Make a "Smart" RV ?
How would you guys go about retrofitting a older old RV into a smart RV?
Forum Discussion
I think the problem you will run in to is a lot of those 'smart' technologies are reliant on Internet based resources to operate. For example, Siri-Alexa-Cortana-etc do not actually do speech recognition locally. They will hear their 'wake up' word, and the rest of the computing is done 'in the cloud'. Same thing for a lot of remote control apps/devices. I have an app that controls my home thermostat, but it does not talk directly to the device - it talks to the company's mothership which in turn talks to my device.
What this means is you will be heavily Internet dependent for a lot of these 'smart' thingies to work. Chances are you will need to set up your own little mini network in the RV with local WiFi and then some way for the external side of the router to connect to the Internet. That could be some sort of WiFi bridge or hot spot. It can be done, but it is a bit of geek work to make happen. And it is contingent upon being someplace where the Internet is available. Boondocking you can forget about the smart thingies working.
I had a similar project. Cross country road trip. No cell coverage. Wanted to listen to my music library and no spare capacity on my mobile device. Built a WiFi router out of a Raspberry Pi and connected an 1TB external hard drive with the music library. No external Internet access though. Connect the iPad, access the share, play the music to the car's Bluetooth. Put it all in a nice little box and it runs off a 12v cigarette lighter plug. Works good when out camping too.
-Eric
What this means is you will be heavily Internet dependent for a lot of these 'smart' thingies to work. Chances are you will need to set up your own little mini network in the RV with local WiFi and then some way for the external side of the router to connect to the Internet. That could be some sort of WiFi bridge or hot spot. It can be done, but it is a bit of geek work to make happen. And it is contingent upon being someplace where the Internet is available. Boondocking you can forget about the smart thingies working.
I had a similar project. Cross country road trip. No cell coverage. Wanted to listen to my music library and no spare capacity on my mobile device. Built a WiFi router out of a Raspberry Pi and connected an 1TB external hard drive with the music library. No external Internet access though. Connect the iPad, access the share, play the music to the car's Bluetooth. Put it all in a nice little box and it runs off a 12v cigarette lighter plug. Works good when out camping too.
-Eric
