Hello
I am interested in monitoring my motorhome and have come across Pekaway. I appreciate being a German company all your documentation and the forums are in German. Is there an english forum or english documentation?
I also need help with a shopping list of what i want to do:
Monitor the vehicle battery
Monitor the leisure battery
Water tank levels x 3
Monitor the temperature (i can use temperature sensors broadcasting on 433mhz).
Monitor the tyre pressure (i can use tpms sensors broadcasting on 433mhz).
Monitor window / door opening or closing (i can use alarm sensors broadcasting on 433mhz).
Monitor GAS tank level
Display the above on a nice screen inside the motorhome
Send alerts when one of the above triggers (via txt message)
You can find a detailed (though far from finished) english documentation here: Pekaway VanPi
The VanPi OS frontend (and backend) is completely written in english too, you can download it from our website. Once downloaded flash it onto a sd-card and boot it up on a RPI4 to get a feel of what it is capable of and how everything works.
The website and official user manuals are translated to english as we speak, but please keep in mind that this process takes some time.
Since our customer base is mainly located in Germany for now, most of the topics in this forum are discussed in german, but feel free to use english anytime.
Generally speaking, everything you stated above can be achieved. Yet it relies heavily on how experienced you are in terms of Raspberry Pi, Linux, Node-RED and IoT-techniques in general.
Vehicle battery: Can be done using an OBD dongle connected to your cars OBD port. Connect it to the RPI using either USB or Bluetooth, depending on OBD hardware
Leisure battery: Already integrated in Vanpi OS
Water tank levels: Already integratetd in VanPi OS (up to four are natively supported)
Temperature: VanPi OS uses DS18B20 sensors, 433MHz will need some work to be put in from your side. Our relayboard offers ports to add 433MHz sender/receiver, which are controlled using WiringPi and 433utils
Tyre Pressure: again, 433MHz will need some work
Window/Door Sensors: 433MHz will need some work, maybe take a look at sensors that use MQTT (as that would be easier to integrate, shelly for example offers such sensors)
Gas tank level: VanPi OS supports the usage of a GOK Senso4S bluetooth scale.
Display: VanPi OS frontend can be accessed via webinterface. Either use a tablet/phone to access the webinterface, or use our (separately sold) touchdisplay. You can also build your own customized dashboard using Node-RED or Nextion displays.
Alerts: Node-RED makes it easy to setup triggers and alerts using telegram messenger (for example), there are many tutorials online accessable. Other options are possible ofc.
If you aren’t already familiar with Node-RED, please give it a try. It makes customizing pretty easy and helps a lot with connecting IoT devices.