LakeErieC28
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2017
- Messages
- 28
- Fluid Motion Model
- R-21 EC
This isn't really a customization, rather a DIY still in progress and, full disclosure, it is a little nerdy -- but with winter setting in I wanted to share something that seems to work well for its purpose and may be of interest to other owners. I'm storing for the Ohio winter in an indoor unheated space on the trailer about 30 minutes from home. The vessel is completely winterized, but still has a small marine engine compartment heater in place to keep the temperature more moderate. I was interested in remote monitoring of it in case either the power goes out or the heater dies. There is wifi available at the storage location, so for about $80 total in parts and some tinkering with online tutorials, a Raspberry Pi computer makes a handy temperature and humidity sensor. It checks the temperature and humidity hourly and logs them. If the temperature is above a setpoint (I chose 42 degrees based on the Caframo Pali heater pre-set to kick on at that point), it emails me once a day with the current temperature and humidity and an "all is well" message. If the temperature ever falls below 42, it will text me hourly until it goes back above 42. If i don't get a daily "all is well" for a day or two, I'll guess the power is out, the wifi is out, or the Raspberry Pi died and go check it out.
Graphed output showing the heater kicking on and stabilizing the temperature as well as dropping the humidity - it'll be interesting to watch this through the winter to see how well the Pali keeps up on Ohio's -10 F mornings:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c8u2olzr790pe3k/EngineRoom.JPG?dl=0
Here is the starter tutorial, but there are many out there:
https://tutorials-raspberrypi.com/raspberry-pi-measure-humidity-temperature-dht11-dht22/
and If anyone is interested I'd be happy to send them the code (it is a cobbled together Python script, no making fun if you are a professional coder). If anyone has other ideas, I'd love to hear them. For example, another possibility would have been to buy a Nest thermostat, provide power to it and make it think it is connected to a furnace, and just 3-M Command-Strip that into the engine compartment... but that seemed like cheating.
Graphed output showing the heater kicking on and stabilizing the temperature as well as dropping the humidity - it'll be interesting to watch this through the winter to see how well the Pali keeps up on Ohio's -10 F mornings:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c8u2olzr790pe3k/EngineRoom.JPG?dl=0
Here is the starter tutorial, but there are many out there:
https://tutorials-raspberrypi.com/raspberry-pi-measure-humidity-temperature-dht11-dht22/
and If anyone is interested I'd be happy to send them the code (it is a cobbled together Python script, no making fun if you are a professional coder). If anyone has other ideas, I'd love to hear them. For example, another possibility would have been to buy a Nest thermostat, provide power to it and make it think it is connected to a furnace, and just 3-M Command-Strip that into the engine compartment... but that seemed like cheating.