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Old 02-07-2020, 11:17 AM   #1
Chad R
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Gauging Interest (Remote Control Lights etc) Feedback Wanted

I full time in my HC 372RD which at the time did not have an option for an InCommand system. Both me and a friend who love to tinker with electronics came up with some ideas with adding a little bit of remote functionality to the stock system.

I know each rig is slightly different but the theory is largely the same. My 372RD has 8 light switches that can only be controlled from within the panel itself (Front Cap, Hitch, Awning, Porch, Power Rail, Hall, Kitchen, Living Room) And the remaining lights have physical switches inside the rig so I wanted to focus on those light switches that would be nice to have outside the panel (and possibly the awning)

My friend does circuit board design for a living so he helped me design out the main board and a remote board that would include buttons to turn on/off each of those lights outside of the main control panel.

The main board would be installed in your panels cabinet/space and wired in to the back of the factory switches and the remote board only needs to be near a power outlet. The boards communicate with their own 2.4GHz Transceiver so you do not need internet or anything else for this to work.

I also wanted to design the boards so more than one could be added. Say you have a remote panel in the lower basement you could easily turn on your awning or porch light without having to go back inside etc or say have a panel next to your bed to control some interior lights while getting up at night. Lots of ideas!

We are also including Bluetooth on the main board and plan on working on apps so you can control with your phone from anywhere without the need for the remote button panels at all. Could really configure it to what you prefer.

Would love to hear some feedback or if there would be any interest in something like this. I was mainly wanting to do this for myself as a fun project but if there is enough interest maybe we can package something up for folks that don't have incommand like me but want a little bit of remote control for some devices.

Right now both the main and remote boards are designed and we are going to order a few of each to test out. Once they come in I will be sure to share pictures and video of the process as well.
 
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Old 02-07-2020, 05:24 PM   #2
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I'm still in the camp of basic is fine for us.
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Old 02-07-2020, 06:22 PM   #3
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I’ll opt out. Our 2012 rig came with a remote system, and the remote control hasn’t been out of a drawer since shortly after we purchased the rig. We seem to be doing well without anything more complicated than a switch with a red light in it.
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Old 02-07-2020, 06:34 PM   #4
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I’m sure this will work. I’ve been around people who could design boards like this but it’s PM to me, pure magic. I like the Kiss way of doing things Keep It Simple Stupid. I would rather just do things the old fashioned way.
Don’t be disheartened. When I started making reloading equipment people told me I would never sell many power measures. Too much money and not enough high end shooters to buy them. We are over 25,000 and counting. If you believe in your product go for it. But don’t forget making a product is the easy part, the trick is in selling it. How will you market it and for how much.
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Old 02-07-2020, 08:35 PM   #5
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We intensionally didn't buy a legacy so that we wouldn't have to deal with the in command. If Dish doesn't feel their Hopper can stand the stress of being in an RV I don't want all my controls dependent upon a circuit board. As it is, we've already had the board fail on our furnace, and that was bad enough, but at least we didn't loose everything.
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Old 02-08-2020, 03:50 AM   #6
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KISS works. Have never used the remote. I think I still have one in the drawer too.
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Old 02-08-2020, 07:41 AM   #7
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Circuit boards can be designed to withstand the vibration of our campers. Your generator has a circuit board on it. That is about worse case, vibration and heat.
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Old 02-08-2020, 12:04 PM   #8
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I am a technology geek and love electronics. I still run a mobile disco just to dabble in it. All my lighting is wireless DMX which is a vast improvement on the old 110 volt systems of yesteryears. I don't want to totally rain on your parade but I do see the wisdom of a mechanically switched system over the totally electronic switching for both RV or house wiring during new construction.


When a central "brain" circuit board goes haywire it takes out the entire system all at once. If that "brain" is specialized and in limited supply, then your ENTIRE system is down until such time as you can get a new one. And as is typical with all specialized products with only one mfg./supplier those types of parts can be hard to come by or even disappear if the mfg goes out of business or just deems the part outdated and no longer supports it. While someone with an electronics background may be able to diagnose an issue with a smart system it is not something that the average handyman/RV owner would be able to tackle.


