RV Whisper

[AikenRacer]

Last week, we lost power to our motorhome at the beach. The temp rose in the mh with our two dogs. Luckily we were not gone long and got the power restored. I am now looking at the RV Whisper system that sends me text alerts, etc if the temp in the motorhome rises. I have read some comments about it on this forum but looking for more pros and cons with this system from others who have used it. Thanks for any comments,

[Unicorn1108]

Thanks, eb. That would probably work for me, though it's probably time to replace my house batteries. I'm hoping I can find a solar panel at Cabela's suitable for charging them, because I have a bunch of Cabela Bucks I can use for that.

[eb145]

Unicorn1108 wrote:
I have a similar interest, which should perhaps gets its own thread, but I'll tag onto here for starters. Our MH is stored outdoors without power. I'd like to set up surveillance cameras with solar power. I have a couple of cameras that I can use, but the weak link is the wifi-to-cellular bridge. I have a Verizon Jetpack, which works fine until the power goes out. No surprise there, but what's annoying is that when the power is restored, the Jetpack doesn't start up again until I press a button. That means that if I get a couple of cloudy days in a row, the Jetpack is going to run down, and I'll have to drive out to where it's stored to start it up again. Anyone else trying to do something similar? Among the options I've thought of include a giant battery that will charge from the solar panel and never run down, a hotspot that will start up when power is applied, and some kind of robot that detects the loss of WiFi and presses the little button.

I guess I am doing the giant battery with solar panels 🙂 Here is what I have done to keep my Verizon jetpack always powered on: I have a USB power port in the RV that is connected to my 12V RV battery bank. I have 650 Watts of solar panels on the roof that keep the RV battery bank charged. My monitor system also monitors the RV Battery voltage so I get alerted if it ever drops too low. Anyway, this works for me, but installing 3 large solar panels on the roof and wiring them properly was not a trivial task. But now I can go unplugged for days without needing to run the generator; keeping the jetpack powered up while in storage was a side benefit.

[eb145]

magicbus wrote:
I have no experience with RV Whisper but it does require you provide wifi for remote monitoring, so if you lose power you are probably SOL.
Dave

Dave,

I have both my RV Whisper system and my Verizon jetpack (used for WiFi internet access) powered by USB power ports that are powered from my 12V RV batteries. And I monitor my RV Battery voltage with my RV Whisper system also, so if the battery voltage gets real low, I get email and text message alerts.

I decided to power them this way so they are always on, even when rolling down the road. This lets us track the fridge and freezer temperature while traveling (which is another whole topic). It has been interesting seeing how the fridge and freezer temperatures in my rig are affected by driving.

[eb145]

krivanj wrote:
That system only sends data to the server 3-4 times per day. No good to monitor for dog's health....

My RV Whisper system stores the data every 5 minutes. Perhaps you are thinking about a different system? I did find another system during my research that behaved like you describe.

[eb145]

AikenRacer wrote:
Last week, we lost power to our motorhome at the beach. The temp rose in the mh with our two dogs. Luckily we were not gone long and got the power restored. I am now looking at the RV Whisper system that sends me text alerts, etc if the temp in the motorhome rises. I have read some comments about it on this forum but looking for more pros and cons with this system from others who have used it. Thanks for any comments,

I use the RV Whisper system to monitor the inside temperature and the battery voltage in my RV. It has been working well for me.

If I lose shore power, I get an email and text message that "Shore Power is Disconnected" and of course if it gets hot inside, I also get alerted. RV Whisper stores all data every 5 minutes. It uses my WiFi hotspot (Verizon jetpack) for internet access.

I set up a "Shore Power Disconnected" alert to be triggered when the battery voltage falls below 13.0 Volts. If my RV is plugged in to shore power (or generator is running) the battery voltage stays at 13.2 Volts or higher. This already alerted me one time when I lost shore power with my dog inside depending on the air conditioning to keep cool. I was able to get back to the RV before the temperature had risen. I really like the early warning system I now have.

