Apple Motorhome

pandas

pandas

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HYMER B SL 674
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I wish. Albeit our Hymer is 6 years old now and we are not spring chickens but why is most motorhome technology so anti consumer friendly. Reminds me of when to use a PC you almost had to write the code to use it some 50 years ago. Then came Apple and integrated most things under one platform-diary, photos, videos, music, email oh and the phone. I have so many disparate, unconnected systems in vehicle it is so frustrating - WiFi, inverters, satellite, AirPlay, Tomtom, smart TV, Truma, alarm systems, and so on. Judging by the many, many questions on this forum we are not alone. So please Apple manufacture a coordinated approach so we can just take off , go where we want, when we want without all this noise.
 
pandas said:
So please Apple manufacture a coordinated approach so we can just take off , go where we want, when we want without all this noise.
Click to expand...
If Apple designed Motorhomes then you would find that the inbuilt navigation system would only allow you to go to Morroco on condition that you did not visit Spain 🤣
 
My gas level, solar panel input/output, heating/hot water control, and battery state can all be monitored or controlled from my phone - Apple 👍
There’s also an interface to Tom Tom route planning plus a handy app to find the best TV transmitter in the UK.
 
canopus said:
My gas level, solar panel input/output, heating/hot water control, and battery state can all be monitored or controlled from my phone - Apple 👍
There’s also an interface to Tom Tom route planning plus a handy app to find the best TV transmitter in the UK.
Click to expand...
Well done you. This is the point I am making there are those that have the knowledge and those that don’t, the latter as we cannot be bothered. We employed a few people that wrote code for us back in the day so the rest of us could just concentrate on the important stuff. I just want to not have to think about it too much just get on with enjoying ourselves.

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Really Really pisses me off when things are " plug and play" to me that is , you plug it in , turn it on and use it.
Not plug it in then spend the next four months downloading apps and other rubbish to be able to use it.
Currently having grief with a stereo andrea has bought. Unable to get streaming working and other techy rubbish to work.
 
I would suggest that they first focus on putting all the various switches in logical places, rather than randomly located them around! 5 years of ownership and I still forget where they are! It reminds me of my work days staying in hotels, and trying to suss out how to turn all the lights off before bed! Not easy after a few late ones!
 
pandas said:
Well done you. This is the point I am making there are those that have the knowledge and those that don’t, the latter as we cannot be bothered. We employed a few people that wrote code for us back in the day so the rest of us could just concentrate on the important stuff. I just want to not have to think about it too much just get on with enjoying ourselves.
Click to expand...
Yes but given the difference on cost between apple products and ones that do a very similar job at a fraction of the price ( my android phone at £100 Vs an iPhone at???) does anyone really want motorhomes to cost 5 times as much as now?
 
..and the thread instantly derails into an Apple v Android battle...

The original point is a valid one and the frustration is one many of us share.

I have 'some' knowledge and a lot of curiosity so I've gone down a rabbit hole of microcontrollers and Raspberry Pi's and Home Assistant in order to pull some of these disparate things together.

It's really not all that straight forward - even though by all accounts Home Assistant has come on leaps and bounds in terms of becoming 'user friendly' in the last few years.

The underlying problem is that there are lots of competing technologies and standards and there's a lot of code!

I think we are moving closer to being able to buy 'smart devices' and just connect them to a central point without needing much computer skill. That's already true for some devices but there are lots that still need a fair bit of effort to talk to.

Give it another 5 years....
 
Our hymer has the connect app which is "sort of " what you are looking for:
It controls heating and hot water, fridge, satellite all interior and exterior lights, plus shows water/waste levels and battery level with solar output, a great start, but still not totally linked.
 
fishplug said:
there are lots of competing technologies and standards
Click to expand...
There is the nub of the issue. How many remember the video format war's, Cassette vs 8 track, Unix vs Netware. Windows vs os/2 and many many other examples. I anticipate all 'smart' devices will soon inter-operate, but at the moment, every device is tending to write something unique.
 
fishplug said:
..and the thread instantly derails into an Apple v Android battle...

The original point is a valid one and the frustration is one many of us share.

I have 'some' knowledge and a lot of curiosity so I've gone down a rabbit hole of microcontrollers and Raspberry Pi's and Home Assistant in order to pull some of these disparate things together.