By contrast the old tried and true mechanical switch type systems have inexpensive and very easy to source parts. In most cases, when you have an issue it is fairly easy to diagnose and it typically only affects a small part of the total system.


The best of both worlds I suppose would be to have a combination system where you have both electronic and mechanical control over all your systems but that requires a lot of extra wiring and expense on a new build.


In fact, expense is one of the reasons I suspect that RV builders are interested in moving us to the fly by wire type systems. It is a LOT less labor intense (cheaper) for them to centralize the switching and run wiring directly to devices as opposed to having to run mechanical switching wires from the power source to the switch then to the device. From a labor perspective going from source to central board to device is much more efficient.


Have you considered a 10X smart house type system that uses "smart" mechanical switches (IE: both mechanical and digital control of device)? Since that is an existing system that will work with a conventional wiring system it has the advantages of both as suggested above. It is also very commonly available with multiple suppliers. Can be retrofitted to existing systems and won't shut down your entire system when the brain goes out. And it is readily available with a wide variety of remote controls. The RV industry could have used this technology but did not. That lends credence to my theory above that they were more interested in the build savings than actually delivering a reliable system!!!
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Old 02-08-2020, 02:24 PM   #9
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Gives new definition to the term "couch potato".... us a remote for everything so you never have to get off the couch in front of the television.

Maybe it should be called "couch camper!"

Is it really THAT hard for folks to get up out of their chairs to turn on a light? Wow, I must be getting old!
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Old 02-08-2020, 02:37 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DQDick View Post
We intensionally didn't buy a legacy so that we wouldn't have to deal with the in command. If Dish doesn't feel their Hopper can stand the stress of being in an RV I don't want all my controls dependent upon a circuit board. As it is, we've already had the board fail on our furnace, and that was bad enough, but at least we didn't loose everything.
This will be the nice thing about what we want to do. You will still have your physical switches and just adding remote function so you have a choice on how to control.
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Old 02-08-2020, 02:46 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mtlakejim View Post
I am a technology geek and love electronics. I still run a mobile disco just to dabble in it. All my lighting is wireless DMX which is a vast improvement on the old 110 volt systems of yesteryears. I don't want to totally rain on your parade but I do see the wisdom of a mechanically switched system over the totally electronic switching for both RV or house wiring during new construction.


When a central "brain" circuit board goes haywire it takes out the entire system all at once. If that "brain" is specialized and in limited supply, then your ENTIRE system is down until such time as you can get a new one. And as is typical with all specialized products with only one mfg./supplier those types of parts can be hard to come by or even disappear if the mfg goes out of business or just deems the part outdated and no longer supports it. While someone with an electronics background may be able to diagnose an issue with a smart system it is not something that the average handyman/RV owner would be able to tackle.


By contrast the old tried and true mechanical switch type systems have inexpensive and very easy to source parts. In most cases, when you have an issue it is fairly easy to diagnose and it typically only affects a small part of the total system.


The best of both worlds I suppose would be to have a combination system where you have both electronic and mechanical control over all your systems but that requires a lot of extra wiring and expense on a new build.


In fact, expense is one of the reasons I suspect that RV builders are interested in moving us to the fly by wire type systems. It is a LOT less labor intense (cheaper) for them to centralize the switching and run wiring directly to devices as opposed to having to run mechanical switching wires from the power source to the switch then to the device. From a labor perspective going from source to central board to device is much more efficient.


Have you considered a 10X smart house type system that uses "smart" mechanical switches (IE: both mechanical and digital control of device)? Since that is an existing system that will work with a conventional wiring system it has the advantages of both as suggested above. It is also very commonly available with multiple suppliers. Can be retrofitted to existing systems and won't shut down your entire system when the brain goes out. And it is readily available with a wide variety of remote controls. The RV industry could have used this technology but did not. That lends credence to my theory above that they were more interested in the build savings than actually delivering a reliable system!!!
The way we are designing this it goes inline with the existing mechanical controls and you can use either. Physical Panel Control, Wireless Button Panel that can be placed anywhere and hopefully a phone app. When you go with something like the incommand from keystone then you lose the physical aspect but that's not what we are designing.

