flyboy013
RVF VIP
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2020
- Messages
- 343
- Location
- Naples, Florida
- RV Year
- 2018
- RV Make
- Newmar
- RV Model
- Mountain Aire 4531
- RV Length
- 45
- Chassis
- Spartan K3
- Engine
- Cummins ISX12 (500HP)
- TOW/TOAD
- 2023 Jeep GC Summit Reserve
- Fulltimer
- Yes
First off, I’d like to apologies for the long post, but I wanted to provide interested individuals with a good overview of what I’ve been working on.
For the past several years (we got our coach in Dec 2017) I’ve been developing a smart home capability for my Newmar couch and I’ve finally reached a point where I’m ready for a beta tester (besides my wife)!
My goal was to develop a capability that utilizes the modern technologies that we have become familiar with in smart homes. This system that I developed runs on a small footprint server (roughly 3”x4”) and connects to the RV-C network via the maintenance port or an available hub port. (I originally had the system in my RV plugged into the maintenance port, but now have it plugged into an available RV-C port that I found the cabinet above the driver). The system can be power via a 120V outlet (available in overhead cabinet), or via 12V DC.
Most of my effort to date has been focused on the RV-C network, but I have also integrated with the KIB network and can perform most any function that is available on the KIB panels themselves. Although, I’m in the process of developing a new HW module for interfacing with the KIB network.
Here’s a snapshot of the “Home” screen, which I customized based on what I have found to be important to me.
To give you a little but of an overview, the top row of buttons show the temperatures of each zone within the coach. I have color coded the temperature to show if it’s out of what I considered the normal range (to be configurable later). I have also set the background color to show me if the HVAC system is currently active for the zone. This provides me with a quick status of the temperatures and info on which HVAC units are currently running to cool or heat the coach. Clicking on the temperature brings up a graph that provides historical temperature information.
The next section provides information on the water pump/tanks. I can click on the water pump icon button and it will toggle the pump on and off. This interaction is immediate and doesn’t require any email or FTP protocols. On the “water” page, I can also control the Oasis burners/AC, and open/close my waste tanks utilizing a separately developed capability.
The next section provides me with battery information. Voltages for both sets of batteries and whether the charge bridge is current active. Then I have the current charging state and how much current is being output by the charger. This information updates several times a second as I am reading data directly off of the RV-C network and the application updates at the same rate as the data is available.
We then have AC power information and then the lock status (with the ability to lock and unlock the entrance door and compartments). Also the ability to turn the burner on/off. The light buttons turn on/off all the lights just as you would when pressing the two KIB panel buttons simultaneously.
In addition to displaying all this data; allowing the user to turn things on and off; and graphing the historical data; I have integrated notifications (application based notifications and SMS) and automations.
My goal was to be keep informed when “things” happen. Right now I receive notifications when the doors are [un]locked, the power source changes, the generator starts, the engine starts, batteries are low, and many more. I find this to be useful for when my coach is in the shop, so that I know when they are actually working on it, as well when I’m away from the campground and the coach looses power. There are also many other use cases.
I have setup automations such when the coach starts to move, the water pump will automatically turn off. I even have an automation to turn off the pesky KIB panel backlight at night time and then turn the back on the morning. (I actually have the system setup to dim them at late evening, and then turn them completely off at bedtime).
I have tested out integration with Siri and Alexa. I haven’t finished this yet, as there is so much on my roadmap and only so much time to implement.
As many of you may know, remote access into the RV is not easily available as your coach typically has a private IP address from the campground or cell provider. The system connects up to a commercial cloud server via a secure tunnel and the the user/coach owner does the same. I was concerned with having the coach accessible via the Internet so I built in a means to limit access to the coach.
As I stated above, I have worked on this capability for nearly 2.5 years now and the capability has matured quite a bit, but there are still so many ideas that I have for additional capabilities.
So I’m at a point where I’d like for someone to give the capability a try. I’m located in Southern Maryland and would prefer a beta user that’s in the general area so that I can do the install and be available for in person updates and discussions. Given that I’m working on a update to the KIB interface capability, the testing would be limited to accessing the RV-C network, thus a Newmar Mountaine Aire on up.