It's really not all that straight forward - even though by all accounts Home Assistant has come on leaps and bounds in terms of becoming 'user friendly' in the last few years.

The underlying problem is that there are lots of competing technologies and standards and there's a lot of code!

I think we are moving closer to being able to buy 'smart devices' and just connect them to a central point without needing much computer skill. That's already true for some devices but there are lots that still need a fair bit of effort to talk to.

Give it another 5 years....
Click to expand...
To be fair the op did originally say like Apple! In that case to compare the cost of apple Vs others is pretty relevant!
 
I initially though he was going to open a discussion about

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meanders said:
There is the nub of the issue. How many remember the video format war's, Cassette vs 8 track, Unix vs Netware. Windows vs os/2 and many many other examples. I anticipate all 'smart' devices will soon inter-operate, but at the moment, every device is tending to write something unique.
Click to expand...
My one is better than your one!
 
I was involved with the cutting edge of IT from the mid 80's to the mid 90's
(And arguably still on the cutting edge into the 2020's)

We had to actually build our servers, that is from the ground up, getting the metal box cut and bent and we had our own techies (mostly school leavers) assembling the product, soldering on bits, in an old watch factory in Clerkenwell.
Then designing the software and getting it written, rewritten etc.
All in-house.

We were larger than Microsoft at the time, we did not really see them as competition.

A load of those arguments at the time made perfect sense.
Unix would never take off,
NCR was the major competition

And quite rightly we did not go down the PC path in the 90's.
Why pay £2k for a PC when a £200 dumb terminal could do everything a PC could do, but faster and cheaper ?
It was only went Windows 95 came out that we realised the PC's may be the direction of travel, so we were ready for Windows 97!
Most companies still preferred to buy £200 dumb terminals, the £2k PC's were reserved for the Secretaries right into the early 2000's.

It was only when the internet became reliable and useful in about 2001-2 that things switched to PC's.

I still have a letter from a large broking international house which in summary says:
"...we do not see the need for our company to have access to the internet or to use e-mail in the foreseeable future ...."
The letter is dated August 2000!

If you had told me in 2000 that within 3 years I would have a (Blackberry) phone in my pocket that had more processing ability than a Win97 PC I'd not have taken you seriously

How things change!

Your next motorhome will be electric and the steering wheel may be an optional extra, only for use when in camp sites!
 
Last edited:
The Wino said:
Yes but given the difference on cost between apple products and ones that do a very similar job at a fraction of the price ( my android phone at £100 Vs an iPhone at???) does anyone really want motorhomes to cost 5 times as much as now?
Click to expand...
Sorry cost is irrelevant to the point being made.
 
Brains said:
We had to actually build our servers, that is from the ground up, getting the metal box cut and bent and we had our own techies (mostly school leavers) assembling the product, soldering on bits, in an old watch factory in Clerkenwell.
Then designing the software and getting it written, rewritten etc.
All in-house.
Click to expand...
The only electronic companies I remember in the Clerkenwell area were Cossor that I am sure had gone by that timescale and Amstrad with my old mate Alan.
 
Fancy electronics are fine in theory, but in practice the geeks that put them together do not onow what you are using it for in real life.

A friend bought a 2024 Nieismann Biscoff Arto. All singing and dancing. An app for most things, built in WiFi and a detectable network which cannot be logged into and Travelworld did not onow what it was. After 3vweeks all the habitation gauges went haywire and showed everything empty of flat. Travelworld tracked it down to some sort of fuse/busbar type device on the bottom of the battery compartment. Six weeks later a package comes from Germany, but my mate is in Spain with the motorhome managing to make it work. To complicated.

A chap I met at the C&CC site at Cambridge had a Buccaneer caravan. He had had it for 2 years and always used serviced pitches. This time the aquarelle came out and everytime the tap was switched on the pump fuse blew. After making a trip to get a new pump and several phone calls he discovered that his van needed the water system reset with the correct pressure for each tap. Why.

Keep things simple.
 
