Boat Monitoring

[SteveK]

Anyone have a good cheap way to monitor dinghies? Not too worried about the boat going walkies but unfortunately dinghy theft is endemic.

I have seen mention of GPS tracker for dingy. So if you have onboard monitoring a door/window magnet contact can be used. Half on dingy, other half on boat so if moved the alarm is triggered, you then follow the GPS signal.

 

[O C Diver]

Anyone have a good cheap way to monitor dinghies? Not too worried about the boat going walkies but unfortunately dinghy theft is endemic.

An Inreach mini can be had for about $350 + subscription. Might need to supplement battery power. Would provide 10 minute position updates through satellite tracking.

Ted

 

[angus99]

Anyone have a good cheap way to monitor dinghies? Not too worried about the boat going walkies but unfortunately dinghy theft is endemic.

You could hide a NEBO puck aboard. GPS tracker that has an infinitesimal power draw. If you keep it on the dinghy and the dinghy normally travels with the mother ship, you get all of the tracking features for both vessels. You can also configure alerts if either vessel moves while you’re away and remotely check system voltage.

 

[Nick F]

I have wifi in the marina and would like to have a simple alert system that does not require a monthly subscription. I searched Amazon and found this (link below). It claims to send an alert via wifi to email or SMS. For multiple alarm points one would buy multiple units ($65 each).

Has anyone used a device like this?

Nick

https://www.amazon.com/Water-Temper...fresh=1&sprefix=alarm+dialer+,aps,420&sr=8-24

 

[LovetoBoat]

Has anyone used a device like this?
Nick
https://www.amazon.com/Water-Temper...fresh=1&sprefix=alarm+dialer+,aps,420&sr=8-24

Did you read the reviews? - I always start with the 1 stars.
I would not waste your money...

 

[Hippocampus]

Thanks guys. My understanding is dinghies go missing most commonly from the dinghy dock or beach not from the boat. Both here and in the Caribbean always lift the dinghy before retiring for the night. Thieves rarely will board your boat to steal a dinghy. We (knock on wood) never had a dinghy stolen but numerous friends have. Early on went with chain not cable and separate locks for engine (what they really want) and dinghy (not so much). Several of the suggestions kindly offered wouldn’t be that effective. A gps puck might work if it set off an alarm if the dinghy or engine moved. Perhaps epoxy or 5200 it someplace not obvious and have an acoustic alarm someplace hard to disable and ideally not obvious. Sending a message to my phone would just tell me it’s been stolen. By the time LE got involved it be long gone. Can’t see how to make any motion detector work. Agree some form of geofencing is more likely to work.

 

[Nick F]

Thanks Carl - good comment.

I saw that one of the 1 star reviews mentioned a Zircon device (link) which seems better. It is even less money ($35) !

So, has anyone seen/used this Zircon device OR anything similar?

https://shop.zircon.com/leak-alert-...r+Detectors&gtm4wp_price=0&gtm4wp_stocklevel=

 

[angus99]

Thanks guys. My understanding is dinghies go missing most commonly from the dinghy dock or beach not from the boat. Both here and in the Caribbean always lift the dinghy before retiring for the night. Thieves rarely will board your boat to steal a dinghy. We (knock on wood) never had a dinghy stolen but numerous friends have. Early on went with chain not cable and separate locks for engine (what they really want) and dinghy (not so much). Several of the suggestions kindly offered wouldn’t be that effective. A gps puck might work if it set off an alarm if the dinghy or engine moved. Perhaps epoxy or 5200 it someplace not obvious and have an acoustic alarm someplace hard to disable and ideally not obvious. Sending a message to my phone would just tell me it’s been stolen. By the time LE got involved it be long gone. Can’t see how to make any motion detector work. Agree some form of geofencing is more likely to work.

I may not have been clear. Not only would the NEBO puck alert you to alert law enforcement, it would send you a trail of breadcrumbs to lead LE directly to the thieves—even if they load it on a truck. My suggestion was to install it unobtrusively on the dink and leave it there. It goes where the dink goes and the movement notification you’d get is virtually instantaneous.

 

[Hippocampus]

“Typical” theft is dinghy is moved a short distance (if at all). Engine removed and dinghy left. Would need puck on the engine as well as dinghy. If attached to cowling they would just leave the cowling. If not firmly attached would just remove and it’s hard to find a suitable place on most outboards. Then there’s a simple wack or three with a hammer to make it non functional. Finally don’t know where you boat but LE generally has bigger fish to fry. Suspect response time would allow a some bread crumbs and then a blank trail. Still think a loud alarm at the site of attempted theft would be more effective than breadcrumbs.

