Smart RV 12V HELP!

Hardware
1

Hi Everyone!

I am new to home automation, but not at all new to electronics. Ham operator W4CBL, former UNIX systems administrator, and tinkerer of various things: 3D printing and CNC routing with various automations, LED lighting strips with converted server PSUs and buck converters, etc. So, I’m not afraid of a soldering iron or custom circuits. I have some TP-Link Kasa smart plugs and switches in my home, but the wife and I are about to embark on a new adventure in our lives! We will soon be RVing full time!

So, as a lifelong nerd, I want to “smart” my RV, and need non-cloud solutions. Of course, I am going to use HA on a NUC (type of install recommendations anyone?). I have the AC power side of the RV figured out with Sonoff devices flashed with ESPHome. I will be using all Victron power equipment that also integrates with HA. Where I am stuck (it makes my brain ache and my hair bleed!) is the DC side. I see the Sonoff SV boards and the Shelly 1 units to switch my 12VDC items, and am willing to use either of those, but what I’m missing is power monitoring.

So, my question is this: Is there a 12VDC switch with power monitoring built in that is HA-friendly? If not, is there a way to add on power monitoring to lines switched by an SV or Shelly 1?

Any advice or pointers are most welcome! I want to do the RIGHT and don’t care too much about costs (but I am NOT a lottery winner!)

2

Welcome to the community :partying_face:

If you don’t mind a bit of DIY you could use ESP’s (running ESPhome) and make your own devices. Power monitoring is easy with 12V dc, there are tiny modules that can do it for you.

3

Hi Dave. Thanks for the welcome and the links. I’ll look them over. :smiley:

You have any recommendations on the type of HA install?

4

Just go with HA OS, it has all the features and works great. The other install methods are really only for people that want to play around with underlying Linux installs etc. Certainly not something I’d expect you want to do in an RV.

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