Idea for motorhome gadget? (1 Viewer)

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Gromett
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I haven't forgotten about this, I am waiting to see if I go for the Samsung Galaxy note.

The raspberry pi was ordered and may be waiting for me at my mums house.

I will be writing it in the same language as I am using for the Motorhome App.
 

Vlad The Impaler

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My God what an impressive technical post good luck with it.
I'm at present struggling to hook up my 21 gigawatt Flux Capacitor!

Regards Vlad.
 
OP
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Right.. We are finally starting to make progress on this. Mother is back on her feet and I am parked up for the winter. I have a few jobs that need doing first but within the next week or two I will be starting.

I am in the process of placing orders for the parts now.

Arduino have recently launched two new products that I am looking into. One is a combined Arm based board with an attached arduino interface. This is capable of running full linux like the Pi is but has all the shields available for it. The other is a partnership with Intel to produce an X86 based board. More details here.

I am considering one of these two boards instead of the PI as the arduino community has some fantastic resources available and loads of add ons. Now it can run full linux I am happier with the software side.

The first thing I will be doing with this board after I get linux up and running and connected to my local wifi network will be a water level sensor which reports directly to my Galaxy Note 2.

I have found this level sensor here which will do the job really well.

The next priority after that will be connecting all my lights up to it so I can automate certain functions and switch them all off remotely. (Don't ask :ROFLMAO: )

After that, I will start talking in here about what to do next.

This will be fully open source and I will be publishing all drawings, notes and parts lists.

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magicsurfbus

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Why not link your SatNav directly to the steering wheel, then your MH can drive itself while you remain in the comfort of your own home watching telly?

I bought a Raspberry Pi when they first appeared and have given it a cursory glance but it only has two USB ports, and HDMI and composite video output. It didn't seem very practical for school use (other than in a small computer club) but I imagine it has some hobbyist project potential.
 
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Hi Gromett, first time I've seen this thread and love stuff like this ::bigsmile:

You mentioned in an earlier post using the tablet as a battery monitor, I've been following a very good blog from a guy who has built the same thing using the Arduino
http://opensourcebatterymonitor.blogspot.co.uk/
It's very impressive if your into this sort of thing so might be worth a read.

The possibilities are endless. With a bit of clever programming, remote sensors and a few relays I guess you could control everything in your van.

I keep looking at these devices and trying to find a reason why I "need :winky:" one but haven't yet. I do have a security system linked to the PC in my van and also my house that I can monitor from my phone but it's more so I can check on the dog if I pop to the pub ::bigsmile:.

Apart from that, the only thing I made remote control was the outside light as it's useful on a dark night.

I may upgrade this so I can control all of the lights from my phone by adding a USB relay board. Again this is mainly for the dogs benefit. If there are people around the van and it's winding him up (security system has camera's and two way audio) flicking the lights on will probably be enough to move most people.

I would build a system like you are planning but as my PC idles at around 12w it would just be a gadget for gadgets sake in my case:cry:

Look forward to seeing your updates on this :thumb:,
David
 
OP
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Gromett
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MagicSurfBus. You may have been missing the point of the Pi.
It only needs 2 USB ports mouse/keyboard. The HDMI output is now the standard for most monitors (it can handle DVI with an adapter) It also has composite output so you can plug it into really old Tellies with only a scart socket.

If you look at the requirements they were targeting when they designed the Pi they fulfilled them beautifully. My Pi arrived and got immediately confiscated by a younger family member :ROFLMAO:

Hi Gromett, first time I've seen this thread and love stuff like this ::bigsmile:

You mentioned in an earlier post using the tablet as a battery monitor, I've been following a very good blog from a guy who has built the same thing using the Arduino
http://opensourcebatterymonitor.blogspot.co.uk/
It's very impressive if your into this sort of thing so might be worth a read.

The possibilities are endless. With a bit of clever programming, remote sensors and a few relays I guess you could control everything in your van.

I keep looking at these devices and trying to find a reason why I "need :winky:" one but haven't yet. I do have a security system linked to the PC in my van and also my house that I can monitor from my phone but it's more so I can check on the dog if I pop to the pub ::bigsmile:.

Apart from that, the only thing I made remote control was the outside light as it's useful on a dark night.

I may upgrade this so I can control all of the lights from my phone by adding a USB relay board. Again this is mainly for the dogs benefit. If there are people around the van and it's winding him up (security system has camera's and two way audio) flicking the lights on will probably be enough to move most people.

I would build a system like you are planning but as my PC idles at around 12w it would just be a gadget for gadgets sake in my case:cry:

Look forward to seeing your updates on this :thumb:,
David


Thanks for the link to the battery monitor I will look later. I have dropped the idea for the Rasberry Pi and have moved across to arduino but it is the one with the built in Arm processor as well as the microcontroller. The advantage of this is I can run linux AND the arduino software on the same low power low cost board. The other option is the BeagleBone Black..

