Repurposing Your Old Smartphone for RV Use.

If you have an extra smartphone lying around and doesn't know what to do with it, this might give you an idea. I mounted one on my dashboard, loaded with some free apps, like dashcam, inclinometer for leveling the camper, etc. It can also stream music through Bluetooth connection to my dash radio.

I modified an old windshield mount for dashboard mounting as pictured below. The old windshield mount sits low and the phone camera does not clear the top of dashboard on its intended placement. The mount came with a circular plastic dashboard mounting disk with adhesive backing.

This is how it looks like mounted on dashboard.

Old windshield suction mount.

 

New taller upper swing arm made from acrylic plastic.

 

Pivot head made from layered acrylic, then binded together using acrylic glue.

 

Acrylic upper arm assembly

 

Dry-fitting on dashboard.

 

 

Painted and assembled. Phone is attached to the upper arm assembly with Scotch heavy duty plastic fastener (Amazon link: Click here ).

 

Dashcam app (Autoguard) with autostart and automatic shutoff function (PlayStore link )

Inclinometer app by Jesbus ( PlayStore Link ). Works really well when calibrated.