Our tech on board - overview!
I have just released a video on our YouTube channel about our information Dashboard on Booby Do. This led me to muse about some of the tech we have on our rustic looking camper so I just wanted to outline some of the fun projects I have done. I will go into each in more detail in another post.
During the 30 Day Vanlife Challenge on Instagram one of the posts was about Gadgets - my favourite gadget has to be the Raspberry Pi. It is an incredibly versatile credit card sized Linux based computer. These were first invented by Eban Upton of Cambridge University as he was concerned at the lack of talent applying to do Computer Science he decided to do something about it. So he invented the Raspberry Pi, a low cost single board computer that can be connected to any TV via HDMI and peripherals via USB. The idea was that schools could buy these as they were very affordable and inspire kids to take up computing.
I have been using Raspberry Pi’s since they were first released, I remember dropping Rachel off at Bristol Airport and ordering my first from the car park on my phone the day it was released!!
I now have 5 on board Booby Do doing various tasks. I have one as my Media Player running Kodi. This connects to my 5v projector as I can watch movies etc on my 65 inch screen!
My second runs a computer Games emulator that has 35 different games systems installed, I am not a massive gamer so could not justify an X-Box but I do like to dabble.
Now we get to useful stuff. My third runs the Victron VRM system. This is connected to my Victron BMV-712 and my two MPPT charge controllers. This setup uses open source Victron software and allows me to monitor my power from anywhere over the internet! It is strangely compulsive viewing.
The fourth was the subject of my latest YouTube video, my information Dashboard. I am especially proud of this one. I created the dashboard from a dead laptop screen. The Pi can show one of four screens at any one time. The first screen has Calendar, ToDo countdown timers etc, the second screen is the Victron VRM dashboard so I can have the information on a large display. The third is the web interface for my Afterburner Chinese Diesel heater controller and finally I have PiHole installed a DNS add blocker. I have plans for this to include social media counters for YouTube and Instagram as I am a social media tart!
The fifth Pi is just waiting for a purpose, I am considering installing Home Assistant on it to try and coordinate all my IOT devices so I can run routines etc but watch this space!
The next bit of kit that was the subject of another video is my custom horn for Booby Do. This is based on an Adafruit SoundFX board. This essentially allows you to place custom sound effects into it’s flash memory that are played when a button is pressed. This in turn is connected to a mono 5v Amplifier and a waterproof outdoor speaker. It still makes me smile when I draw up somewhere playing Father Ted’s ‘My Lovely Horse’ or the theme from ‘Black Beauty’
To allow all this to happen I should talk about internet provision. As I work in IT I need a reliable Internet connection. I use an unlimited EE sim card in a TP-Link MR400 12v router. This in turn is connected to a Poynting Puck-2 on the roof. I used to be with 3 but was more and more frustrated with the coverage. Since moving to EE we have never not had any signal. This year we were even sat by Dunfanaghy beach in Donegal with 65Mbps download!
We have a 12v Cello TV that is pretty good but has been usurped by a 5v projector. This has Android built in but we connect this to Amazon Firestick as the connection to the T’interwebs is far more stable. This in turn projects onto an IKEA blackout blind that rolls down and gives a great 65” screen.
We have a recirculating shower that still has it’s teething problems, these are related to the length of pipe runs more than anything but is getting there. The water for this is heated by our Chinese Diesel heater that has the aftermarket Afterburner controller. This is an amazing piece of kit that allows you to control your Chinese Diesel heater and gives you loads of additional functionality, I would thoroughly recommend these. They come from Australia but they are well worth the wait. Finally the water is heated using the excellent Bobil Vans heat exchangers. These take the heat from the diesel heater and run it through a twin heat exchanger that heats the 18L reservoir to 50 degrees in about 35 minutes. Ed and Gabriella are an amazing couple and produce the most fantastic products!
We also have various intrusion sensors, incredibly loud alarm with alerting and cameras that record to the cloud incase we are broken into!! Oh and a very grumpy dog.
So this is just a quick overview of some of the tech on board, I will expand on a couple in other posts and do a sort of how to.