Motorhome Automation (1 Viewer)

kevenh

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The 1st issue you have is an internet connection via 3/4g - This is the medium by which I can transmit data home
My moho setup doesn’t use much data but you will need this and some kind of wifi in your moho.
Probably a ‘mifi’ device would work if you have a good phone signal at you storage site (you would need to power it from the leisure batteries though)
A Mifi device connected to a wfi/Ethernet switch is going to be better than a Mifi device alone.
Main reason that without the switch there's no interconnection of MH devices & sensors. All signal paths are to 4g and back between them.
 
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Skylight & leak sensors are just ‘standard’ (zigbee) wireless sensors used in any home automation system.
they usually cost around £20 -£40 each
My preference is to use Samsung SmartThings branded devices.
Amazon product ASIN B07H9KGJQK
Amazon product ASIN B07XZ833L2
They seem to be unavailable atm but will no doubt come back into stock at some point.

The grey water sensors are just a different brand of contact sensor which I have modified by soldering two wires across the magnetic sensor - This means I can force a ‘closed’ signal by connecting the two wires together with grey water
The Hubitat hub programming takes care of sending the messages/emails for me
 
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Main reason that without the switch there's no interconnection of MH devices & sensors. All signal paths are to 4g and back between them.
If you are just monitoring voltage etc without a ‘hub’ then a mifi would work because the devices would just ‘talk’ to the web, not each other.
But if like me you want them to talk to each other then yes, you need to install a router/switch

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kevenh

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If you are just monitoring voltage etc without a ‘hub’ then a mifi would work because the devices would just ‘talk’ to the web, not each other
(y)
I tried to write it quite neutral but maybe needed more words.
For basic back to base sensor reporting, a mifi router is all that's needed.

Later, when that application is expanded to internal MH automation the 4g Mifi becomes the limitation. Then a separate switch for internal connections is better, imo
 
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Later, when that application is expanded to internal MH automation the 4g Mifi becomes the limitation. Then a separate switch for internal connections is better, imo
I agree 100% :)
 
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This is the system I bought.
Not cheap, and I could probably have made something up cheaper But I wanted a quick fix

Amazon product ASIN B084ZYWXJT
One thing it can do is auto connect to my home wifi when parked on the drive - perfect for updates etc

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May 29, 2013
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This might interest you.
It’s the post I made on the Hubitat forum detailing some of the work I have done so far


Andy

I have read with much interest your article. Loads of interesting ideas in there.

However, your idea of having a buzzer to tell you if a window is open could lull you into a false sense of security perhaps ?

A window can be in the closed position, but not locked by the window catches. So therefore if you set off happily as the buzzer has not sounded you might find yourself going round a corner then the window goes open and maybe, if your very unlucky, strikes something.

The last item on my leaving site checklist is "walk around the vehicle and check everything for tightness."

Rather like a flight crew on an aircraft. They will have loads of sensors to tell them the state of the aircraft, but they usually walk round it, kick the tyres and pull on bits to make sure they are not going to fall off.
 
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Cobra Just wondering if you know of an App / receiver / switch where on the app there is a numerical keypad 0 - 10 where you enter a four figure code eg 1234 and the receiver only operates when the correct code is received.

But the code number is encoded by the app each time. IE a little like the enigma machine where 1234 would be transmitted as 4567 one time then 8765 the next etc. But obviously the receiver has to know what the received encoded code should be.

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Jaws

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The 1st issue you have is an internet connection via 3/4g - This is the medium by which I can transmit data home
My moho setup doesn’t use much data but you will need this and some kind of wifi in your moho.
Probably a ‘mifi’ device would work if you have a good phone signal at you storage site (you would need to power it from the leisure batteries though)

You can actually monitor voltages and temperature using a couple of wifi devices that are quite cheap, without using a Hubitat hub
I just do it that way because I can and because I use the hub for other things.
I also use the Hubitat hub to bring everything together so I don’t have to login to separate websites to see the data
The Pi is not necessary at all, I just use it atm to update my software code remotely as I find new things to do.
I am a bit baffled ( does not take alot ! )
You are are using a hub, a phone plus a camera ( which is never shut right down as it detects movement ) yet only 100mA is being drawn
According to Hubitat their hub alone has an average draw of 80 mA ( between 50 and 110mA depending on what it is doing ) which does not leave a lot for everything else going on ?
I freely admit I am a bit paranoid when it comes to batteries ( mainly 'cos we very rarely have hook up and do like to start with pretty healthy charge levels )
I am NOT being picky or obtuse this is a genuine interest :)
 
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Jaws
The figure quoted from Hubitat is the standard hub using in-built apps and zigbee and z-wave radios
Stripping them down and inducing a kind of ‘sleep’ reduces that most of the time
I only use my own simple coded apps & drivers on the hub
I also only use zigbee so that the z-wave radio is turned off which helps a lot.
The zigbee radio goes into a low power ‘receive’ mode as it’s not sending any instructions for most of the time
The hub will ‘wake up’ if it receives a motion or contact event, this then turns on the camera and the internet connection.
Motion, contact sensors etc are battery powered so have no draw on the leisure batteries (batteries last On average 6-12 months)
At this time it will also send data home.
If no ‘events’ are received then the hub will wake up periodically (currently set for about 6 hours but I’m reviewing that) to send environmental data.
Doing all this means the ‘average’ power consumption is very low which I am hoping will be taken care of by my solar.

