As an engineer that works for a supplier of US made cars I will never apologize for standing behind those who stand behind me. I am currently working on automation equipment for the Ford Bronco. Secondly, imports may be built here, but where was the design done, where does the money go?
I've always believed there is big money in aftermarket automation for vehicles. I've rewired portions of every vehicle I've owned to add pulsing brake lights, remote start, auto up windows, turn signal cancellation, cameras, etc. If you started with a few popular models and had an easy, nearly plug-n-play harness (think of something that piggybacks on the fuse blocks and switch connectors) you could easily turn any car into a more user-friendly auto.
Just my thoughts as I start planning a partial automation system for my Rinker. Right now that includes an rPi, wifi, and various sensors to allow:
remote monitoring of battery voltage, GPS location, bilge pump status, and motion/perimeter/door sensor
streaming media for both wireless devices and the cabin TV's
streaming music for the TV's and radios, including casting from mobile devices
auto blower/starting of the genny when anchored out to maintain battery voltage
long-range wifi acquisition and rebroadcasting, with a 4G/LTE failover capability
an alarm for dragging anchors, combustible gasses, water in the bilge, warming fridge, CO/CO2, low potable water, high blackwater, etc. with a simple dashboard (so the wife is less concerned about being left on anchor while I paddle off).
The great thing is these systems sell for thousands, but with under $250 and a weekend I can build out 90% of the capabilities, and given another weekend I can even make it pretty and more robust.
Anyway, I'll likely start a post once I'm past the architecture phase to share the build progress and photos/videos of the system in use.
I'll start a thread, but just to show how easy it is:
The rPi will act as the brains of the network, so it'll run linux with network services to include: DHCP, DNS, File Sharing (Multimedia streaming), and it'll likely run the cockpit TV, with a second ChromeCast dongle on it. That knocks out 2, 3, and 5, and paves the way for remote connectivity.
1, 4, and 6 will be utilized either by GPIO on the rPi, or with an aftermarket I/O module of some sort. Little chinese things cost $12 shipped and give you some 32 addressable input/output, so each would be either a sensor channel or a relay control. Then you add a few circuits in parallel to other switches, and all you have left to do is script your automation. HomeAssistant makes that super easy, and even gives you a pretty, easily customizable WebUI, so once you're done you navigate to a website and see the status of your boat from anywhere. GPS coordinates, drift, bilge counter, battery voltage, etc!
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Just my thoughts as I start planning a partial automation system for my Rinker. Right now that includes an rPi, wifi, and various sensors to allow:
The great thing is these systems sell for thousands, but with under $250 and a weekend I can build out 90% of the capabilities, and given another weekend I can even make it pretty and more robust.
Anyway, I'll likely start a post once I'm past the architecture phase to share the build progress and photos/videos of the system in use.
The rPi will act as the brains of the network, so it'll run linux with network services to include: DHCP, DNS, File Sharing (Multimedia streaming), and it'll likely run the cockpit TV, with a second ChromeCast dongle on it. That knocks out 2, 3, and 5, and paves the way for remote connectivity.
1, 4, and 6 will be utilized either by GPIO on the rPi, or with an aftermarket I/O module of some sort. Little chinese things cost $12 shipped and give you some 32 addressable input/output, so each would be either a sensor channel or a relay control. Then you add a few circuits in parallel to other switches, and all you have left to do is script your automation. HomeAssistant makes that super easy, and even gives you a pretty, easily customizable WebUI, so once you're done you navigate to a website and see the status of your boat from anywhere. GPS coordinates, drift, bilge counter, battery voltage, etc!