Ep. 183: RV Whisper | Remote Monitoring System | test install review | pet safety
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- Whether you're looking to monitor your RV for your pet's safety, or your RV's temperature, humidity, battery, shore power and propane levels, RV Whisper is the best remote monitoring system we've ever come across for use in your motorhome, travel trailer or fifth wheel. All data is available from within the RV or on the other side of the globe. In this week's episode we introduce, install, test and review RV Whisper for our Grand Adventurers.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:41 Our full-time RV lives begin
1:47 What is RV Whisper? with company Founder/President/CEO Ed Bender
8:51 Unboxing
11:39 Installation
14:32 Configuration & Use
20:35 Conclusions
FOR MORE INFORMATION
* RV Whisper rvwhisper.com
* RV Whisper on Amazon amzn.to/38I3pgs
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ABOUT US
Welcome to Grand Adventure, a UA-cam channel that focuses on RV-centric outdoor activities including not only of course camping, but also mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, skiing and more, always filmed in stunning 4K.
We're based in Salt Lake City, Utah during the winter months, and invite you to come along as we travel all around the U.S. My wife Patricia and I, and dog Zoe are avid boondockers, so while you'll occasionally find us in RV parks or even dry campgrounds, we're usually camped in some of the most remote and beautiful spots that you could ever pull a travel trailer into. We've now transitioned from "long-timing" for six months a year, to living and traveling in our RV full-time.
We'll provide beautiful travel videos, as well as some tips and insight on trip planning, and equipping and maintaining your RV to make your next adventure a grand one indeed! So, subscribe to make sure that you catch every episode, and remember...life is nothing but a Grand Adventure!
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#RV #RVwhisper #RVlife #RVliving #RVmonitor #RVmonitoring #petsafety #FulltimeRV
Very thorough review of a new product. It definitely is a must for all RVers, not just pet owners. I’m impressed with how well thought out it is - like the glass jars and batteries and thinking of RVers and their concern if they lose power. I like the motion sensor too but maybe for the front door. I am definitely looking into this product. Thanks for showing this.
Alice
Our pleasure Alice, thanks for watching!
I need something to keep tabs on my wife while I'm down at the lake 😂
I'll have to check, but I'm not sure that they have a sensor for that.
Jason Momoa would be an an excellent choice, as I’m sure most women (maybe some men) would agree.
@@kristiejacobs4854 🤣 But can he be wired into the RV Whisper system?
Thats exactly what I'm looking for 😃
We absolutely adore this system.
Your new adventure seems to be suiting you just fine. So happy for you guys. Thanks for the product review.
Thanks so much Spell Madam! Neither of us have for one second thought, "I miss the house."
Wow, gotta’ add this to our list👍
Kristie, it's really crazy impressive whether you have pets or not, but if you do it's truly a no-brainer. I love knowing the temperature in our basement at any time, for example, and if I'm not paying attention to it, it will alert me the second things go south.
Looks like a nice system, and easy to set up, we like simple, sometimes thing are way over engineered or designed, thanks for the review.
You're most welcome Gary, thanks for watching!
Nice system.
Thanks for showing it.
Ram
Thanks for watching, Ram!
Kind of pricey for us since we are only “part timers”. However, if we were “full timers”, then it would be more beneficial.
Ram
@@laughingram7287 I can't disagree with that. However, if I were storing my rig remotely I can see that the benefit might justify the cost as well.
Marc,
Great review of the product. I have been using it for 2 years now and just love knowing all the information it provides. And Ed provides fantastic tech support.
They've been fantastic for us so far, thanks for sharing your own feedback!
Sounds really good Marc! Thanks for info.
You bet Joel!
Interesting little system. I love my Mopeka propane sensor with it’s Bluetooth connection and app so glad to know it will integrate with it
Mopeka integrates with it perfectly, Tim. While I was out skiing today I was able to check in on the RV and see how everything was doing.
A very nice, well thought out system. We’ve had the power cut out 3 times at various RV parks, so it does happen. Each time it was due to a problem with the pedestal, which our Progressive Industries EMS picked up, and then in turn cut the power. I’m always leery of leaving the dog behind just for that reason, so this looks to be a great solution.
You might want to reconsider the placement of your rear sensor. I would think an interior wall or cabinet might give you more accurate readings.
Thanks for another great video. 👍🏼
That's a really great point about that sensor placement, Rik! You've convinced me, I'm moving it to the center island.
That's a fascinating piece of equipment...never heard of it before. It is definitely going on our "get" list. The website is complete. With all the options it will take a bit to settle down on just what all we want to monitor though. Thanks for the tip.