 

[angus99]

“Typical” theft is dinghy is moved a short distance (if at all). Engine removed and dinghy left. Would need puck on the engine as well as dinghy. If attached to cowling they would just leave the cowling. If not firmly attached would just remove and it’s hard to find a suitable place on most outboards. Then there’s a simple wack or three with a hammer to make it non functional. Finally don’t know where you boat but LE generally has bigger fish to fry. Suspect response time would allow a some bread crumbs and then a blank trail. Still think a loud alarm at the site of attempted theft would be more effective than breadcrumbs.

I boat in Tennessee where we seldom involve the law.

 

[ksanders]

I use smartthings. No, it is not marine specific, it is home automation centric.

Here is a current live view. I am sitting over 4,000 miles away at the airport in Cabo and I know everything is fine on my boat.

The display tells it all. Fire/smoke, temperature, flooding, intrusion, energy, plus control

Here is the great thing. This is not specific to any vendor except the main hub.

The sensors are a variety of manufacturers. Every sensor is wireless and the battery life for the battery powered ones is about a year.

I pay zero subscription fees to anyone.

This is not some wierd programmer level system that requires a degree in computer science to figure out. This is the home automation world where R&D money far exceeds the marine industry due to volume

 

[Nick F]

I use smartthings.

Thanks Kevin - I looked online, but got quite confused. What is the onboard "hub" of your system - is it a laptop? How does it conect to the outside world - wifi?

Nick

 

[SteveK]

Kevin, can you share what you used to monitor 12 volt battery voltage, power outage, bilge pump activity.

Smartthings works on wifi/internet. That suggests if the power goes out no wifi so no signal saying power out, correct. do you have your own wifi/internet source?

 

[DDW]

For the dinghy and its motor you might try an Apple AirTag. Small, fairly cheap, works basically anywhere anyone uses Apple phones (rumored to be doing a deal with Google so that it will work anywhere anyone uses phones). Battery lasts about a year and is replaceable.

Most of the smart devices require access to WiFi? Not clear to me how that would work with a wandering device. The AirTag does not depend on that.

 

[angus99]

Most of the smart devices require access to WiFi? Not clear to me how that would work with a wandering device. The AirTag does not depend on that.

Some modems—like the Pepwave we have—allows you to establish a WiFi network onboard using either marina WiFi or cellular service to establish the external connection to the internet.

 

[rwidman]

My boat winters indoors where solar isn’t available. Neither find is shore power to keep batteries charged. Even my Balmar SmartGauge will draw them down in weeks. While I may not need monitoring, I’d love to know what the temperature is aboard. Anyone have a solution for that?

I installed a "Nest" thermostat on my boat's heating/AC system which allows me to set the temperature remotely. A side benefit is, it reports the actual temperature. It need WiFi and a phone app.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Interesting. How does the Nest work with the reverse cycle control?

 

[rwidman]

Interesting. How does the Nest work with the reverse cycle control?

My AC has resistance heat, not reverse cycle but it's no different as far as the thermostat is concerned.

I do have one problem that is yet to be resolved though. The nest thermostat works, but it keeps sending me emails suggesting that I install a "C wire". That would be fifth wire. They even sent me an adapter to use the original four wires, but when I went to install it, I found that my AC unit (Flagship) has no "C" terminal. I'm going to call Flagship for a solution.

In the meantime, the thermostat works fine but the backup batteries only last several weeks, not the months or years they are supposed to last.

Apparently, most, if not all smart thermostats need this additional wire for power.

 

[Scottwb96]

I have wifi in the marina and would like to have a simple alert system that does not require a monthly subscription. I searched Amazon and found this (link below). It claims to send an alert via wifi to email or SMS. For multiple alarm points one would buy multiple units ($65 each).

Has anyone used a device like this?

Nick

https://www.amazon.com/Water-Temper...fresh=1&sprefix=alarm+dialer+,aps,420&sr=8-24

Nick F / Lovetoboat

I have the "MySpool" device currently running on my boat. It took all of 2-3 mins to set up. I've ran a few tests (temp/power) and got the alerts exactly how I should get them. If you go directly to their website, they have the (P4) upgraded version for $99...

 

[ksanders]

Thanks Kevin - I looked online, but got quite confused. What is the onboard "hub" of your system - is it a laptop? How does it conect to the outside world - wifi?