Basically this will be a headless system. No keyboard/mouse or monitor. It will run a webserver probably nginx which will serve pages to any device on the local network. These pages can include code to read local sensors and operate any of the IO on the boards.

It has a built in ethernet so can connect directly to my wifi router.

So for example I want to check the water level, I pull my phone out click on the android app and it will contact the server on the arduino board. This will check the relevant sensor and return the data to the phone. I can just as easily check from my main computer, my laptop or my tablet as the software runs on the arduino not the main computer/laptop or phone.

The android app will be really simple in that it just reads from the http server and displays the output. There is very simply API's built into the android SDK for just this kind of thing.

Have a look at this to see what I mean.

http://beagleboard.org/Products/BeagleBone Black

I will be running Arch Linux though. http://www.archlinux.org

The other advantage to being able to run Linux on an arduino system is that I can integrate this hardware project in with the software one making a very nice complete system for myself.:thumb:

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Allanm

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The reason I will be using the Pi is that it exposes all its I/O ports in an easy to use manner, it runs off 5v, it's extremely low power so can be left switched on all the time. It is also very small so can be wedged in a cupboard out of the way and just get on with its stuff. All the IO ports can be accessed using any language including Python. I will setup a small web server on it and using html 5 to interface to the Python scripts to read and write to the IO ports. Its a really simple way of doing things that just isn't possible using either my desktop or laptop.

:Eeek: Mmmm, Pie. Chicken 'n mushroom for me.

I have no idea what's going on here but it sound like FUN

Allan
 
OP
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Gromett
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I meant to say also. That I have been thinking about the water level meter. I will be able to program it to send me a notification when water is at certain levels. For instance a warning at 50% another at 25% and a critical at 10%.

I am also thinking that this is going to be so useful that I will probably do it as a standalone system with its own cheap arduino which either communicates with the main one or can operate as a standalone in case anyone on here wants just the water level meter without all the other extras.
 

pappajohn

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was in a house the other day with a remote controlled gas fire....whats that all about then :Eeek:

get off yer fat arse and turn it on/off/up/down by hand. :Doh:

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OP
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Gromett
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was in a house the other day with a remote controlled gas fire....whats that all about then :Eeek:

get off yer fat arse and turn it on/off/up/down by hand. :Doh:


My Mum could do with that. She gets hot flushes and then goes cold a lot during the day. Getting up and down for her is not as easy as it used to be prior to the op. So a remote controlled gas fire would be a real help to her :winky:

I would like one cos I am bone idle.:thumb:
 

hilldweller

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I will be able to program it to send me a notification when

I am using a HUAWEI USB dongle successfully for that. Using GiffGaff I can send myself as many free texts ( in the UK ) as I want. This is for the house where I monitor the burglar alarms and temperatures while we are away. The same PC also has an X-10 interface so I can switch lights on off, so I can power up external flood lights to have a look with the cameras at night or spot deliveries left on the doorstep.

I can't be bothered learning linux so it's windows/Apache/Delphi/C.
 
Aug 27, 2009
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was in a house the other day with a remote controlled gas fire....whats that all about then :Eeek:

[HI]get off yer fat arse and turn it on/off/up/down by hand[/HI] . :Doh:
Bit like you do with your central heating. :winky:

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barrywi

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I am a Newbie to motorhomes but have caravaned for years
My friend has a Pi and has it programmed to let him watch movies via wifi ...er that is probably illegal but any way whenever I have tried to use the wifi on a caravan club site recently it is either broken/being fixed or so slow it only could deliver one frame of a movie per second!
 
OP
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Gromett
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Can't believe this started in Dec 2012. I haven't forgotten it's just that other stuff got in the way.
Since then technology has moved on massively. I can now buy arduino boards for £2. sensors for £1 and displays for £3....

The software project got delayed again because I broke my tablet back at the beginning of November and have only just received the replacement.

But I have not forgotten or lost the passion for this or the other project and now that the costs had dropped by a magnitude it is only time that is the limiting factor.

I now have a joint project in mind that will allow me to continue the android learning process and do the electronics at the same time.. Watch this space...
 
Mar 23, 2012
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We have Pi to use in our m/h as a web browser and media centr but it is a bit glitchy I really need to have a go at sorting it.
 
Aug 6, 2013
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I have found the 5V power supply for them both though. Just need to find the USB pin outs for the power supplies.:thumb:
Buy a cheap Bluetooth dongle for your van diagnostic port & you can also have an analogue display of all the engine stuff you never knew you needed. The app is Torque. So the tablet isn't even redundant whilst the van is moving :).
 

scotjimland

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Buy a cheap Bluetooth dongle for your van diagnostic port & you can also have an analogue display of all the engine stuff you never knew you needed. The app is Torque. So the tablet isn't even redundant whilst the van is moving :).

ha ha.. better not to know.. it's just more to worry about..

