Remote monitoring (GPS, battery levels, bilge, engine start) - has anyone tried the Connect It Boat Box?

[skipster]

I'm interested in some remote monitoring for a sailing boat - this one is interesting as it has GPS capabilities but will also let you know if battery levels are low or whether other 12V inputs have been triggered (e.g. a bilge alarm, or the engine has been started).... I'll be leaving the boat in remote places for periods so this would give some peace of mind.... and for a subscription it connects over any mobile phone network.

However I'd love to hear from anyone that has used this (or anything similar)... would you recommend? Many tbanks, Andy

https://www.connect-it-boat.com/?lang=en

 

[TSB240]

Take care....
Shop | connect-it-boat

 

[Stingo]

Welcome to the forum.

@GHA is a mine of information about such matters. Try working your way through his posts

 

[KompetentKrew]

https://www.connect-it-boat.com/?lang=en

What a poor site. How much is it, please?

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I'm interested in some remote monitoring for a sailing boat - this one is interesting as it has GPS capabilities but will also let you know if battery levels are low or whether other 12V inputs have been triggered (e.g. a bilge alarm, or the engine has been started).... I'll be leaving the boat in remote places for periods so this would give some peace of mind.... and for a subscription it connects over any mobile phone network.

However I'd love to hear from anyone that has used this (or anything similar)... would you recommend? Many tbanks, Andy

I made one...

Anchor watcher YAPP - remote boat monitoring from a mobile phone

It doesn't have battery voltage monitoring or bilge alarm inputs, but they could easily be added. No subscription required other than a PAYG SIM costing a tenner for 4 months. It's not running at the moment as it's winter so you won't see anything live on the website link. I'll reactivate it next Spring.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

.

 

[skipster]

Take care....
Shop | connect-it-boat

Thanks very much - I hadn;t heard of the company and that was exactly my concern - I'll steer clear for now at least.

 

[Poey50]

My DIY gizmo, Remot-A-Boat, is written up with full instructions on Github. I can text for information on house and start battery voltage and I can switch on relays for an additional solar panel and the B2B to charge the start battery. Another text gets information on pressure, temperature and humidity. It also has the option of controlling AC input for mains charging or dehumidifier. Cheap to make and run.

GitHub - Poey50/Remot-a-boat: Remote control and sensing on sailing boat

 

[skipster]

Very interesting! I may have a go at this down the line.... can you check GPS position? I'm guessing not...

 

[Poey50]

Very interesting! I may have a go at this down the line.... can you check GPS position? I'm guessing not...

GPS ... no.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Very interesting! I may have a go at this down the line.... can you check GPS position? I'm guessing not...

One of Poey's device for its relay outputs, and one of mine for GPS and all other boat data, and you've got everything covered.

 

[Ningaloo]

I have two (connected) N2K backbones. This allows me to put the GPS, wind, speed and depth onto a separately powered backbone to the MFDs, Tritons and autopilot.
Victron Cerbo also linked to N2K and using the Venus large installation I get all the N2K data remotely via SignalK.
I use a GL-X750V2 4G LTE Smart Router device to monitor remotely. The whole lot uses just over 1.5A which is more than recovered from my solar.

This is not an off the shelf solution, but offers me lots of flexibility.

 

[dukeofted]

The unit that the original post mentions looks like a rebranded Teltonika FMB204 which you can get for around £50 brand new on ebay. Combine it with a free subscription on gps-trace.com and a pay as you go sim from 1pmobile and you can do remote location and battery monitoring for very cheap. I actually bought a new old stock FMA204 for £12.50 (Teltonika FMA204 Waterproof Tracker | eBay) as I'm a real shoestring sailor. It was a pain to try and get the right software to configure it as it was discontinued and in hindsight I should have just spent a bit more on the current model. Currently testing it at home with a battery in my shed as the boat is on the hard at the moment. It has enough inputs and outputs to monitor and control whatever you want and you can text it direct for location and status if you don't want to use a third party service. The beauty of this setup is that it can work with any gps tracking web service so if one goes bust you can move to another. If you don't like using third party services you can host your own server using traccar. And it is a lot cheaper for a tightwad like me!



There is a map and apps for android and iphone. You can pay £30 a year to 1p mobile for a sim that will remain active without further topups or it is £10 every 120. The custom setups that some people on here have done are super impressive but I wanted something simple and low power for my boat. This is all in one self contained waterproof box so hopefully it will be reliable. Time will tell.