Building a Raspberry Pi powered motorhome controller

July 31, 2020

1 min read

This post will be the first in a series following the progress of building a motorhome controller powered by a Raspberry Pi.

Although primarily a controller for the motorhome, the Pi will also act as a WiFi access point, media centre, and as a catch all for handling anything technical.

A high level overview of requirements should include the following but I’m sure more will be added along the way.

Sensors

Voltage and amp sensors to monitor vehicle and leisure batteries, ignition and handbrake usage, and detecting 240V hookup power.
Water level sensors for fresh and grey tanks.
Temperature and humidity sensors.
GPS for location tracking, getting/setting the time when no network is available (the Pi doesn’t have a Real Time Clock).
Relay board for controlling lights, fans, inverter, water pump etc.
Accelerometer, I have one laying around so may as well use it, possibly to monitor the current angle of the vehicle.

Control Panel / Web Interface

Controlling and monitoring the sensors should be quick and easy to do through a touchscreen control panel.
The control panel should also be available as a web interface for use on handheld devices when away from the motorhome.
Should be able to control not just the sensors but also the WiFi, media, and display the weather forecast for the current location.

Network

The built in WiFi will provide an access point for devices to connect to.
A second WiFi card with high gain external antennas will be able to connect to external networks and share the connection internally.
When no external WiFi is available it will fallback to mobile data, this should be done automatically and shouldn’t need user intervention.

Media

Bluetooth connectivity in order to play audio through an amp and speakers.
Option to play video content on a 4k monitor.
Additional media options to be explored once the more important tasks have been completed.