Smart Boat

[rslifkin]

For those who have remote switching for the gennie, and AC, or even engines, how do you verify raw water flow? That would be a concern for me.

I'd never remote start an engine and I wouldn't really like it with a generator either, although mine does have an exhaust temp shutdown, so it'll shut down if it loses water flow. I do leave A/C on unattended regularly and haven't had any loss of water flow issues. But if I do, the units will trip off on high pressure and if I remember correctly, my current ones won't cycle back on until they're manually reset. So loss of flow would mean loss of A/C, but it wouldn't damage anything, they'd just be left waiting for human intervention.

 

[Mako]

Regarding to @Helmsman’s comments, a lesson I learned the hard way is to use hard wired cameras and avoid wireless. Even though there is a big difference in installation difficulty, over the long run it’s worth it for dependability

 

[rslifkin]

Regarding to @Helmsman’s comments, a lesson I learned the hard way is to use hard wired cameras and avoid wireless. Even though there is a big difference in installation difficulty, over the long run it’s worth it for dependability

Agreed. In general, wireless is for things that aren't possible to hardwire, or for things that need to move a lot.

 

[Helmsman]

Regarding to @Helmsman’s comments, a lesson I learned the hard way is to use hard wired cameras and avoid wireless. Even though there is a big difference in installation difficulty, over the long run it’s worth it for dependability

I used to have hard wired cameras at home. At that time, you had to use the company’s hard drive. The software on that hardware was pathetic, even for a techie like me. I replaced with Arlo’s when they came out, and haven’t had a problem until now. I resolved the problem myself. The batteries in all six cameras were low, even though the typical battery warning never displayed. The batteries were installed in the cameras at various times. There is noise on their forum that a firmware upgrade screwed it up for a lot of users. However, they haven’t acknowledged it, preferring not to take responsibility I suppose.

On the boat, I will have hard wired cameras with a video encoder. Only way to go in my opinion.

 

[FWT]

Good judgement comes from experience, but experience comes from bad judgement.

I built a custom home a dozen years ago. "Smart Homes" with everything wired to the gills was the rage. I partially bought into that. Cat wired to every room since my experience with the prior generation wireless connections was not good. But wireless made big improvements right as I went toward Cat, and the expensive Cat wiring isn't used.

I installed an expensive and fancy stereo and TV arrangement with fancy remote system. Big mistake. Everything has to be programmed by licensed pros. Swapping out a cheap bluray costed hundreds in service calls. I've been ripping out that stuff and replacing the controls with simple things I can do myself.

Connected and networked gear sounds nifty. And is, until the next software release of one piece that throws things off.

For me, from now on, its KISS when possible.

 

[Mako]

I’ve thought about this subject a lot and discussed with my wife, because in the future I know that I’ll be leaving my boat for months at a time in various locations internationally, perhaps floating at a mooring as well.

So remote monitoring for security purposes is a primary concern. Monitoring battery SOC would be more of a convenience. Bilge alarms are okay but honestly I consider that low risk.

I’d like to hear anyone’s thoughts on sensors, which would trigger a response/strobe/sounder. Motion sensors are subject to huge numbers of false flags. Same for infrared beams. If you get to the point where you’re relying on window/door sensors to trigger the alarm, then you’ve reached your last stand, which is not acceptable. Invaders need to be stopped at deck-phase.

One item that impresses me the most would be strain gauges under the deck for use as pressure sensors. Hidden so no one will try to circumvent.