[larry_cad]

AikenRacer wrote:
Thanks for the comments. I did order the system and once I've used it for a while, I will post my comments on it. I did talk to the manufacturer and it will send instant text. I don't have an auto start genny but may look into that also.

If you have an Onan generator, an auto gen start is an easy retrofit. Somewhat depends on your inverter.

[3_dog_nights]

I vote robot! Let me know where you get it.

[Unicorn1108]

I have a similar interest, which should perhaps gets its own thread, but I'll tag onto here for starters. Our MH is stored outdoors without power. I'd like to set up surveillance cameras with solar power. I have a couple of cameras that I can use, but the weak link is the wifi-to-cellular bridge. I have a Verizon Jetpack, which works fine until the power goes out. No surprise there, but what's annoying is that when the power is restored, the Jetpack doesn't start up again until I press a button. That means that if I get a couple of cloudy days in a row, the Jetpack is going to run down, and I'll have to drive out to where it's stored to start it up again. Anyone else trying to do something similar? Among the options I've thought of include a giant battery that will charge from the solar panel and never run down, a hotspot that will start up when power is applied, and some kind of robot that detects the loss of WiFi and presses the little button.

[sgfrye]

magicbus wrote:

krivanj wrote:
That system only sends data to the server 3-4 times per day. No good to monitor for dog's health....

Which system are you referring to? The MarCELL system sends "pertinent data" 3-4 times a day, but if you read the next paragraph you would see it sends alerts immediately to your text or email.

If the MarCELL Cellular Connected Monitoring System detects temperatures that are too high or too low, if humidity is out of range or if the power goes out, the MarCELL sends an alert message to the cloud which immediately sends you a text message, email and a voice phone call warning of problems at your remote property. It even sends you alert messages when the power is restored.

and

The MarCELL Cellular Connected Monitoring System will notify you immediately via Text, Email, or Call of temperature alerts, humidity extremes, power outages, and when power is restored.

Immediately works OK for me.

Dave

x2
we have had the marcell system for over a year with our TT. we travel with 4 small dogs. it works great. we receive alerts via text, phone, and email within 15 seconds on my iphone as well as my wifes

[AikenRacer]

Thanks for the comments. I did order the system and once I've used it for a while, I will post my comments on it. I did talk to the manufacturer and it will send instant text. I don't have an auto start genny but may look into that also.

[Happytraveler]

Belgique wrote:

krivanj wrote:
That system only sends data to the server 3-4 times per day. No good to monitor for dog's health....

Not so. I have it and get instantaneous texts etc. For instance, yesterday we were working on electric and had it on/off several times. I got alerts within seconds every time. Their literature is not clear on this. You can also ping it and get instantaneous readout of temp etc.

Marcel is fantastic. Big selling point is it uses cell not wifi. We were recently in the back woods of WV and it worked perfect.

It definitely alerts you with a power outage, rising temperature and high humidity. Our phones and iPads go off with messages, emails and phone calls.
I don't mind plugging the unit into an electrical outlet. I don't like depending on wifi. If we're camping and knowing the weather is hot will stay in full hookups. If we're dry camping and have a hot day like in Truckee, Ca. we start the generator and have the air on when we leave our dog inside the motorhome for a couple of hours. Our dog doesn't handle the heat very well.

[Belgique]

krivanj wrote:
That system only sends data to the server 3-4 times per day. No good to monitor for dog's health....

Not so. I have it and get instantaneous texts etc. For instance, yesterday we were working on electric and had it on/off several times. I got alerts within seconds every time. Their literature is not clear on this. You can also ping it and get instantaneous readout of temp etc.

Marcel is fantastic. Big selling point is it uses cell not wifi. We were recently in the back woods of WV and it worked perfect.

[rk911]

dalsn1 wrote:
Check out RV Pet SafeRV Pet safty

looks like that's a 'buy once/pay forever' subscription based service. the other appears to be subscription-free.

[dalsn1]

Check out RV Pet SafeRV Pet safty