We stumbled upon RV Whisper ourselves via another RVer's Facebook post. Once we saw the system, we knew that it was exactly what we wanted for our new fiver.
This system is very clever. That it creates an ad hoc wifi when needed is a nice quality control item. Assuming though, under such conditions one would not receive alerts once owners were physical out of range of sending unit (historical data only).
WHISPER should consider integrating security cameras & motion detectors too. It would provide value added peace of mind!
They do have motion sensors actually -- we just chose not to install any. And water leak sensors too. The ad hoc network is indeed a good feature, but for us because we need cell service for work we've always got mobile data.
Thanks for sharing Marc. Appreciate the feedback on the KOA too. I like that monitoring system.
You bet Todd! The park itself is attractive, it's their business policies towards monthlies that I have a problem with. Their monthly business is technically a separate entity from the KOA nightly sites.
Can't wait, looks interesting.
See ya there!
If I were full-time, no brainer. I still WANT it, but unfortunately, there are many things on the priority list in front of it. Congrats on making the transition! Yay!
Thank you Tony! We are finally settled in at the campground and getting everything figured out. It's a pretty exciting time for us.
Very interesting- thanks for sharing
Our pleasure John, thank you for watching!
SO CLOSE to 50K That would have been a nice way into 2021. You'll get it next week. :) Early Congrats !
Thank you! We should definitely hit it this weekend. We admit that we've been excitedly watching it steadily approach the magic number.
@@GrandAdventure Sure is! I just hit 80 today! that is 80.0 LOL
@@RVingwithG keep at it! Just keep producing quality content and they will come.
Congratulations on transitioning to full timers. We hope to see you down the road. The Weaving RVer.
Thank you Ann, we hope to see you out there!
Thanks for sharing. Just what I am looking for to monitor temp and battery voltage
Glad we could help, Richard!
Oof what a start to the full time life. I’m looking forward to a video on it.
The only time I’d like to monitor my RV is when the dog is alone in there, and maybe a camp side camera would be nice too.
Yes Rabbi, we run cameras as well. We most appreciate it for the dog, but we have other reasons to want this monitoring system as well. For example, now that we are full-time in a cold environment we need to keep an eye on the temperature in our wet bay because that's where our water hookups and exposed plumbing are located. This allows me to instantly know that the heat is still on down there.
That looks really cool... Looking forward to the details.
Gord
It's pretty spectacular, Gord.
@@GrandAdventure If you have a dog or a pet in an RV... this is definitely the thing!
@@gorrdd That's the obvious use case, but also even if you don't have a pet. Right now I am able to monitor the temperature in the basement area where my plumbing is, the temperature in the refrigerator and freezer to preserve the food, the levels in my propane tanks, the electrical data from the shore power, and more -- from anywhere in the world.
@@GrandAdventure Yeah... that is amazing.
At least you're close to red iguana.
True that. When we stayed here for a weekend in October, the first day we had the fiver that was requisite take-out on the first night.
Really enjoyed your video - we installed RV Whisper in our coach (along with a Power Watchdog) a few months ago, and it has performed flawlessly. With a pet, with wet bay temperature monitoring, and with two freezers, it gives us a lot of piece of mind.
Thanks for your feedback, Doug. We're enormously impressed with RV Whisper thus far.
Sorry that I wasn't there for the actual premiere time. I was with Papa Drew lol. This is a amazing technology. And alerting you about all the temperatures if something goes wrong.
Hope you're having a fun time down in Q, Susan! Keep Drew in line, although we realize that isn't an easy task.
@@GrandAdventure keeping Drew in line is hard. He's rode into town several times. It's a adventure every time. Lol 😆.
@@NewHorizons2020 do you mean into town, or "into town"? 🤣
@@GrandAdventure oh me an Jim drove by the Magic Circle. Lol. But Drew wasn't with us. Lol 😆.
@@NewHorizons2020 some people should always wear clothing. 😄
Now, just add in a security monitor system. Would be a great addition.
I agree Jeff, and I'm sure that Ed is watching the feedback being posted here. However, they do have a security monitor in the sense that they have door sensors available. Just not integrated cameras at the moment.
I should of looked a little further. Didn’t see the door and motion sensor.
@@GrandAdventure I see the door and motion sensor, now just add a siren.
Great review. Great product concept. Do you know if vieo monitoring is going to be added in the future?
This definitely changes the way things are monitored. No subscription fees, and driect application data that is useful and meaningful.
I'll be price checking this out.
Nice touch having the CEO founder interviewed and explaining the history of the product development/needs of an RV'er. Sorry we missed the premier.
We will just have to catch you at the next one, Tim! I didn't discuss video monitoring with Ed, but if you give them a call I'm sure he'll be happy to answer your inquiry. He also attended the chat during the premiere.
