Single Board Computer Projects

[GDinMT]

Does anyone have any good single board computer (e.g. Rasberry Pi) projects that they’ve incorporated into their FWC?

Trying to brainstorm something fun to do with mine.

 

[Espresso]

I've thought about it, but everything I come up with is already commercially available. e.g. power monitoring, weather station, security...

 

[rando]

I have a micro-controller (arduino compatible) that runs my improved tank monitor panel (below). It works really well, about 1L resolution on how much water I have left and gives a measure of voltage and tank temperature as well. I have considered using a single board computer (likely an RPi) for tying together all the electrical monitoring stuff using Victron's Venus OS:
https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2017/09/06/raspberry-pi-running-victrons-venus-firmware/

This would give you most of the functionality of the Color control GX/Venus GX for much less money. However, this would be a project just to be a project as I get almost everything I need from the Victron iOS app except detailed logs and plots. The main reason I haven't done this is that I think I would have to give up the iOS app interface if I connected my victron components to the RPi as opposed to using blue tooth.

Here is a cool campervan project using Venus OS and an RPi:
https://www.chronicle.me.uk/victronPi/

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:27035]

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:27036]

 

[buckland]

How about a motion control camera ...like a trail camera... nice to see what was prowling around the camper at night. (my trail camera uses 'black led flash'... not visible (to us)... I have seen critters spooked by the 'invisible flash'.

 

[NorCalSteve]

I like Rando's display. I am working on water level ideas. Any suggestions would be great. I am looking at pressure sensors like the MS5837. It can be used in water.

I am using a Raspberry Pi in my Hawk. It monitors inside, outside, refrigerator and freezer temperatures. I put a temperature sensor on the 3-way fridge radiator and turn computer fans on when the temperature gets above a specified temperature. I monitor the temperature of the hot water heater. I like to turn it off when it gets just above 100 degrees if I am going to wash my hair. The computer also monitors if the gas is on in the fridge and hot water heater. I can track a little of my gas consumption this way but have not come up with a good way to know when the stove is on. Oh well.

I track the truck and camper batteries as well. I also added a GPS and have the GPS antenna up by the fan. GPS data is gathered when the truck is in motion. I have a nice track of my travels, if everything keeps running.

I added a 3-axis accelerometer to level the camper but the good ole bubble levels on the dash can't be beat.

The computer takes samples about once every two minutes and stores all the data in a file. The Raspberry Pi has a web server running which graphs the data or just displays the latest values on my phone or tablet.

I did this project about 4 years back and lately decided to play with it more. Next, I would like to monitor solar data and, as I mentioned above, my water.

Steve

 

[rando]

I tried using a pressure sensor for tank level on a previous project. You need to use a differential pressure sensor between the water head pressure and the atmosphere, otherwise changes in altitude will appear as changes in water level. It wasn't very successful for me, but that doesn't mean it can't work. For this project I used a capacitive sensor on the outside of the tank. You can roll your own using a GPIO pin as an oscillator, and the ADC to read the decay rate, but I ended up just buying this:
http://www.newprovidencemarine.com/product_sensor.html

It provides an analog output that is proportional to water level, and is easy to install without removing/modifying the tank. The only issue is that you don't get great resolution near full and near empty, but it works very well from 15% - 85%.

 

[BFH4N]

I have been thinking of a tilt readout based on an angle sensor chip or module and a small dedicated computer. I level my camper by driving the truck up onto stacks of one inch thick boards. The readout would be in inches so I could know how many boards to use. The program would know the truck wheelbase and the width between the tires. It would use trigonometry to calculate the rise from the angle data, with a readout resolution of 0.1 inch. Or, since I can only drive onto a few boards at each wheel, the range is pretty limited, so it might be simpler to just use a lookup table and skip the real-time trig.

This could be a fun project and the result would be better than the current bubble level and guess method.

For water level, I chose a low-tech approach and just made a slot in the cabnetry so I can see the side of the tank. The water level is clearly visible.

- Bernard

 

[rando]

There is an iphone app that does just this from Truma: https://www.truma.com/int/en/howto/truma-app.php
It uses the phones built in accelerometers and dimensions that you enter to give you leveling data in inches. There is also an existing (expensive) product to do this as well:
https://www.amazon.com/LevelMatePRO-Bluetooth%C2%AE-Vehicle-Leveling-System/dp/B01FGGSWPW
But it would be much more fun to roll your own!