While looking at existing systems and something that runs 12v vs a home wiring setup which is more plentiful. Most of them we found were older RF Tech with large remotes and antennas and then of course no potential app or control through your phone or you would end up with a ton of remotes if they were smaller add-in line systems

I am mainly doing this as a fun project for myself. The main board will be using some Mini 12v Power Relays and we already have components for the transceivers for wifi and bluetooth on hand.

We've built lighting control boards for costumes and photo lighting setups that you can program with an App and things of that nature. The office to is wired up with similar designed boards that with a push of a button by the door opens all the blinds and turns on the lights

We love home automation stuff so this is just a fun project but I could see it being useful out for other folks as well if there was interest.
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Old 02-08-2020, 02:56 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DutchmenSport View Post
Gives new definition to the term "couch potato".... us a remote for everything so you never have to get off the couch in front of the television.

Maybe it should be called "couch camper!"

Is it really THAT hard for folks to get up out of their chairs to turn on a light? Wow, I must be getting old!
The idea for me personally is to have one in the basement. I can turn on the cap, awning or porch lights without having to go back inside. Say im outside working on the truck etc. Would be nice to have but yes its just as easy to walk in and flip a switch but why are we buying 40K+ dollar campers when you can just sleep outside in a sleeping bag for much less.

This idea is not for everyone but just about every new one comes with InCommand and you have to use your phone or the touch screen. This will just be a retrofit to those who don't have that option of incommand.

Plus its just for fun inventing and tinkering..
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Old 02-08-2020, 02:58 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by mlh View Post
Circuit boards can be designed to withstand the vibration of our campers. Your generator has a circuit board on it. That is about worse case, vibration and heat.
Lynwood
Yuppers. Just about everything now a days has one. The microwave, stove, tv, fireplace etc all have a circuit board in it doing something.
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Old 02-08-2020, 03:12 PM   #14
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And to everyone just reading or commenting. It's ok if the idea is not for you. This is just a fun project to see if we can do it is all.

My Friend and I love building things, tinkering, inventing. I work in Software for a living and he does more hardware.

We live on some acreage in Colorado in the canyons and here is one of the projects we built.

It's a simple board that beeps and then lights up the corresponding light when the mail runs or if someone drives in to the driveway. When the RV and house are back in the woods this is nice so we don't drive out if the mail hasn't run or if someone pulls in to the driveway we are notified ahead of time. This box just has a simple 3d printed case we designed so it has an unfinished look to it. I may sand and paint it to smooth it out and we also have one up at the house at the top of the canyon.
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Old 02-09-2020, 07:07 AM   #15
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Very interesting, please contact me jpdoege@gmail.com.
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Old 02-12-2020, 01:31 PM   #16
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Have been thinking about this as well, but using home assistant, raspberry pi, and arduino boards. Don't see much of a use case for the lighting, but being about to control the slides from outside the camper sure would be nice.
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Old 02-12-2020, 01:42 PM   #17
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Have been thinking about this as well, but using home assistant, raspberry pi, and arduino boards. Don't see much of a use case for the lighting, but being about to control the slides from outside the camper sure would be nice.
We are starting out with the lights just to test things out but in theory as long as the power load is not to great the boards we designed can be used for really anything in the RV. We have some main and remote boards on order now it will take a few weeks to come in but we got the power relays and other supplies ready to go

Once the boards come in I need to take out the panel and start measuring power draw.

For my use case since I am full time the slides weren't a big priority since i'm stationary but I would like to control the outside lights and awning.
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Old 02-12-2020, 02:03 PM   #18
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We LOVE our legacy Montana.. but the In Command system is a PITA
I sure wish we had switches instead. If it ever goes Ka-put, I would be tempted
to wire the switches in. Just our preference of course.
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Old 02-12-2020, 04:06 PM   #19
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I will look around a bit, someone did something similar but it was just adding a remote to a switch. It was wireless and your could purchase the item on Amazon.

So the wireless part to go behind the switch already exists and if you and make a remote that can do more than one switch that might be useful.
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Old 02-12-2020, 04:22 PM   #20
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I would like one because with the legacy package and In-Command, I can't turn on my hitch lights and cap lights. When hooking up, it does not make any sense you have to open the door, put the steps down and climb inside to turn on the hitch lights. I can start my generator and A/C's from anywhere in the US, but not my hitch lights. Let me know when you have this up and running.
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