"irrational rules" yeah, there's a lot of that going around these days.
Great Product Mark thanks for the review
Thanks for attending the Premiere, John!
This is great to use but as far as using for pets, i prefer a standalone battery backup system on cellular connection like marcell.
Curious Jaz, why would you feel that way? I'd like to understand your rationale. IMO my house 12V batteries, charged by the solar on the roof, are far more reliable than an independent device with an independent 48-hour backup battery.
This was a very good review. It looks like the best option for us to monitor my dog’s environment w/o a major monthly subscription cost. ( I did see someone mention $42 a year).
I have a question. Does it monitor your propane system by itself, or do you have to have another monitoring system that it piggybacks off like you evidently have?
Thank you Larry! Yes, it requires the Mopeka propane tank sensor to monitor those tank levels ua-cam.com/video/oncCt-_B33g/v-deo.html . We fortunately already had them, so it was just a matter of pairing them to the RV Whisper system. It will also work with Mopeka's ultrasonic fresh water and waste tank level indicators, along with a host of other products like the Hughes Power Watchdog surge protectors, certain Victron devices, etc.
Marc
Really looks like a great system. I went to your store but I couldn’t add extras. Am I missing something? I went to their website but didn’t see the enclosed “jars” and saw no way to let them know that you should get credit for the sale as I would not have known about it if you didn’t show it.
Also, I saw your low voltage power block distribution center and that looks great. Is it addressed on another post? What is the brand?
Hey Lance! We didn't want to establish any kind of affiliate relationship with RV Whisper as they're a small shop and we wanted them to keep all of their profits. They've also got a very limited presence on Amazon, which is why you can't add any extras there. We'd recommend placing any more extensive order with them directly. I believe that the temperature sensors come with the jars, but double check with the folks at RV Whisper and they can verify.
We didn't do a separate episode on that power block. We should have, but we were pressed for time and filming yourself doing anything makes it take 3x as long. We had several pre-requisites for this project:
1. Clean installation;
2. Hidden from view, but yet with easy accessibility;
3. Numerous outlets; and
4. Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 compatibility.
We knew that we had 12V power available behind the TV running to the stereo, and there are a number of cubbies back there hidden by the TV, but readily accessible as the TV is on a swing arm mount. Those cubbies also provide a place for the item being charged to sit while charging. So we first installed one of these amzn.to/2LKpl2E by using a Dremel tool on the wall of one of the cubbies behind the TV. That gave us a "cigarette lighter" style 12V connection, and came with two extra non-QC 3.0 USB ports as a bonus. Into that plate's cigarette lighter outlet we plugged one of these amzn.to/2MNzsnF and mounted it to the wall of the cubby adjacent to the power outlet using 3M Command Strips. That gave us 4 QC 3.0 USB ports, and two 2.4A non-QC 3.0 ports, for a total of 8 USB connections. We then added 4 of these amzn.to/2XARV9a and 4 of these amzn.to/38ANqBK to our power bank. At 12 inches long nothing gets tangled, and they're color coded -- blue is microUSB, and red is USB-C. Finally we labeled each cable near the tip using a Dymo label printer amzn.to/3oFOBp8 so that we could see at a glance which ones were QC 3.0 and which ones aren't.
It's been a Godsend. Inexplicably, K-Z ships these rigs out with a whopping 2 USB ports, both of which are on a single wall plate in the bedroom. This gave us a ton of USB ports in the main living area, including four that are QC 3.0 compatible, to charge phones, cameras, tablets and other devices.
Hi Mark great video. How did you mount the temp sensor outside?
Thanks Steve! I attached the sensor jar to the inside of the frame with a self tapping screw through the center of the bottom half. I then used silicone caulk over the hole from the inside. It's still hanging on like a champ a couple of years later.
This would be good to test with Visible hotspot feature since it has no cellular backup. If it's reliant on wifi it may not be good for dog monitoring as you should have cellular backup to keep tabs on shore power and temp inside the camper no matter the situation.
That's how we're using it, Jaz -- with our Visible hotspot, connected through a TP-Link USB-powered travel router. We wouldn't rely on park Wi-Fi to serve that role and because it's not using its own SIM card a) we don't have another cellular bill to pay, and b) because we keep multiple cellular solutions on board we can go with whichever carrier has the most reliable signal in any location.
@@GrandAdventure which model router are you using?
@@yankeesusa1 TP-Link TL-WR902AC
Great video again Mark. I do a ton of video and reading on RV accessories and this is the first I've heard of this system. I have noticed that there seems to be a shortage of quality RV parks in the SlC area as well. Although we try to avoid parks as much as possible and I know you normally do as well. Just from looking online I've noticed this, not from personal experience. One did come to my attention recently that was just opened in Tremonton a few years ago. It looks nice and has good reviews, but this may be further north than you would want to be.
