Remote Monitoring System

[Midnightsun]

Been looking for something affordable when it comes to boat systems remote monitoring. Came across this which looks very promising. They do advertise it as $8.99/month so I assume $45 or so for my season in my case as why pay for data info when on the hard not to mention battery drain which would big a huge problem unless you are plugged in that is. I did email them to see if $8.99 on a monthly basis is correct and will get back to all regarding this. Definitely looks promising at a decent price. https://boatcommand.com

They have been around for a couple of years as can be seen in this review. https://sailbits.com/boat-command-initial-install/

[bud37]

If this is a contract, then would the 8.99/month be every month for the term...so if a 2 year term or do you get to pick the months you use...interesting.

[Midnightsun]

I emailed them to get more clarification on the monthly fee as it is not entirely clear. I simply cannot find anything regarding their plans on line which is a bad start. Without their plan the device is useless therefor a critical component.They do offer yearly plans at $79. Did find out that the system draws as little as a single led on for a day so very little, maybe .3a for the day.

My interests are shore power loss, battery monitoring and high water alarm. The rest is just icing on the cake..

[bud37]

Heh man.....looked at their site specs, at 70 ma working and 10 ma sleeping , this would not pose any battery drain issues Imo.....that is like .01 Ah on the low end...next to nothing. How many of those sensors would you get ?

[Midnightsun]

The most important to me is the 120v shore power sensor however all of them seem to be simply ground sensing so knowing me I will probably make my own. A good example for the shore power failure sensor build is a 120v relay plugged into an outlet with a ground wire connected to normally open contact of the relay and the other to the power failure wire of the unit. The high water is simply a connection to ground so a simple float switch connected to ground when tripped is all you need. Same goes for the alarm contacts. Any off the shelf temp sensor will also work for temp readings. This is a simple device that uses simple tech which is something I like. It has 20 wires so it can get a ground signal which is translated from the wire it received the ground from into high water to alarm or power failure. Like I said simple but effective. The hardest part is fishing the wires to the sensor locations on the boat. Stay tuned for another pimp my boat project.

[Midnightsun]

A little more info

The subscription can be had on a monthly basis with no activation or deactivation fees. This is my best option as 5 months is only $45 for the more than ample basic plan.

The plans vary because of the frequency of reporting but this only fills the log and has no bearing on any alarms which appear within minutes of an event no matter what the plan. I suppose for some, logging may be required but honestly I cannot see why I would want a log recorded every hour that says shore power is good, water levels in the bilge are not high and so on. Someone with a rental fleet may want to track the boats via gps with a log report every hour but otherwise I simply cannot see the value for a private boater.

Wiring instructions. https://viatrax.com/support/Manual-Advanced.pdf

Below is a chart showing the different plans, as can be seen take off 25% for a yearly plan if this option is better for you.

The unit does have GPS built in so you can see remotely where the boat is, can set up a geofence or anchor drag alarm if you so desire.

I did search around for a better deal and managed to find it on eBay for $229. There is 1 left if this interests you https://www.ebay.com/itm/Boat-Command-B ... 2749.l2649 other wise the price is $299 on Amazon.

[bud37]

So you gonna pull the trigger ??...not me , got enough crap to install this spring....

[Midnightsun]

Thinking quite hard about it. Probably will.

[bud37]

Help huh.....the only thing that would bug me is that the whole thing hinges on a contract with some provider you must rely on....did I understand that right ?

Actually is there not the same sort of thing that just works over wifi.

[RGrew176]

One problem for me with something like that is where my marina is located cell reception is spotty. I've had ATT, Spring and currently Verizon and coverage at the marina is not that good. It's a bit of a dead zone.