I’ve gotta say thank you... after seeing your vehicle walkthrough, I decided to deck out my landcruiser...it now has 660w of solar, a 200ah lithium...water pump, travel buddy & lights all controlled by Bluetooth relays...induction cooker, air fryer, toaster & kettle....& a propane hot water on demand system....with planes for a smal Aircon in the roof tent. This is my favourite channel by far! Keep up the good work.
@@Everlanders I have a box of parts from Mouser marked “Everlander board parts”. Going to order the boards soon and build a version of your D1 based solid state control boards. I’m excited to start tying all the bits of my truck together.
Take some photos! I think I will post them montage of everyone who have replicated my projects...! Need to shut up the naysayers who say it's unachievable...
Your videos have inspired and helped me tinker and automate my room and become familiar with IoT! Thank you for all your videos! So far I have automated a lamp, highjacked some buttons on a fan, and made a blynk tv remote. All using the D1 mini!
Super nice to know you all are still doing well…… it’s been a while. Thanks for another awesome automation tutorial. It even inspired me to become a member 👍👍😎👍👍
Such a cool project. I have a 1940s Kohler generator (converted to propane) at my cabin in a shed. It has a off-run-start switch. This would be cool to implement in order to control and monitor from inside the cabin.
Thank you for the video, I had made the same mod on my generator but had to install a small battery. Just finished changing it to the same setup you have. So simple yet so brilliant. Again thank you.
Another project I didn't know I needed to do :D I don't ever really bring my generator, but I can totally see wanting to shut off without going outside at bed time etc.
If you haven't looked into it you may find some use out of a battery-powered hot glue gun. Ryobi has one and you could get an adapter for your Milwaukee batteries. It could be quite useful for protecting some of the unprotected parts of the circuit boards. Plus that glue dissolves with rubbing alcohol for fairly simple removal should you need to mod things.
What do you want to see next? Remote Start, AC Current Meter, RPM, Temperature??? Blog post is online now!! everlanders.com/wifi-generator-remote-control/
Remote start please! I've been thinking about building a remote start/stop system on a 2000W honda generator but haven't come up with anything for how to start it so far.
This is awesome - I've got a hair brained idea for a similar project, but add voltage monitoring (and potentially current/state of charge using the 500A 50mv shunt) and a relay to auto start my generator. Your code is going to be a great starting point
Nice project. Learning to use a leatherman as a third hand -- very neat, realizing I am not a true geek because I run blynk and media server with a 'single' pi and that I need a cluster ... not sure, guess I am just a minimalist
When you have one die, you're glad you have another that you can shift the load to... While the Pi's are robust, Overland Life is hard on electronics. (that you can't encase in potting compound)
This project has been pretty far down the list, but on my list of projects I would like to do. I have a Honda generator with electric start. I would like to be able to start it and shut it down automatically. When we have a power outage, I would like Home Assistant to start it once every couple hours long enough to keep the refrigerator cool and the house from freezing. I am just getting Home Assistant up and running and learning about MQTT. I think this would be a great project for me to start with though. Are your solar panels not keeping up anymore?
The Solar panels are doing great. 5 kWh a day on average - This will be used as backup for times we are in Rainforest cover, or hurricane season when the Solar Production is lower. (That explanation got cut from the video for brevity.) Adding a start function should be easy enough, and since your generator has it's own battery you can keep the Wemos online with that... Could even monitor the battery level and start and recharge it if it's getting low.
You're a legend!! Can you tell me which bits you order from Ali express or wherever.. I can see reference to them.. I wouldn't mind replicating your project to a few ideas in my boat
do you have any recommended resources for a rank beginner in all this electronics stuff? I don't know where to start. For example, I just stumbled across a video about Shelly relays because I want to automate some light switches in my rv. But, I don'tk know whether to use those or your Wemos thingys. And the Shelly's are expensive! $20+ for just one.
Get a Wemos D1 mini for 2.50 and start playing, blink the LED to get started. Some people learn by reading through textbooks, not for me, choose a common platform with lots of community support and web search your way through it.
I can see using something like this for when we are out and need to run a ac to cool down a space. Would not work for our van to big of a space. Thanks now mind mind is thinking how to do this.