I loved my old Morris Mini.. .just a speedo and fuel gauge.. and the old Beetle only had a speedo..

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OP
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Gromett
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Buy a cheap Bluetooth dongle for your van diagnostic port & you can also have an analogue display of all the engine stuff you never knew you needed. The app is Torque. So the tablet isn't even redundant whilst the van is moving :).
Got one, it doesn't work. My van is just 1 year to old for it...
 
Aug 6, 2013
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ha ha.. better not to know.. it's just more to worry about..

I loved my old Morris Mini.. .just a speedo and fuel gauge.. and the old Beetle only had a speedo..
I had a Morris Minor - well a few actually. One had close to zero oil pressure & I needed to use it whilst I sourced a replacement engine. I fitted a 0 - 10psi gauge and found that I could maintain 5+psi if I didn't let the revs drop too far. So I set the idle speed to 5psi = around 30mph in 4th & drove it back & forth from Kendal to Stone in Staffordshire every weekend for a month in that condition. It lasted OK although oil consumption was almost equal to fuel consumption. Then I found an engine :). And went back to speedo / fuel/ temp.

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OP
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Gromett
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ok, I have the order in with Banggood.

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OP
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Gromett
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The first part of the project will be making a small device that connects to the vans battery (under the bonnet).
It will monitor the battery voltage and send me a message if it gets too low. If I am in the van it will do this via the local network and will be linked to my android phone/tablet via bluetooth. If I am away from the van it will send me an SMS message. These are all user selectable.

It will have only 2 wires. These will be + and - and connect directly to the battery. This means I don't have to route wire from the engine bay to the living area. I will just velcro the module to the side of the battery.

I am aiming so that it uses less than 1 micro amp of power when idling. It will not affect the battery even if left enabled for months at a time. It will wake up once very 15 minutes or once an hour, take a measurement and then go back to sleep.

I have a few more ideas for it but these are specific to my needs.

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Last edited:
OP
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Gromett
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I have a list as long as my arm of little projects like this for motorhomes which all link to a master controller and have android apps to control.
 
Sep 24, 2013
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You know you can get a Raspberry Pi Zero for around a fiver nowadays. If you can find one.

Just noted your Arduinos come in a pack of 10. Excellent value.
 
OP
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Gromett
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You know you can get a Raspberry Pi Zero for around a fiver nowadays. If you can find one.

Just noted your Arduinos come in a pack of 10. Excellent value.
Yup, Hard to beat £1.42 each for a computer and free shipping. That is the reason I moved from using the pi.
I was originally thinking of using the pi running php/apache with a browser based interface.

As I now want to make progress with android development I can drop the php/apache requirement and go with cheap microcontrollers.

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OP
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Gromett
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Just found something rather interesting. The Arduino pro mini is £1.42 each. I have just found out about the ATTiny85 chip. This is $0.99 each.
It is only an 8 bit chip with only 6 I/O ports. But I only need on A/D input and the nRF24L01 use 3 pins. This still leaves me 2 I/O pins I think.
Still working out the details. But if this all works out as I think it does. I will be able to build the voltage sensor/sender unit for less than £2.

The one thing I was concerned about for this is that the ATTiny85 doesn't have dedicated interrupt pin due to the low pin count but it does have Pin change interrupts so that uses up another pin. I love efficiency :) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141666081508

This solution is not only cheaper it allows me to make it a lot smaller. I think it will be about 3.5cm x 2cm x 2cm in size... Because it is a lower power unit, I will just use the watch dog timer to send it to sleep for X minutes, when it wakes up, read the voltage, send it and go back to sleep.

In case you are wondering what I am planning with this.

I will have a master arduino controller that will have a receiver. This will either be a pro mini or a mega. I am ordering both and will decide as the project unfolds.
The tiny85 like I described above will be used anywhere I want a sensor. For example I will have one on my water tank to measure the water level. I will have others for temperature sensors so I can read outdoor temp and boiler temp etc. I can set alarms if the temperature gets too low.

All this sensor info will go back to the central main arduino receiver where it will either send it to a display, send an email, send an SMS or link to an Android App.

There is a lot more to it than just this but I can see I am going to have some fun with it already.
 

sdc77

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Hope this goes well for you. Sounds a great project. I'll certainly offer to be a guinea pig if you need one. If we're home our van is always plugged in with Internet on.
 

The Dotties

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Are you a professional with all these whizz bangs, or are you a self taught hobbyist.
Whichever, I'm well impressed.(y)

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