Andy
 

DumfriesDik

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I think this is a really useful thread.

Unlike dipsie I am very happy to be here although I am unable to do half the things I want to. As the Black Night might say "Its just a flesh wound". I'm pleased to report dipsie that it takes much more to break the human spirit. Usually.

I love environmental controls at home as they make my life so much easier. I have considered how the iNet might help, but this is another level, brilliant. I am new to motorhoming, we are still learning all about it and how the things hang together. I do see some sort of automation in the future though.

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Jaws

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Jaws
The figure quoted from Hubitat is the standard hub using in-built apps and zigbee and z-wave radios
Stripping them down and inducing a kind of ‘sleep’ reduces that most of the time
I only use my own simple coded apps & drivers on the hub
I also only use zigbee so that the z-wave radio is turned off which helps a lot.
The zigbee radio goes into a low power ‘receive’ mode as it’s not sending any instructions for most of the time
The hub will ‘wake up’ if it receives a motion or contact event, this then turns on the camera and the internet connection.
Motion, contact sensors etc are battery powered so have no draw on the leisure batteries (batteries last On average 6-12 months)
At this time it will also send data home.
If no ‘events’ are received then the hub will wake up periodically (currently set for about 6 hours but I’m reviewing that) to send environmental data.
Doing all this means the ‘average’ power consumption is very low which I am hoping will be taken care of by my solar.

Andy
Thanks Andy.. in your experience does the radio ever get interference from cell towers .. Just looked and Vodafone uses 800+ mhz for 4G and I have personal experience of how 'dirty' some of their transmitter are !
 
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If you want a laugh, watch this tomorrow's world internet special from the year 2000, it shows how far we have come in twenty years.

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OP
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in your experience does the radio ever get interference from cell towers
zigbee uses 2.4mhz so hub -> sensors can be affected by wifi signals if you do not configure the channels correctly
z-wave uses the 900mhz band which I don’t use in the MoHo but I do use at home (although it’s not my favourite protocol and I only have a few z-wave devices.)
I don’t think I have ever had interference that I can attribute to cell phone towers either at home or away.
until about 5 minutes ago, I had not considered putting one of my ham radios in the MoHo but maybe...

Andy
 
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Compared to this guy.. I’m just an amateur..

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OP
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I’m not sure what you are asking here
I think the closest thing I wrote would be one of my lock control apps.
This generates a single use Lock code which randomly changes - removing the old code and replacing it with a new one (sending a msg with the new code to the owner)

It should be noted that I don’t write ‘windows’ apps
I write apps/drivers in a computer language called ‘Groovy’ which it used in smart home hubs like Hubitat and SmartThings.

If you can expand a bit more on what you are looking for then perhaps I can suggest something.

Andy
 

Jaws

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I had not considered putting one of my ham radios in the MoHo but maybe...
Just yesterday got a new dual bander for the van.. but the third harmonic of 70cms is well above what your using, and the fifth at 2mtrs is well below.. And if a rig is sticking qrm out at a 7th it REALLY needs looking at, so I reckon you would be in the clear.. Of course, if you are thinking HF... well a 100w of anything can swamp all sorts, not at a primary level or even a harmonic, but it can screw up proccessors real easy and you are likely to be the new ferrite bead king of Motorhome Fun LOL !!
 
OP
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I go through phases where I put all the ham gear away for a few months then my enthusiasm sparks up again, when I have more spare time.
I’m not sure what band I would use and what antennas I would use (and if I could get away with putting one in the moho without swmbo complaining :) )
Probably 2m/70cm would be the most useful

Andy

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zigbee uses 2.4mhz so hub -> sensors can be affected by wifi signals if you do not configure the channels correctly
That's 2.4GHz, not MHz. It's the same band as '2GHz' wifi, some 3G/4G cellphone bands, and microwave ovens.
 

dipsie

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DumfriesDik, get off my back, I have done very well in my life, both business wise and pleasure activities. If I do not wish to expand my knowledge of what is technically possible today I have the right to my personal expression of the fact.
Although I am of an age where none of this modern technical knowledge was even thought about, I and maybe a few others are just happy that our cars/Motorhome’s actually just start with all the modern interference from dpf, egr ( put that in your iPad and see what those initials come out as ! word spell ? )
I’m more than happy that you are able to intellectually to configure how to apply this technology to your van, I am not interested.
If you do not have anything useful to comment about my outlook on this article do not highlight my name, if you intended an insult I have had worse.

