Techie —Custom control station for our Solitude

**FreddieMac** · 06-22-2020, 07:29 AM

I think it looks pretty good. The only suggestion I would have it that as you go through the screens, have it highlighted differently in your menu what screen you are accessing. Other than that, it looks awesome.

Are you planning to use a timer for the out and in of the devices? How are you getting around the variability of things taking various times to roll out based on battery strength, wind conditions, etc...

Here is my go at it, I am taking a bit different approach, my right now is going to be a check list and monitoring system. Those buttons are just place holders. This is all written in tKinter GUI for python. If these sensors work like they did on my last RV, the black and grey tank sensors will quickly stop working. I have been researching the Tireminder transmitters right now. My first goal will be to get those read outs on this screen. I am about to order a RF/Radio sniffer so I can try to hack the protocol from the TM receivers which runs on 433.92 Mgz signal. I also, want to add a 12v shutoff switch for my TM transmitter. I know you can order different LP and tank sensors and I have been researching this the past week or so. My goal is to have a cheap, reliable system on my coach to monitor everything and track setup and breakdown list. I have seen that LCI touch screen system and I really do not like the UI design. Also, I have seen the "brain" of that system and it is massive. Embedded stuff should be smaller just on principle! LOL.

Again, everything you see is written in python and will be designed to run on a raspberry PI. This is a GUI that will run at 1024x768 on the 7" raspberry PI touch screen. I really have no deadlines, I am just working on this in my spare time. Ultimately, I will try to tie this into an echo dot so Alexa will be able to give my my tank status via voice command. Yours looks much more developed than mine!

**gbkims** · 06-22-2020, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by Kensoko

Thanks I am going to keep working on it, I will share my progress when I get closer. The hardware is a ScadaPack 334 PLC and a Redlion HMI. I have used them both for years and I'm familiar with there functions.

Software - PLC is Telepace Studio
HMI - Crimson 3.1

Just curious what's the PLC & HMI hardware, PLC & HMI software round out to.
I always sucked with Modicon based PLCs and only did slightly better with AB PLCs that we primarily used.

**Kensoko** · 06-22-2020, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by gbkims

Just curious what's the PLC & HMI hardware, PLC & HMI software round out to.
I always sucked with Modicon based PLCs and only did slightly better with AB PLCs that we primarily used.

PLC is a Scadapack32 it’s made by Schneider electric.
HMI is a Redlion

It’s a little easier than a modicon I have used them for year. There was still a learning curve I have about 40 hrs into the program.

**FreddieMac** · 07-17-2020, 06:56 PM

Quick update on my smart rv attempt. My goal is that everything will be accessed via the RV's tv. I want to have tire pressure monitor, lp tank monitor, wet tank monitoring, movie center and music center. I want the kids to be able to stream a movie at a different time than I am streaming a movie. So when we are in places with no Wifi or Cell data and its raining, we can each be watching our own movie.

To do this I setup a Raspberry PI to act as an AP. I also bought a Wifi externder system (linksys) so that we when I do have Wifi, I will be able to configure it for everyone. I got the raspberry pi and spent a week reading, researching and coding. I configured a media server with 1tb and have been ripping my dvd and cd collection. I hacked my iTunes library and grabbed all those to. It’s all been loaded on the PI. Next I started building a responsive website to work with the future PI hats. I am about to start hacking the tire pressure monitors. Tonight I finished the basic layout for my HD tv and a small iPod touch. I have been using Kodi as the media center software but it is a bit buggy. It keep crashing on startup plus I do not like that fact that it takes over the screen. I am working on a web based media center that will run via the browser.

Project cost to date:
$50 - Raspberry PI 4 starter kit- 2 gigs ram
$45 - 1 TB USB3 drive (I purchased this drive 4 years ago)
$25 - RTL-SDR dongle (Hopefully, this will be for hacking the RF signals produced by the Tireminder sensors)

Evolution of the project: Started working in python with tkinker. Found problems with that running on the mobile apps. Most of my family owns iOS products, so I decided that all the GUI needs to be web-based. I have switched to PHP for GUI interfacing and I am still using Python for the backend scripting to pull and parse data from the various sensors.

**Ynot4me2** · 07-18-2020, 07:11 AM

Nice

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

**FreddieMac** · 07-26-2020, 04:15 PM

Made some progress on the RVMaster monitoring and media system. With so much to do, I decided to start with the media server. I downloaded Kodi and was using that system but it kept crashing. I found the software was good but it had problems working when disconnected from the internet. My goal is to have a system that will monitor all the vitals of the RV and provide media services when I cannot get get access to Wifi. With 4 kids and a wife in the rv on a rainy day I wanted a system that would allow them all to connect to it and access the information. Here is the topology. I purchased a wifi extender for the raspberry pi. I now that as the AP for general connection by people and that is connected to the gig port. So when someone connects to the system, they will be redirected to the RV Master monitoring and media center.

With so much work but scrapping a lot of what I have done this point, I decided to do a ground up build. I started this last weekend and in my spare time I have develop the shell of the site and completed version one of the Movie database and delivery system. Using HTML5 and php, the system is very light and easy to use. Here are some pics from the Movie system. This system makes a json connection back to The Movie Database to search for information on the movie. It completely downloads all information into the Raspberry Pi for use offline. I have a full functioning movie system. Pretty happy with that for one weeks worth of work.

Next step: I got my rtl-sdr dongle this week, I am trying to hack my tire pressure monitors to see if I can figure out how to monitor that real-time on the software.