I love boats, the sea and travelling

I tried out the tasmotized ESPs without the internet only the router, it didn' work. I am surprized. This was not the bet. I don't know if I continue that way. But it can't be! I hardly believe it.

I have to check it out once more...

@stepuino Yes, he is just 12 weeks old this coming Fri.

@stepuino I am unsure why you would think that. If you want to control devices like plugs, lights, heating, cooling, coffee maker etc etc and you are 50 miles away, what kind of 'magic' do you think will do that?

@stepuino Just connect the internet, then all will work.

The purpose is to control a lot of stuff on the boat that I do in the moment manually. Example the water for the toilet. We have a tank that must be filled when it is almost empty and the tide is high, because when the tide is low we lie in the mud. We collect rain-water in a separate tank- this must be pumped in the water-tank depending on the levels. I want to control the heating and measure the time, that it is running. And I must surveil the voltage of the batteries. And all this, while I am on the boat, no remote control. From the next year on there will be a wind-generator and photovoltaic. We have about 10 batteries on board.

When we talk about navigation, there are some navigation-devices that could talk to each other by a bus called NMEA 2k and NMEA 0183. My raspberry could process this bus. I think about sending these strings by ESP-now from the GPS- device to the raspberry but this will happen later. Right now I want to display data (water-level) and switch things on and off. And if it doesn't work with iobroker, I don't know how to go on.

@stepuino For the non-nav stuff, something as simple as Alexa will work, or with a little more work to set up Home Assistant.

For the Nav stuff I would see what is available. Maybe Victron?

10 batteries??? Are you running a welding shop? I had 6 x 100AH because I had a residential fridge that used 1.5kWh per day. Just curious.

Hey Ron,

I will explain the amount of batteriel- We have two engines, outboarders each of it has got a starter batterie.

These engines are controlled by devices that take 24 VAC. With controlled I mean they are waved left and right by big devices that change the electronical commands in motion. Also gas and gearbox come from joysticks. These devices (Kobelt) need a lot of current so the batteries are big. For safety-reasons we have to have a second circuit.  Then we have the bowthrust with 24VAC, so we have eight. Then there is a generator who needs a starter batterie and for my boat navigation I have another circuit of 12VAC.

You know, we bought the boat from a fellow who started to build it brand new. After some years he gave up without driving it one metre. I would have built up all these circuits completely different, but this guy was an engineer how do you say electric engineer. And an idiot. But I can't change the complete wiring, although I change a lot. (And not only the wiring).
But we are happy with the boat, it is almost new, the vessel was built by a famous shipyard and it is full of stuff of good quality (put together stupid) 

I'd like to show you some pictures.

So here it is night and a heavy storm.

Take care,

Stepuino 

Hey Ron,

I will explain the amount of batteriel- We have two engines, outboarders each of it has got a starter batterie.

These engines are controlled by devices that take 24 VAC. With controlled I mean they are waved left and right by big devices that change the electronical commands in motion. Also gas and gearbox come from joysticks. These devices (Kobelt) need a lot of current so the batteries are big. For safety-reasons we have to have a second circuit.  Then we have the bowthrust with 24VAC, so we have eight. Then there is a generator who needs a starter batterie and for my boat navigation I have another circuit of 12VAC.

You know, we bought the boat from a fellow who started to build it brand new. After some years he gave up without driving it one metre. I would have built up all these circuits completely different, but this guy was an engineer how do you say electric engineer. And an idiot. But I can't change the complete wiring, although I change a lot. (And not only the wiring).
But we are happy with the boat, it is almost new, the vessel was built by a famous shipyard and it is full of stuff of good quality (put together stupid) 

I'd like to show you some pictures.

So here it is night and a heavy storm.

Take care,

Stepuino 

Hey Ron,

I will explain the amount of batteriel- We have two engines, outboarders each of it has got a starter batterie.

These engines are controlled by devices that take 24 VAC. With controlled I mean they are waved left and right by big devices that change the electronical commands in motion. Also gas and gearbox come from joysticks. These devices (Kobelt) need a lot of current so the batteries are big. For safety-reasons we have to have a second circuit.  Then we have the bowthrust with 24VAC, so we have eight. Then there is a generator who needs a starter batterie and for my boat navigation I have another circuit of 12VAC.

You know, we bought the boat from a fellow who started to build it brand new. After some years he gave up without driving it one metre. I would have built up all these circuits completely different, but this guy was an engineer how do you say electric engineer. And an idiot. But I can't change the complete wiring, although I change a lot. (And not only the wiring).
But we are happy with the boat, it is almost new, the vessel was built by a famous shipyard and it is full of stuff of good quality (put together stupid) 

I'd like to show you some pictures.

So here it is night and a heavy storm.

Take care,

Stepuino 

@stepuino WOW. I think you mean DC not AC, batteries only produce DC.

You will need a lot of analysis and design work before you can even begin to design some automation. The big problem is someone else built the existing system and you do not have enough information about it.

All I can suggest is to just do ONE simple part at a time using industry standard parts like Home Assistant (HA) and HA compatible devices (may be tasmota, but lots of others)

Yeah, you are right, I mixed it up.

The suggestions are good, but I can't keep up with them. I have not the time. The boat must be finished in one year. And there is also a lot of carpentry to do. But I think I can manage all that.

@stepuino Remember, n*(n-1)/2. It is much more likely you will get some work done if you break it down into small projects than try to manage one big project. I think this is the wrong forum for you, you should be spending your time on a boat builders forum. Good luck.

My first suggestion is SLOW DOWN! When you set a deadline for completion, you immediately add a big factor for failure, either immediately or worse, when at sea. If you are an old salt with lots of water experience, the risk is lower. However, if this is your first project going to sea, the risk of major failure is GREAT. You can not anticipate what you have no experience in dealing with. Murphy's law is alive and well. ie: Just one example. I refueled, set out in a brisk wind, only to have BOTH engines fail due to water in the fuel. The wind carried me onto the rocks resulting in a major hull repair. I could have had enough time to get two anchors out IF I was prepared, or carrying a sea anchor. But what I know now didn't help me then.

By your description, you have a large complicated boat. Two engines, a generator and a thruster mean complications which have standard industry solutions. If it was truly built by a professional shop, they should have the documentation for the systems. Reading thru those should give you a full understanding of how they were intended to operate.

Boats are for enjoying the water, not for being a maintenance tech. Every boat will continue to need fixin. Just don't let it become a full-time job.

Don't chase and get side tracked by the complications. Pick a single system, understand it fully, and only then make the decision to modify. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the electrical wiring. Buy, and learn to use a wire tracing tester, label every wire as you go, and put your findings into a wire label log. Eventually you will have enough info to draw a schematic of your wiring system.

The old owner "gave up". Don't let yourself do the same, and believe me, it's easy, especially after setting a deadline for yourself. If you find yourself getting mad or frustrated, just stop and ask yourself if this is REALLY what you want out of this new project. Putting all of your eggs into one basket makes us have tunnel vision.

I did that and finally had to walk away from my similar vessel when it's age and continuous system problems stopped being fun. Good luck and stay safe on the water.