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Dec 28, 2020
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Hi all

I've been a longtime lurker on this forum, but this is the first thread that's prompted me to step out of the shadows (and I have a bit more time now the conversion is complete).

The whole automation thing really interests me, and I'm currently building a Homeseer zwave system for the house, adding some new functionality every couple of months when I get time.

Its really interesting that any kind of automation for when your in the van is probably a bit pointless, but automation for when your not in it has great potential.

My own system in the van is nowhere near as advanced as Andy's, but for anyone who is thinking of buying a 4g router for their van, my approach might be an easy way of dipping a toe in the water.
 
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(New post as I didn't want my first post to be an essay in case it didn't work and I had to re-write it all)

Our 4g router is a Teltonika 4g RUT955.

Nothing special about the Internet side of it, but it has a built in GPS receiver, a relay and a couple of digital and analogue I/O pins.

GPS - using the software already on the router, I can geofence the van to 'home' and it will send me and the wife a text message evertime it 'leaves home'. I can also text the van at anytime to see where it is, handy for meeting up after bike rides etc.

Relay - could be wired to pretty much anything to turn it on/off

I/O pins similar to the relay, with only slightly more knowledge.

The analogue input measures voltage, and can be easily configured to send a text message if voltage drops below a certain threshold.

Personally I bought a cheap analogue temperature probe for a tenner on the bay, and wired it via the analogue input. Now if the temperature drops below freezing we both get a text reminding us to drain it down or stick the heating on.

For some increased complexity and more relays, I bought a kmtronic ethernet relay board, this plugs into the ethernet socket on the router and has 8 relays that can be remotely triggered. I had big plans during the conversion to use this relay board for lots of stuff but a combination of various difficulties and lack of time put this one on the back burner.

Still, for anyone looking to purchase a 4g router for their van, the RUT955 gets you a bit of simple automation without any fancy coding needed and no additional hardware.
 
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Why I ended up not using the additional relays (or at least haven't yet):

1) switching various appliances on/off via the kmtronic relay board meant they all had to have an individual circuit running back to the board (so for example you can't turn the TV off individually if its on a wider circuit with loads of other stuff, so the TV would need its own circuit). I was already struggling with the large volume of wiring passing through some pinch points in the van, so having loads of extra wiring would have just made things harder. This is where Andy's more advanced zigbee system comes in, as communication is not via wire.

2) I wanted to be able to lock/unlock the doors remotely (check its locked at night, let the wife in when she forgets her keys etc), but the electronic system on the crafter was a bit too advanced to be cracked in 5 minutes with a multimeter. I might come back to this one day, especially if anyone here has any knowledge that can help :)

3) we went out of our way to get the 'analogue' version of the Truma varioheat (painful as it turned out). The logic being i could hack into the analogue wiring and control via relays. Turns out Truma's description of 'analogue' meant really just that it didn't have an LCD panel. The control signals are still sent digitally from the thumbwheel panel via an ethernet cable (as far as I could tell from spending an hour in front of the TV with the controller and a multimeter) so this plan was thwarted. We could invest in the Truma inet system, but its expensive and won't work on wifi (or provide wifi) so we'd need a second sim contract.

We also have an IP cctv camera, but we don't use it for security. Its there as a baby monitor for the kids so we can sit in the pub!!!!!

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Dec 28, 2020
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Cobra Just wondering if you know of an App / receiver / switch where on the app there is a numerical keypad 0 - 10 where you enter a four figure code eg 1234 and the receiver only operates when the correct code is received.

But the code number is encoded by the app each time. IE a little like the enigma machine where 1234 would be transmitted as 4567 one time then 8765 the next etc. But obviously the receiver has to know what the received encoded code should be.
Its been a while since I set it up, but I think the RUT955 can be configured to only respond to certain phone numbers (to stop anyone else having your van).

Is this the kind of thing you mean?
 

TheBig1

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Whatttttt !
I am more than happy with my lot, if I get to the stage that I ca’nt turn on/off our lights, heating, etc because I’m not fit or able to myself it is time I wer’nt here.

Our camper has the Truma I.net system which I am thinking I might get a SIM card for it, just to keep an eye on the battery status. That is “ modern tech “ for me.

At least the Russians shouldn’t shaft our house ,unless of course they manage to hack our suppliers.
believe me dipsie having broken my back years ago, the option to switch things on and off just using my voice or using other technology makes life more possible than it was years ago for a disabled person. Sadly your comment about time you wer'nt here as you put it is insulting to many but typical attitude of people stuck in the past.
 
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Its been a while since I set it up, but I think the RUT955 can be configured to only respond to certain phone numbers (to stop anyone else having your van).

Is this the kind of thing you mean?
Have you any more details of this system please. Could be on the way to what I want.

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