RV Status Program

[Advanturetrek]

Thank you for sharing. I've been considering something similar for my under construction van, so I'm eager to learn more about your setup.

Are there things you wish you had in the original van that would have made the automation easier/better?

To plan ahead for my van, I'm choosing components with documented interfaces and protocols, such as the Bogart Trimetric battery monitor (TTL-level serial) and the Morningstar solar charge controller (ethernet or RS-232). Also, I'm adding extra wiring. Do you recommend anything else?

Thanks.

[Scalf77]

Herb
Thanks

Originally Posted by jage

So, instead of the 4 relay*, maybe doesn't work with the keyfob, couldn't you just put a depression switch in the door to be caught by the actual lock knob when down? Maybe add a small tab to the bottom of the knob to catch?
* Doesn't this cause a drain when sitting? I mean, one or more of those is closed in locked or unlocked, and I always try to wire my relays to sit open so as not to cause a drain... of course it could pale in comparison to everything else monitoring the van...

Yes, it does use power in the locked state. I would say it is minimal in the overall scheme of things. Also all the the extra power items can be killed by pulling the fuse. If power is off, the the stuff should work as is. The things I added that I can not turn off were the 611T relays, these use minimal draw when not active. So, I did try to minimize power use and make sure it would not stop normal usage if not powered up.

I certainly might entertain a consulting fee for putting something together and I am open to ideas. In a lot of ways the software is already customizable, I do need to do some further tweaks. But if people had a specific idea, I could look into it.

Originally Posted by daveb

OK Greg, that's a lot to take in, but did I miss the battery temp monitor? If I could swing it, I'd like to monitor each battery so the charge stops if any battery reaches about 90 degrees.

BTW I think a B-2 bomber is only slightly more complicated than your van...wow!

Dave, this one is already on my to do list. I will probably just add another thermocouple module and do my house and van batteries, since it has 4 ports I could do two van batteries and two house batteries. Currently I read the house battery temp through my Xantrex Battery Monitor in my carputer. The Phidget 1072 board does support a serial port so I may move it over to the 1072. I would have to write the code for the 1072 to handle that. The second problem I have with that is turning off the charging source. I currently have a couple of solutions in mind, but as you could tell by my answer to Jage, it must have minimal power draw in normal usage, and not interfere with normal usage. But that is on the list of things to support.

Joey,
I haven't really looked into RFID, other then the use of a anti-theft system. The program does have some setup screens, so the terms on /off could be configured to open/close
twogone,
for the record I am an engineer for a high tech company in the Portland area. I have worked on computers for 30+ years, I started as a technician for a main-frame company in 1980. As you can imagine I have seen a lot of changes in the years. But I don't write code for a living and consider myself a novice programmer.

WVvan,
Thanks,I wish I had your ability to document and write up my work

Advanturetrek,
I have the trip-lite inverter, I wish it had an easy way to turn it off. You can easily change it from invert to charge only, but not off. But even that is just an obstacle to get around. You have the right idea in looking for things with documented protocols, I have a Xantrex Battery Monitor that I have written code for and I looked at the Morningstar controller. Yes the wiring can be a pain in the A**. Think ahead to where you might need to get things from one side of the van to the other, and lay in a couple of spares.

Oh I forgot, a pic of the wireless adapter



-greg

[daveb]

Originally Posted by twogone

Stunning, just stunning Any chance you'd tell us what your day job is?

I think he built the B-2! One of those black opps guys.

[frostyone]

*Impressive*

As far as his day job, from his location, lots of tech companies, the largest being Intel.

[cygvan]

...i want this station operational...

[TomH]

Holy smoley. I think he must have just retired from NASA as a shuttle crew chief. Unbelievable. You really should package the whole system and market it for all expedition vehicles. So impressive!

Only one minor suggestion: on the control screen, delete the d from refrigerator. The Latin base frigid and the vernacular fridge both have a d, though in differing places, so one enunciates a soft g rather than a hard g sound (think about the difference in the g sound if you simply remove the id from frigid), but refrigerator has no d, as it is not needed to prevent saying a, shall we say, colorful word.

[Scalf77]

Originally Posted by TomH

Only one minor suggestion: on the control screen, delete the d from refrigerator. The Latin base frigid and the vernacular fridge both have a d, though in differing places, so one enunciates a soft g rather than a hard g sound (think about the difference in the g sound if you simply remove the id from frigid), but refrigerator has no d, as it is not needed to prevent saying a, shall we say, colorful word.

Tom,
Thanks for the feedback, your explanation takes the bite out of it. I have always been challenged when it comes to spelling, heck I once used erotic instead of erratic in a paper for high school. You can imagine the look on my face when the teacher pointed it out for the whole class. I would like to blame it on the late night coding efforts, but I really can not.

As far as the skills to do such a project, you guys are being way to gracious. There are so many people on this forum that bring such creative skills and knowledge to the table.

-greg

[gerrym51]

wow a BIONIC sportsmobile

[simplesez]

I just wanted to bump this up so people can be as amazed as I was to see this RV Status monitor system.

[DCHitt]

Originally Posted by simplesez

I just wanted to bump this up so people can be as amazed as I was to see this RV Status monitor system.

Yes, a really nice job. My only suggestion is that he could have picked up some of the data he was looking for (like door open) from the van's "CAN-BUS'.

I want to hack into the CAN-BUS on my Promaster so I'm just starting to put some hardware together to do that.

I'd like to control Auto-Start on low battery, hi/lo temp, and a few other things.

Lots of fun when you are a retired computer engineer.