Great videos as usual! Not sure if this is the right place to ask but can you talk about your Diesel engine and the fuel you get in Latin countries compared to the U.S. Does your engine requires low sulphur diesel? Are you able to get it? If not what do you do? Do you use any additives etc? Thanks James
We knew that ULSD is not widely available in Central America yet, so we specifically sought out a chassis that had the International 7.3L Diesel. This engine was designed for, and runs better on the higher sulfur diesel we find here... No need for additives or trying to find DEF. Talking with some of the locals here, it seems all of them have had a friend who brought in a nice truck from the USA, only to have the exhaust system bungged up within the year. Most of the Europeans we run into are built on older chassis which also have no problems, newer engines require modifications to the exhaust system, engine management computers, and additives to keep them going... I can't speak to that.
We've got an electric start 3000va generator and this has given me ideas.. I think I'll add to the D1 an opto sensor for RPM, a couple of NTC's for head temp and exhaust temps. Perhaps even a float sensor for the fuel tank. As it's an electric start there is a battery but the D1 would kill that in a couple of weeks if not careful, so might have to fit power isolator kill switch for the D1 between long periods of non-use, but will defo use a voltage sense for the battery (Via an external ADC board as will need more than the single crappy ADC onboard for the NTC's). Cracking project.
Also, the D1 has μSleep, I've run it for months off a single 18650, just put it to sleep for 5 minutes if it hasn't been accessed in 48 hours or something. Or if you want to maintain instant control, monitor the battery voltage and start it for 5 minutes if you feel it's getting too low...
@@Everlanders I'm not a fan of the in-built ADC, it's a bit noisy and unreliable, but point taken. I do like the Dallas sensors, but not sure one would survive the heat area temp for long though.
Thank you very much. I have a fob for my generator with electric start and a stop however I am trying to figure out how to set it up with a timer. If I understand correctly,. could'nt I program this with a timer?
I have 2 of these older ones like yours that I pair together in case I need a larger load like my ac and use the single one to keep my batteries topped off..neat mod but i dont know if I need something that complicated i have a kill switch on the spark side using a smart outlet to run shutting down the generator would your system work with a parellel system? great content also use some fuel additive in these, i use seafoam but it keeps them from gumming up the carb...and i have probably 500 hours on mine so far without a problem
Instead of using the 3 position switch could you just use a small capacitor to store power for a few seconds until the unit is completely off? Connect directly to the relay since you don't need to power the whole unit.
I had over 10,000uf on there during my testing, it wasn't enough to keep it closed long enough, plus I wanted to keep the switch there for manual shutdown anyway.
I have a champion dual generator that i would like to wifi on/off generator before i start well pump for irrigation. Is this something I should look into!?
The legacy blynk app is no longer available, can we use the new version of the blynk app? FYI, I tried to scan the QR code in the new app but got error, Thanks.
No, we run The local blink server in our rig so that we can use it in remote locations without connectivity... I do not think it is worth it, it lacks many features compared to the original. As a supporter of their original kickstarter, evangelist of the product, I implemented dozens of installations for a garage door openers etc, I'm appalled at this move where they will be discontinuing the old one in favor of a subscription-based model.
@@Everlanders Thanks for the response! Have to say having spent the morning trying "Blynk 2.0" out and then firing up the "legacy" app I am coming to a similar conclusion - seems like a bad move from them. With them discontinuing the local Blynk server availability (without finding an old archive), I think I'll be searching for a different solution... likely something based upon a local web server and simple web app.
Just backing up the .jar file is all you need, the whole server runs inside a single Java container. But I agree, I'm presently in the process of migrating everything to MQTT, InfluxDB and Grafana 👍
@@Everlanders Sounds like a nice solution, curious as to why you are using MQTT rather than a HTTP API as you've previously demonstrated in some past videos (I think)
Have a 4000 Watt Champion generator and I use it for my window air conditioner. I think it would be cool if I would be able to shut it off as the temperature in the room cools off.
