I've been thinking of ways to monitor the 'grey' waste tank on the MoHo
Currently, the in-built system is not very reliable when it comes to alerting about levels
So.. I thought about a couple of contact sensors hacked to have leads on them
With a couple of sensors, one at the bottom, one half way up and one at the top, I can get the info into the Hubitat hub
Then it's just a case of editing the MoHo app and setting up some alerts.
The additional code for the inputs and alerts is very easy & quick to do..
Drilling the tank and mounting the sensors might take a while
I am way for this week-end (probably the last this year) so will think on this one for a while...
You might want to check out Everlanders on Youtube. I've linked to a playlist where "DIY Water Level and Flowmeters using Blynk and Arduino Project" can be of particular interest to you.
I’ve got almost 40 years of RV / Live aboard boats ( they are really the same infrastructure systems, just don’t take your RV boating ). When you get new house batteries ( leisure as you call ). Here we call the batteries in a Motor Home Starting batteries and House batteries. Go with AGMs.
We have the Winegard ConnecT antenna / internet and it works well. You can either activate a sim or you can connect it to a campground WIFI or hotspot off your phone.
As for TV, we have an automatic satellite dome, which is OK for tv while driving but every good campsite has trees that ( somehow ) are just where it blocks the signal 80% of the time but for parking lot overnighters or event ( racetrack, festivals) that are mostly field parking it’s great.
Ya, I’ve seen that. And maintaining the running gear of an RV ( without water submerging ) is a PITA of itself. There is no way ( even if you gave it to me ) I would want to combine the two biggest money pits into one huge complex money pit. The RV repair guy would say “that’s a boat problem, the boat guy would say thats a vehicle mechanic problem and the mechanic would say you need to go to an RV dealer for that.
Honestly, as a seasoned boon docker, I would be more focused on monitoring the amp hours going in and out of the batteries than the actual voltage. Voltage is a very flawed way of reading battery usage.
The factory tank level sensors never really work well. The inside of the tanks are usually always damp with bits of debris which causes false readings
My research into possible project for my own rv sensor system lead me to these non-contact sensors that don't rely on moisture across probes to complete a circuit. Plus no drilling into tank and possible leaks. Note: I never actually used these sensors so I cant speak to their performance. Its on the back burner. Working on an auto-leveling system.
You would need an arduino or esp8266 with Hubduino (wifi) but should accomplish your goal with more reliability.
All I’m really concerned with is maintaining a level about a couple of figures
12.1v is around 50% charge and 10v is a danger point to damage the batteries if they stay at (or move below) that level.
This is more for the long storage duration than anything else.. I can always visit the storage site and put a gennie on to top them up if too low.
I know this is not an accurate way to measure the batteries’ capability, but will give me an indication of state of charge.
I’m still working on a few ideas for this.
Also, I have a grey water tank that is only 50l so not really ideal
I may add an additional tank or replace it with a larger one
So the level measurement is going on the back burner for a while
So, I've come up with a couple of new ideas that I'm working on.
One of the things everyone seems to do (myself included) is use 'checklists'
I hate them but agree that sometimes they are necessary.
With a small motorhome like mine, the lists tend to be smaller than most but still..
One of my checklists is for leaving a pitch
A couple of things on that list I can automate..
Did I close all the windows/doors/skylights (roof windows)
Did I disconnect the AC mains lead?
The first problem is telling Hubitat that we are leaving..
I don't want any kind of button or alexa command so I thought about this for a while
What's the one thing I do when leaving a site?
"Turn on the vehicle's ignition to start the engine"
So... a 12v relay activated by the 1st click of the ignition key (acc?) can close a pre-wired contact to tell HE that we are about to move.
A few lines of code to check all the windows/doors/roof windows should work
BUT.. I don't want to look at a dashboard or anything
A 12vdc Shelly1 device to the rescue again!
If any contacts are open when the ignition is switched on also turns on the shelly1 relay.. this activates a buzzer.
So now.. if I turn on the ignition and a contact is open I will be informed and can check. Once all contacts are closed, the buzzer stops (by turning off the shelly1)
A 240vac mains relay, connected to one of the socket circuits (along with another contact sensor) will tell Hubitat if there is power connected.
Again the ignition turn on will perform a check and a different buzzer will go off (with another cheap shelly1) - Disconnecting the mains will stop the buzzer by turning off the shelly1
Right now I'm toying with the idea to use TTS to inform about these things but I'm not sure I can get away with this as TTS is considered automation by SWMBO
This is what my 'MoHo Monitoring' device driver looks like so far...
Obviously, I will be looking to use the door/window contacts in some sort of security capacity.. more thinking to do later on that one..
You may also notice that I have a couple of 'ShellyTemp' attributes.
I am playing with a Shelly1 with a couple of temperature probes connected.
I am thinking to monitor the temperature of the grey and fresh water tanks.
This is mostly for when the MoHo is in storage - I'm concerned about freezing and will probably setup a couple of alerts when the temp is too low.
The attribute 'TempStatus is 'ok' or 'freezing' depending on pre set thresholds
I remain impressed with the Shelly devices and @Evilborg (Scott) has done some wonderful work on the drivers! @Evilborg Will you be doing a 'Uni' driver Scott?
Yeah, I have a whole list.. I'm just looking at the ones I can automate atm
Unless I use a solenoid gas valve I'm unlikely to be able to automate these
If you have a water heater with electric start, it's controlled by a simple on/off switch.
Which would allow you to convert the circuit to add another Shelley relay for control and feedback.
The Shelly Uni arrived
What a brilliant bit of kit this is!
One of the things it has (which is why I bought some) is an ADC to report on voltage
This works brilliantly (if slightly inaccurately)
The one I'm using is reading about .097 volts low across the board.
I hacked together a driver to I could use it for voltage measurement only
(not really interested yet in anything else)
I also added an adjustment setting so I could easily add the adjustment to the battery/ADC attribute
Until a proper driver is released, this will do nicely
Currently the ADC and battery attributes are the same.
But, after extensive testing, I'm really happy with the result..
I now know the voltage of my leisure batteries and can react if they get too low (actually, I have already configured alerts for this)
I have put the Uni into a small AA battery case with just a pos & neg wire coming out so easy to install any where.
I'll post a couple of pics when I can
Thinking about purchasing a used Ford Nugget and as an avid Hubitat user following this thread with interest. I defintely will be installing a solar panel (or panels) to at least keep the main battery topped up when the nugget is not in use and ideally produce enough power to the leisure battery for extra or longer power when the nugget is in use. I am not really planning on using camping sites with eternal power resources so I really need the keep an eye on the battery levels. I am reading that a lot of nugget users are complaining that the voltage infos displayed in nugget are minimal (pretty much only show the voltage of the batteries only) which you seem to be content with but is personally not enough for me.
I would like to be able to see the current voltage and power consumption of both batteries and the amount of power being produced by the solar panels in a display within the vehicle (WAF) and additional at least on my phone and if at all possible within HE so as to be able to automate turning things off of producing warnings when certain power levels are reached.
I have looked into this pretty cool looking display for viewing the above within the vehicle and it looks like there are modules available that would additionally be able to show all of the above (solar panel power produced, battery voltage and Amp) as well as fluid levels in their app and on a local network.
Having all the information in on place seems important to be able to estimate how long your batteries will last depending on what amount of power you are consuming and being able to act before its too late,
I understand that you only really want to check the voltage of your batteries, but seeing as I have to install PV anyway I want to monitor both the input input and output and maintain the WAF
Take a look ad tell we what you think,
Cheers,
Marcus
PS. Gotta love those Shellys, I am using a few of them and also Sonoff Minis in HE