If you’re interested and/or have any questions about this capability, please chime in.
I’m hoping that his capability will be helpful to the many of us that desire to have a smart RV / connected coach. I’m not yet sure what the path will be to get this out there, but I’ll get that figured out as things proceed.
For the past several years (we got our coach in Dec 2017) I’ve been developing a smart home capability for my Newmar couch and I’ve finally reached a point where I’m ready for a beta tester (besides my wife)!
My goal was to develop a capability that utilizes the modern technologies that we have become familiar with in smart homes. This system that I developed runs on a small footprint server (roughly 3”x4”) and connects to the RV-C network via the maintenance port or an available hub port. (I originally had the system in my RV plugged into the maintenance port, but now have it plugged into an available RV-C port that I found the cabinet above the driver). The system can be power via a 120V outlet (available in overhead cabinet), or via 12V DC.
Most of my effort to date has been focused on the RV-C network, but I have also integrated with the KIB network and can perform most any function that is available on the KIB panels themselves. Although, I’m in the process of developing a new HW module for interfacing with the KIB network.
Here’s a snapshot of the “Home” screen, which I customized based on what I have found to be important to me.
To give you a little but of an overview, the top row of buttons show the temperatures of each zone within the coach. I have color coded the temperature to show if it’s out of what I considered the normal range (to be configurable later). I have also set the background color to show me if the HVAC system is currently active for the zone. This provides me with a quick status of the temperatures and info on which HVAC units are currently running to cool or heat the coach. Clicking on the temperature brings up a graph that provides historical temperature information.
The next section provides information on the water pump/tanks. I can click on the water pump icon button and it will toggle the pump on and off. This interaction is immediate and doesn’t require any email or FTP protocols. On the “water” page, I can also control the Oasis burners/AC, and open/close my waste tanks utilizing a separately developed capability.
The next section provides me with battery information. Voltages for both sets of batteries and whether the charge bridge is current active. Then I have the current charging state and how much current is being output by the charger. This information updates several times a second as I am reading data directly off of the RV-C network and the application updates at the same rate as the data is available.
We then have AC power information and then the lock status (with the ability to lock and unlock the entrance door and compartments). Also the ability to turn the burner on/off. The light buttons turn on/off all the lights just as you would when pressing the two KIB panel buttons simultaneously.
In addition to displaying all this data; allowing the user to turn things on and off; and graphing the historical data; I have integrated notifications (application based notifications and SMS) and automations.
My goal was to be keep informed when “things” happen. Right now I receive notifications when the doors are [un]locked, the power source changes, the generator starts, the engine starts, batteries are low, and many more. I find this to be useful for when my coach is in the shop, so that I know when they are actually working on it, as well when I’m away from the campground and the coach looses power. There are also many other use cases.
I have setup automations such when the coach starts to move, the water pump will automatically turn off. I even have an automation to turn off the pesky KIB panel backlight at night time and then turn the back on the morning. (I actually have the system setup to dim them at late evening, and then turn them completely off at bedtime).
I have tested out integration with Siri and Alexa. I haven’t finished this yet, as there is so much on my roadmap and only so much time to implement.
As many of you may know, remote access into the RV is not easily available as your coach typically has a private IP address from the campground or cell provider. The system connects up to a commercial cloud server via a secure tunnel and the the user/coach owner does the same. I was concerned with having the coach accessible via the Internet so I built in a means to limit access to the coach.
As I stated above, I have worked on this capability for nearly 2.5 years now and the capability has matured quite a bit, but there are still so many ideas that I have for additional capabilities.
So I’m at a point where I’d like for someone to give the capability a try. I’m located in Southern Maryland and would prefer a beta user that’s in the general area so that I can do the install and be available for in person updates and discussions. Given that I’m working on a update to the KIB interface capability, the testing would be limited to accessing the RV-C network, thus a Newmar Mountaine Aire on up.
If you’re interested and/or have any questions about this capability, please chime in.
I’m hoping that his capability will be helpful to the many of us that desire to have a smart RV / connected coach. I’m not yet sure what the path will be to get this out there, but I’ll get that figured out as things proceed.