Nick

The hub is sold on Amazon, and connects to your boats already existing network for internet connectivity.

As technology evolves as boaters we need to start thinking of our boats as things that need to have the internet on all the time, just like a modern house.

 

[ksanders]

Kevin, can you share what you used to monitor 12 volt battery voltage, power outage, bilge pump activity.

Smartthings works on wifi/internet. That suggests if the power goes out no wifi so no signal saying power out, correct. do you have your own wifi/internet source?

12 volt battery voltage is monitored through my existing State Of Charge meter. The alarm contacts connect to a wireless contact sensor.

The 120 volts is monitored the same way but through a 120 volt relay behind my panel

I do not currently count bilge pump cycles but could do thaty easially through a 12 volty relay connected to the bilge pump circuit. What I do do right now is use a moisture sensor to look for water. I have two of these placed above the normal bilge water level in the sump.

My boat has it's own network, and is always connected to the internet. There are several systems that need this connection, not just my monitoring system.

The Victron energy system uses the internet. So does my weather station, as well as my boats furnaces. I also have my Apple TV connected to the same network for streaming, and my computer as well. On my computer I have a couple hundred movies in my Itunes library and the network allows me to stream those even when there is no internet.

 

[Scottwb96]

Kevin-
Never thought about using the SmartThings hub on the boat. That's a really good idea, great use of the device!

lol, hmmm.... now the ol wheels are a-turnin!!!

 

[Iggy]

Kevin-
Never thought about using the SmartThings hub on the boat. That's a really good idea, great use of the device!

lol, hmmm.... now the ol wheels are a-turnin!!!

The Hub 120v. What happens when on a mooring? Or maybe its just for the slip? For me that would not work, I need 12v D.C.

 

[Scottwb96]

The Hub 120v. What happens when on a mooring? Or maybe its just for the slip? For me that would not work, I need 12v D.C.

You would need to run it through your inverter...

 

[Scottwb96]

just went and looked at the bottom of my Smartthing hub I have at the house. It's running 5v. So you could just get a converter for it, if you don't have any way of plugging into 120v.

 

[Scottwb96]

This should work to convert 12v-to5v step down 2a

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-DR...+to+5v+step+down+converter+2a,aps,168&sr=8-17

 

[Iggy]

You would need to run it through your inverter...

That goes with out saying! Point is your pulling more power now. I believe it runs on 6v DC. You would be better of with a DC to DC converter than.

But with any system, power, internet and your needs are big things that come into play. For me its winter storage (no A.C. power) and when on a mooring your trying to conserve battery life.

 

[SteveK]

Kevin, your battery setup off SOC, does it show current voltage? As I read your reply it sends an alert when they need a charge.

Here is what I get with a subscription (which I welcome a way to avoid). I get the preset alerts too, and I can look at graphs for up to 7 days.


I will experiment with smartthings at home as it has sensors of interest for home use.
If all you can get is an alert when battery needs to be charged, not enough for me. I like to see after a power outage how the inverter charger goes to work on the batteries. Shore power off/on should be easy enough.
Bilge pump activity, I get alert it ran for 15 seconds as the fuel sensing float switch set to marina mode. What I wait for is does it turn on again & again suggesting a problem. so I know when it comes on and when it shut off.

 

[angus99]

Kevin, your battery setup off SOC, does it show current voltage? As I read your reply it sends an alert when they need a charge.

Here is what I get with a subscription (which I welcome a way to avoid). I get the preset alerts too, and I can look at graphs for up to 7 days.
View attachment 124736

I will experiment with smartthings at home as it has sensors of interest for home use.
If all you can get is an alert when battery needs to be charged, not enough for me. I like to see after a power outage how the inverter charger goes to work on the batteries. Shore power off/on should be easy enough.
Bilge pump activity, I get alert it ran for 15 seconds as the fuel sensing float switch set to marina mode. What I wait for is does it turn on again & again suggesting a problem. so I know when it comes on and when it shut off.

NEBO will let you monitor your voltage from anywhere. It will also alert you when voltage drops below a certain level and whenever your boat moves, with or without your knowledge. This is in addition to the tracking and trip-logging features it provides. $100 for the hardware and $11/month (with discounts if you belong to some boating orgs) to monitor.

 

[Scottwb96]

I check the label on mine. It's 5v 2000mah (2a) to power the device. Depending on what you wanted to monitor/setup you could probably just get a small 12v battery and connect a solar charger to it to keep it up for the winter (just a thought)...