You are looking at the wrong operating system. ;)

I might look at this one

Less planning, more travel: HYMER is driving motorhomes into the digital future with Microsoft Azure | Microsoft Customer Stories

A motorhome is a house on wheels; it promises the ultimate freedom of travel. But like a home, it’s packed full of devices. And like a car, the technology needs to be understood, maintained, and operated correctly. Only then can the travel planning begin. To make things a little easier...
www.microsoft.com

But Apple? - No way.
 
The Wino said:
To be fair the op did originally say like Apple! In that case to compare the cost of apple Vs others is pretty relevant!
Click to expand...
"Apple like" is something that software companies work towards.

I know this having worked for software developers.

It's a sort of 'standard' that is worked towards with the "it just works" ultimate aim.

Costs are utterly irrelevant. Also, when comparing costs you have to factor ROI. An 'expensive' Apple laptop may well exceed the lifespan of a 'cheap' Microsoft one.

Bottom line always is: does it do what you need it to do?

Microsoft v Apple in this particular argument is like comparing Ferrari with Greggs.

Integrations of this sort are being fought out between Zigbee, Matter, and all the others and are being brought together via things like Home Assitant.

So, no. "Apple" has zero relevance to "the others" in terms of cost or comparison.

All of my integrations are based on HA and Linux. So neither Apple or 'others'

Wanting it to 'just work' is an Apple ideal, but not limited to their software.
 
Jev88 said:
Apple....... And be told we won't support your system after 5 years and charge you for a patch to let you turn the heating on :LOL:
Click to expand...
In my case we bought 2 i pads when they were pretty new out for our business. Didn't use one for a while and it refused to charge or switch on it was 8 months old and they wanted to either charge for a support package or one off fee to tell me how to get it to accept a charge again as at the time they only offered 6 months software support included. They were pretty expensive. I found a solution online and never have bought apple again for anything. Our windows laptop is 9 years old still doing fine cost a third of a similar apple product at the same time. My phone similarly.
 
Totally agree we have a2024 Mercades and it’s an utter nightmare to use and of its systems we took it to our local Mercades wort and the technician who worked on it said that all of their technicians avoid the new Sprinters like they are a nightmare to work on it is so so complicated to do an to
 
Sorry but not an apple fan, too restrictive, much less free apps and no back button. Microsoft and Android for me. Motorhomes then if I can switches and fuses. Keep the technology for the fun stuff but out of the important stuff that supports life and movement.
Over!!
 
cyberyacht said:
My MacBook is twelve years old. I'd probably have bought about 3 Windows PC in that time.
Click to expand...
Same here, still getting free updates and no subscriptions. I had several works MS laptops during the same period. Only really use mine for photo editing and ripping CD’s these days but wouldn’t know what to get next that easily works will iPad & iPhone. So probably another Mac.
 
Brains said:
I was involved with the cutting edge of IT from the mid 80's to the mid 90's
(And arguably still on the cutting edge into the 2020's)

We had to actually build our servers, that is from the ground up, getting the metal box cut and bent and we had our own techies (mostly school leavers) assembling the product, soldering on bits, in an old watch factory in Clerkenwell.
Then designing the software and getting it written, rewritten etc.
All in-house.

We were larger than Microsoft at the time, we did not really see them as competition.

A load of those arguments at the time made perfect sense.
Unix would never take off,
NCR was the major competition

And quite rightly we did not go down the PC path in the 90's.
Why pay £2k for a PC when a £200 dumb terminal could do everything a PC could do, but faster and cheaper ?
It was only went Windows 95 came out that we realised the PC's may be the direction of travel, so we were ready for Windows 97!
Most companies still preferred to buy £200 dumb terminals, the £2k PC's were reserved for the Secretaries right into the early 2000's.

It was only when the internet became reliable and useful in about 2001-2 that things switched to PC's.

I still have a letter from a large broking international house which in summary says:
"...we do not see the need for our company to have access to the internet or to use e-mail in the foreseeable future ...."
The letter is dated August 2000!

If you had told me in 2000 that within 3 years I would have a (Blackberry) phone in my pocket that had more processing ability than a Win97 PC I'd not have taken you seriously

How things change!

Your next motorhome will be electric and the steering wheel may be an optional extra, only for use when in camp sites!
Click to expand...
I believe the steering wheel will still be a must-have item, but it will become optional due to corporate greed.

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