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Guru
I was on my boat here in San Diego on 12/22. Around 5PM I heard some gas engines somewhere nearby in the marina but was busy with work so just tuned it out. About 90 minutes later I shut down my PC and decided to check it out. About 4 slips down an older sportfisher was being attended to by one of the commercial tow boats. Had 2 or 3 large capacity pumps running (that was the noise I had heard 90 minutes ago). They pumped for several hours. Did not have all the details but from a short chat from the owner. Due to extenuating circumstances he had not been able to get to his boat much over the last year. Did not indicate the last time but I read it to be weeks or perhaps a month or two. When a friend arrived at the boat one of the engines was running and water was just about up to the valve covers. Apparently the water shorted the starter and the engine cranked! The result of this was the pumping cost him $5,000 (yes he had the annual card but it does not cover this service, that was a surprise to me!). He lost his genset. Most of the interior is shot (4 feet of water in the cabins). All the wiring is presumed to be toast. Uncertain about the engine conditions. And a long list of other potential issues.
There are several options for remote monitoring of your boat but in my opinion it is more expensive than it needs to be and the monthly costs are quite high. I think cell based notification is critical because you cannot depend upon wifi and I want something that can be put on almost any boat to prevent an incident such as I witnessed last week.
I am now working at a company that is focused on Internet of Things (IoT). I am working on a simple device that would have the following features:
Primary Power is from USB charger (plugged into the A/C)
Could alternatively run from your boat battery as power consumption is so low as not to be an issue
The reason for the USB is to also be able to monitor the shore power input
Includes a back up battery that would run for at least a week or two if external power failed (could go with a larger battery if you need more time)
Monitors 3 inputs such as a bilge high water float switch or other alarm input from another system (dry contact type, either V+ or ground)
Enclosure is about 3"x5"x3"
On alarm trigger, sends SMS message to your cell
If no alarm it still sends a "heatbeat" message with battery status, signal strength and ambient temperature.
Reports GPS (may require optional external antenna in some cases depending upon where you mount the unit)
Reports motion (it has a built in accelerometer)
Option to connect an external horn/light (notify your neighbor/dock master)
Status can be viewed on a web portal
Cell Service works globally, no data plan required. Primary network in the US is AT&T.
Cost $199 or less (in volume I could see this getting down close to $100)
Annual subscription (gets you all new features and updates and covers the notification service) $59
or 90 day subscription available at $20 includes SMS notification and any required (bug fix) S/W updates but not the enhancements
Future new features planned over next 3-6 months would be multiple notifications to different phones, email notification, ability to add more monitoring capability, status of your boat battery (voltage),possibly a phone app. There is a lot of room for enhancement but I am still collecting info on what would be the highest priorities.
If you think this would be something you are interested would love to hear your feedback. When/if the product is available I will post here (I have a beta unit starting test mid Jan)
There are several options for remote monitoring of your boat but in my opinion it is more expensive than it needs to be and the monthly costs are quite high. I think cell based notification is critical because you cannot depend upon wifi and I want something that can be put on almost any boat to prevent an incident such as I witnessed last week.
I am now working at a company that is focused on Internet of Things (IoT). I am working on a simple device that would have the following features:
Primary Power is from USB charger (plugged into the A/C)
Could alternatively run from your boat battery as power consumption is so low as not to be an issue
The reason for the USB is to also be able to monitor the shore power input
Includes a back up battery that would run for at least a week or two if external power failed (could go with a larger battery if you need more time)
Monitors 3 inputs such as a bilge high water float switch or other alarm input from another system (dry contact type, either V+ or ground)
Enclosure is about 3"x5"x3"
On alarm trigger, sends SMS message to your cell
If no alarm it still sends a "heatbeat" message with battery status, signal strength and ambient temperature.
Reports GPS (may require optional external antenna in some cases depending upon where you mount the unit)
Reports motion (it has a built in accelerometer)
Option to connect an external horn/light (notify your neighbor/dock master)
Status can be viewed on a web portal
Cell Service works globally, no data plan required. Primary network in the US is AT&T.
Cost $199 or less (in volume I could see this getting down close to $100)
Annual subscription (gets you all new features and updates and covers the notification service) $59
or 90 day subscription available at $20 includes SMS notification and any required (bug fix) S/W updates but not the enhancements
Future new features planned over next 3-6 months would be multiple notifications to different phones, email notification, ability to add more monitoring capability, status of your boat battery (voltage),possibly a phone app. There is a lot of room for enhancement but I am still collecting info on what would be the highest priorities.
If you think this would be something you are interested would love to hear your feedback. When/if the product is available I will post here (I have a beta unit starting test mid Jan)
