Campground WiFi and RV Whisper

Campground WiFi systems, on their own, may or may not be a reliable way to connect RV Whisper to the internet. But you can make them be more reliable. The speed of the internet connection is not the issue since RV Whisper uses very little network bandwidth – all data is stored in the RV. The issue is usually about whether your campground WiFi uses “captive portal” technology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_portal

Note that your RV Whisper Monitor Station stores all data in your RV (on the Monitor Station). When the Monitor Station can connect to a WiFi network that his internet access, then you can securely view the data over the internet and receive email and text alerts.

If your campground WiFi uses what is called a “captive portal”, then the RV Whisper Monitor Station will not be able to use it directly. What is a captive portal and how do you know if your campground uses one? If your campground network uses a captive portal, then you will notice that when you connect your phone to the campground WiFi network that your phone browser will display a message about accepting the terms of use for that campgrounds network. It may also ask for a secondary password for your campsite, or enter your campsite number and/or a unique password.

If a captive portal is used by your campground WiFi network, then the RV Whisper Monitor Station will not be able to use it directly – you will need to install a WiFi repeater or extender in your RV. The WiFi repeater must be able to connect to a WiFi network with a captive portal, and create a new WiFi network name in your RV. The advantage of doing this is that you can connect a bunch of WiFi devices in your RV with the WiFi password of the network you created in your RV and when you get to a new campground, you only have to connect your WiFi Repeater to the campground network – all of your WiFi devices just stay connected to the WiFi network your WiFi Repeater/Extender creates in your RV.

There are many choices for WiFi repeaters, you just need to make sure the one you use supports captive portals.

Note that BOTH your RV Whisper Monitor Station and your WiFi Repeater/Extender should be powered from your RV batteries. This is crucial for when you lose shore power so you can still receive email and text alerts. The RV Whisper Monitor Station is powered by USB power, so a simple USB cigarette lighter adapter or built in USB power adapter can easily keep it running when you lose shore power. There are several WiFi repeater products that support RVs and 12Volt power from companies like Winegard, WiFi Ranger and King.

Text Message Alerts from a Cell Phone Service that is Not Listed

When setting up Text Message Alerts, if you find your cell phone service provider / carrier is not in the list of cell phone providers when you try to add a cell phone number, you can usually fix this. This post explains how to set up text message Alerts from almost any cell phone service provider.

Background:

RV Whisper text alerts are actually sent as email to a specific “email-to-text” address that most cell phone providers. For example to send a text message via email to a Verizon cell phone number you can send an email to phonenumber@vtext.com. For example, to send a text message to the phone number 555-123-4567 just send a short email to 5551234567@vtext.com and verify the email is received as a text message.

Verizon explains this here.

You can check online with your cell phone service to see how they handle this. A good search phrase would be “Verizon email to text message address” where you can replace Verizon with your cell service provider.

Gotchas:

  • message length may be limited to 100 characters or so.
  • messages may be limited to no images

Test First

Before you enter the email-to-text address for your phone into an RV Whisper Alert, you should test it first by sending a test email from any email account you have.

New Monitor Station Software (Version 4.6) Availability and Features

August 27, 2020. Version 4.6 of the RV Whisper Monitor Station software is now shipping and is available for customers that want to upgrade their current system. This is the software that runs on the RVM1-xxxx or RVM2-xxxx Monitor Station that runs in your RV. (Note that this is NOT the “RV Whisper Launcher” phone app that runs on your Android or iPhone).

You can see the current version of your RVM Monitor Station (when you are logged in and can see the sensor data), just scroll to the bottom of any page to see the current date, time and version number of your system. Email support@rvwhisper.com to request the software update for your RVM1 or RVM2 monitor station. Updates can be completed over-the-internet, or may require replacing the MicroSD card, depending on the version of your current software.

New Features in Version 4.6

RELIABILITY AND BUG FIXES: Numerous bug fixes that improve reliability including:

  • WiFi reliability improvements
  • Power Watchdog integration fixes to reduce false alarms
  • Mopeka Propane Level improvements (% FULL more accurately calculated from liquid height raw data)
  • Thornwave Battery Power Monitor data collection reliability improvements
  • Edit Alerts Contacts (email and phone numbers) – allow editing and removal of email addresses and phone numbers in the list of Alerts Contacts
  • Sensor Graphs display units and axes cleanly.
  • Sensor ToolTips available on all sensor graphs to allow seeing raw data for any data point.

New Feature: CUSTOMIZE DISPLAY: Change RV Type on Dashboard Image and place any sensor icon at any location. Here is a screen shot of the “Class A Diesel” as an example with several sensors placed in custom locations.

NEW SENSOR: PressurePro FX tire pressure. Bluetooth tire pressure monitoring system Advantage PressurePro.

NEW SENSOR: SeeLevel 709BTP3 water tank level gauges. Bluetooth capable tank monitor panel from Garnet Instruments.