Caravan Monitoring via GSM/GPRS, GPS and MQTT

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Hi,

so I’m planning to monitor my caravan using some Arduino, using a GSM/GPRS connection to Home Assistant and transferring the data via MQTT.

Home Assistant is up and running on a Raspberry at home.
And due to power consumption considerations, I don’t want to run a raspberry with home assistant in the caravan.
I’d rather go for a microcontroller which is connected via GSM/GPRS to my MQTT broker at home, where Home Assistant gets the information from.

Goals:

  • Get the location of the caravan (GPS) to Home Assistant
  • Sensor data like temperature to HA
  • Data from the Battery Management System via RS485 to HA

My questions are:

  • Would you go for something like an Arduino Uno or an ESP32, especially when considering the difference in power consumption, but also when there should be several different sensors connected and those might need some more power then “simple” sensors?
  • If there is no internet connection available: How would you run some local dashboard which saves some sensor data and makes them available as some kind of dashboard? Of course, I could use any MQTT dashbhoard for Android, but from what I know, these would not show any historic data.

Thanks!

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Hi,

I have an ESP32 in my RV which is doing the “basic stuff” like lights on, and simple automation. etc. If I need more comfort (rules, more complex automations) I can turn on an rPi which runs HA. I can decide to value power consumption for comfort.

When on land power - full comfort. When driving >2h a day, full comfort, if the sun is shining bright enough … full comfort. When we are for one week at this favorite spot with no power outlet … Simple and ESP only.

Yours sincerely.
Ralf

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Hi Ralf,

thanks for your feedback.

Which type of frontend do you use to control your ESP32 when not using the RPi for this?

Thanks

4

Hi,

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I build my own with keys and LEDs. The big screen in the middle is a Touch screen for the rPi.

The four key/LEDs under the display are driven by the ESP. The ones left/right are hardware switches to give power to

  • the pi
  • the heating system
  • the 4G Modem
  • and a central Switch to disconnect all (really all/everything) from the battery.

Regards
Ralf

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I have a similar need for Home Assistant to change its location dynamically, I documented what I did here.