pockets on a shirt!

Doran/Pressure Pro tire monitoring

My tire monitoring system by Doran. Here I am checking the the tire pressures the easy way - I push a button! This is showing my front tire is 102 Lbs. It has lost communication with the rear outside starboard tire - not an unusual thing - especially with the slides out. Correction - this picture shows the monitor only has contact with ONE tire

I will probably need to add the external (actually you run it inside the coach) antenna when we add the toad tire sensors. Update: I did add an external antenna and rarely does the system lose contact with a sensor

 

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