Using iPhone or iPad Personal Hotspot for RV Whisper Monitor Station

Depending on your model of iPhone or iPad and your cellular data plan, your iPhone may support a Personal Hotspot feature that the RV Whisper monitor station can use to connect to the internet.

However, the iPhone or iPad only lets devices connect to the Personal Hotspot while the Personal Hotspot screen is visible on the phone. This is an iPhone / iPad feature (not a bug, because it’s supposed to work that way according to Apple). Also remember, you will have to leave that iPhone or iPad behind in the RV, and you should put it on a charger because the Personal Hotspot feature can use a lot of power.

Here is the official apple support page for using the Personal Hotspot feature: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204023

The relevant part from the apple support page is this:

“On the device that you want to connect to, go to Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot or Settings > Personal Hotspot and make sure that it’s on. Then verify the Wi-Fi password and name of the phone. Stay on this screen until you’ve connected your other device to the Wi-Fi network.” 

So while the Personal Hotspot screen is displayed on your iPhone or iPad, you can connect the RV Whisper Monitor Station to it. Once the WiFi connection is made, you can close the Personal Hotspot screen and the monitor station will stay connected to it. Be sure to test these steps to make sure they work for your phone and for your data plan.

After you have successfully connected the RV Whisper Monitor Station to your iPhone or iPad Personal Hotspot one time, the re-connection process is easier. Every 4 minutes, the RV Whisper monitor station checks if it is connected to the internet.  If it is not connected to the internet, then it look to see if any of the WiFi networks you have ever connected to from the monitor station are in range.   (The monitor station remembers all of the wifi networks and wifi passwords you have connected it to in the past).

So to re-connect your monitor station to your iPhone or iPad hotspot follow this procedure:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, turn on Personal Hotspot and stay on that screen.
2. Plug in your monitor station (or leave the Monitor Station powered on)
3. Watch your iPhone or iPad Personal Hotspot until it shows the Monitor Station is connected. (4 minutes maximum).
4. Just leave your iPhone or iPad powered on and the WiFi hotspot should remain on and the monitor station should remain connected.

Now your RV Whisper Monitor Station should have internet access so you will be able to see the data from all of your wireless RV Sensors such as temperature, humidity, shore power, battery voltage, propane levels, door open/close status and more. You can also now receive email and text message alerts from your RV.