@@PatrickKQ4HBD that may have been what ruined my last generator. Our just put a gallon of gas in it and run the AC until the gas ran out. Then all the sudden the inverter quit putting out power
i need a battery monitor auto-gen start AGS, except my generator all already has a 2-button wireless remote. Could we program these little guys to trigger gen to start when the battery hits low voltage say 12.2 volts and shuts off gen with voltage hits 13.2... The little box would need to learn 2 button remote frequency
#include // Define relay pins const int relayStartPin = D1; // Relay to start the generator const int relayStopPin = D2; // Relay to stop the generator // Define voltage sensor pin const int VoltageSensePin = A0; // Battery voltage thresholds const float startVoltageThreshold = 12.2; // Start generator below this voltage const float stopVoltageThreshold = 13.2; // Stop generator above this voltage // Define deep sleep duration in microseconds (1 hour) const uint32_t deepSleepDuration = 3600e6; void setup() { // Initialize relay pins as OUTPUT pinMode(relayStartPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(relayStopPin, OUTPUT); // Connect to Wi-Fi (optional if needed for remote monitoring) // WiFi.begin("your-ssid", "your-password"); // while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) { // delay(1000); // Serial.println("Connecting to WiFi..."); // } } void loop() { // Measure battery voltage float batteryVoltage = analogRead(VoltageSensePin) * (15.0 / 255.0); // Check if the battery voltage is below the start threshold if (batteryVoltage < startVoltageThreshold) { // Trigger generator start by closing the relay for 2 seconds digitalWrite(relayStartPin, HIGH); delay(2000); digitalWrite(relayStartPin, LOW); } // Check if the battery voltage is above the stop threshold if (batteryVoltage > stopVoltageThreshold) { // Trigger generator stop by closing the relay for 2 seconds digitalWrite(relayStopPin, HIGH); delay(2000); digitalWrite(relayStopPin, LOW); } // Deep sleep for 1 hour ESP.deepSleep(deepSleepDuration); } void WiFiSetup() { // Add your WiFi setup code here if you want to use WiFi for remote monitoring }
@@Everlanders super cool. Now just need a way to clone Generator FOB Start/stop. That said I’ve seen others cut them open and solder into buttons. I’d prefer a more elegant solution
I tried several combinations of capacitors, but nothing of reasonable size would keep it running long enough... I tried so many things, most of which got cut from the final video...
@@Everlanders most 12V to USB adaptors can also handle 24V. And wouldn't the 12V output be protected in some way? I can imagine users keep their 12V equipment plugged in between restarts, and not all equipment can withstand those power spikes
No, The Honda's 12 volt output comes directly off the generator windings and through a bridge rectifier, there is no voltage regulation whatsoever... This is why Honda has a bold warning, "For battery charging only"
I see everlander is a heavy Blynk user. And Blynk is dumping the old platform. Will everlander be migrating to the new system? Or finding new iot company?
I did not rely on the blink Cloud anyway, I run the server locally so that it is available to us off grid. In spite of that I have migrated to InfluxDB, Grafana, and MQTT, all running in parallel so that I could ditch Blynk if I needed to...
@@Everlanders I assumed with your remoteness you are running a local server. And that is understandable. Thank you for responding. Your RU-vid channel is an inspiration.
Why do you guys even have a gas-powered generator? And, more importantly, why not use a diesel-powered one so you don’t have to carry another fuel source?
We really don't _need_ the Generator, We have more than enough Solar 99.9% of the time. But when we were in the Arctic and the Sun never left the horizon, then we could have used some extra watts. The other time we needed it was in the Coastal Rainforests of Guatemala,. There we needed a little extra power to run the AC. We really only need a few hundred watts once in a blue moon. I recorded this explanation for the video, but it got cut for the sake of Brevity. But it is the first paragraph the Website Post. everlanders.com/wifi-generator-remote-control/ And I would have absolutely prefered to have a Diesel-powered option, but I don't think they exist in this small size... And certainly not for $300
@@Everlanders Thanks. That makes perfect sense. Propane would have been a good choice also, but you guys don’t carry that. Thanks for the explanation. Happy Overlanding. 👍
@@Everlanders i have a diesel onan qd 3200 along with my hondas, they both work great only use the diesel when running convection microwave and or ac at the same time the only time i get close to drawing 30 amps and a cofee machine