Glad that we could introduce RV Whisper to you, Jeremy. You're right, there's a dearth of decent space in SLC. Someone could make a fortune. Tremonton is much, much too far unfortunately. There are basically three options in the Salt Lake Valley: the place we're at now, the place where we're heading, and a third RV resort that's even more distant than the other two from the parts of town that we frequent.
Hey Mark love your new camper, did I see your going to use Bulldog Surge Protector? If so are you adding it to your Amazon Store?
Thanks for the reminder Rick! We've been using it for about a week now and we're very pleased with it. We like the Bluetooth app functionality to monitor our power systems, and RV Whisper delivers that same information both locally and remotely within their app. I just added it to the Grand Adventure Shop on Amazon.
$42 a year should have been in the video. It's not huge, but these things can really add up. Is that subscription required for cell alerts? I don't care about cloud storage.
To be completely honest, we didn't even think of it when we were creating the video. I didn't even know what it cost for the subscription until I was asked that question in another comment. I actually had to go look it up.
Is there a monthly fee for the account to make it work? It would be nice if they had video monitoring too. That's what I thought this video was going to be about, video monitoring, Hah!
Fooled ya, Tom! 😁 Purchase comes with 1 year of tech support and cloud monitoring; subsequent years are $42/year.
Hey Mark, Where is your basement sensor? Did you install a sensor within the enclosed underbelly? If so, how did you install it? Thanks!
Justin, we installed it in our basement area right next to the water pump, where our water connections are coming into the trailer in our wet bay. Not coincidentally, that's also where our plumbing goes to the bathroom and into the kitchen.
Considered Ring?
Ring doesn't offer battery monitors or temperature monitors, only security cameras and doorbells. Many of their security cameras require 120VAC power, too. Ring products are an entirely different animal. For security cams we use self-contained battery cams from other manufacturers as they don't require a separate power source.
How is the Tundra coping with pulling the 5th wheel?
So far so good, but the real test will be a two-day drive to Quartzsite next month.
Very slick, Marc! Definitely a must do.
However, there is one thing that is missing. What happens if one of your water lines break and starts flooding your camper? How could that be monitored? I'm thinking that you need a water sensor placed on the floor of the RV front, back, and bathroom.
Ideally, have a water line solenoid hooked up that would automatically turn off the water pressure from outside where the water hose goes into the water supply.
Alternately, manually turn off the water pressure every time you leave the RV. That is an incredible hassel to remember. But would avoid the release of any damaging water before the solenoid activated.
However, if the temperature were to go down below freezing for so many minutes, it would be great to turn off the water pressure before the freeze happens. That would at least prevent flooding, even if the plastics pipes broke.
Gord
They actually do have a water sensor to alert you if they detect water on the floor. We just haven't hooked that up.
@@GrandAdventure That's great. The reason I asked is because one day some years back, my neighbor's water line burst and the water was flooding out underneath their entry way. Out of consideration I turned their faucet off at the pedestal because they weren't home.
Gord
@@gorrdd if we are boondocking we always turn the water pump off when we leave, for just that reason. I'll confess we're a bit less diligent about it when we're hooked up to city water.
@@GrandAdventure Yup... that saves the battery too. But the real pressure is when your hooked up to city water.
are you still running on a 3 year old system or have you changed or updated?
When we switched over to a Victron VRM via their Cerbo GX, RV Whisper was redundant.
RV Whisper is not available on Amazon(currently)
Even the manufacturer rvwhisper.com/ is sold out of several of the starter kits for the past week, David, but they anticipate being back in stock by sometime next week.
is it only WIFI or can it work with Bluetooth to this day in age i don't want anything over WIFI or on the cloud
No Matthew, although it does connect with some sensors via Bluetooth, it requires Wi-Fi to send the data to the user.
Hum, can I put it in my house?
My closet humidity, etc My fridge & freezer.
There's no reason why you couldn't.
Would be good for wine storage in that case.
@@johnpurdum8126 sure would.
nice system. Looking at his web site he has thought of everything... Its Complete...
Very much so. I think that's one thing that attracts us so much to the product, it's completely scalable and all information is in one place.
All I need to know is that label "MADE IN CHINA."
But designed and assembled in Maryland. Just about all small electronic components come out of China these days, there's not much option for stuff like that.
I caught the premiere just in time to see everything stop. 🤦♂️
Missed ya bud! Check this out, though -- this product is a game changer.
Really nice 👌 😍💋 💝💖❤️
Thanks 🤗