Lowes Iris Alarm System update

Well, after having installed a Lowes Iris alarm system on my boat almost three months ago, I am happy to report that it is functioning perfectly!

This morning...

The temperature in the salon is cycling between 41 and 44 degrees
The temperature in the engine room is 44 degrees
The temperature in the utility room is 43 degrees
The engine room heater is off and has not run in the last week or so
The shore power is plugged in, and working properly, and the power draw right now is 532 watts.
Both bilge water sensors are operating properly and the bilges are dry.
The battery charger is working properly and the batteries are at the correct voltage.
The inverter is working properly.
The engine room looks squared away, and there are no unusual sounds.

Yes, all is well on the MV Lisas Way, except that its winter and I am hundreds of miles away.

Huh. Thanks for posting that. I was thinking of the same system. I'm a little over an hour away but it's still worth the peace of mind.

Kevin, do you get reports from your alarm via you phone? emails?


How do you keep track of the parameters on the boat?

GFC said:

Kevin, do you get reports from your alarm via you phone? emails?


How do you keep track of the parameters on the boat?

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I get email and or text messages based on evernts that hapen.

There is also a web page I can visit to look at things in real time.

That is sooooo cool, Kevin. What a great boat gadget!

FlyWright said:

That is sooooo cool, Kevin. What a great boat gadget!

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Thanks Al!

I forgot to mention in my original post...

The system also monitors the boat for smoke, and CO, and will set off a siren locally as well as notifying me remotely.

The next addition will be to add a smoke alarm behind the main electrical panel, and behind the pilothouse dash, that way those normally enclosed spaces are monitored as well.

I am also thinking of gluing temperature sensors on to the shore power inlet connectors. That way if one ever starts to get warm I'll be alerted before it becomes a critical issue.

Along those same lines it would be easy to affix a temp sensor to the engine and generator exhaust lines, providing a fast acting warning of a cooling water failure.

What sensors do you use to monitor the DC voltage and the inverter?

I'm assuming you are the $10/month plan?

Capt.Bill11 said:

What sensors do you use to monitor the DC voltage and the inverter?

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The inverter is easy. I plug the base station into a circuit off of the inverter. It has 8 hours of battery built in so it will report a power outage if the inverter dies.

The dc monitoring was interesting. I have a xantrex link battery monitor. It has a alarm contact out. I programmed it to go into alarm at 12.25 volts for low and 14 volts for high.

Then I used a door alarm to which I attached two wires bypassing the reed relay. Then in the iris I renamed that alarm point "battery monitor". That is the only "hack" the rest are off the shelf standard installations.

Shore power is monitored by measuring the kW and setting a low trip point .

AC Power?

ksanders said:

The shore power is plugged in, and working properly, and the power draw right now is 532 watts.

Click to expand...

How did you do that? I couldn't find an appropriate sensor.

Thanks,

Steve

SteveD said:

How did you do that? I couldn't find an appropriate sensor.

Thanks,

Steve

Click to expand...

http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-AEDSB09104ZWUS-Aeotec-Monitor/dp/B00DIBSKFU

They are still in the middle of getting this unit as part of lowes production. You see the kwh meter on the Iris monitopring page and the app, buy you cant buy it from lowes yet for some reason.