Whale's Intelligent Control system

[NigelDonnelly]

Dear All.

At the Motorhome, Caravan and Camping show in London, Whale has unveiled a new wireless control system for water and space heaters. I've written something about it in the blog section of the site which you can see by clicking this link http://www.practicalcaravan.com/blog/why-whale-watching-could-show-you-industrys-future

It is very interesting, but I'd like to hear what you all think - Is is just extra (and needless) complication or is it really rather good?

Love to hear your thoughts!

 

[Damian]

Nigel, it looks quite good, but Truma have had the Text Control out for a while now, which is triggered remotely by a text and can control up to 3 units.
As with anything electronic, it is liable to fail, which would be quite a nuisance.
Sadly it seems everything is going away from simple switches to more and more electronic gizmos, and I would hate tothink of the cost of replacing any of the new units.
The Truma unit is around £245.00, a lot of money to switch an appliance on when a few minutes on full gas when you arrive will not only save you that money but also save on the amount of fuel wasted heating an empty van.

 

[NigelDonnelly]

All true, but I don't think I made it all clear enough.

The Whale unit actually has wireless communication between the control panel and the appliances - it is all radio controlled. The only cable to the panel is the power feed. My big fear is when it goes wrong, but I like the look of it in theory...

 

[ProfJohnL]

I think the concerns raised her about the reliability of electronics have some real justification.

We have seen how electronics in caravans have often faired poorly, due to the ravages of the environment. And whilst massive strides have been made with electronics over the years, it remains a fact that the probability of a system failure increases with the complexity of the system.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

I wonder if the complexity is less with wi fi as there are fewer cables and joints to cause trouble as against the chance of electronic circuits failing
Time will tell
I recently changed my laptop and printer and copier and its all wi fi now
There is just the mains lead to the printer and one to the laptop charger and all the other cables have gone
I can have the laptop in the lounge at one end of the house and it will print in the bedroom some distance away
I even got a wi fi mouse as the move to wi fi is reflected in less USB sockets on the lap top as less are needed
I can see similar advantages in the caravan if less wiring is needed with fewer joints and weight savings

 

[Parksy]

I kind of like the idea of wireless technology but............
There are still many caravanners who have real problems in working out how to set up a tv or dvd player so they might become less enamoured of the multi programmable digital display unit when they are freezing their butts off trying to work out how get the thing to do what they want it to.
It's one more step away from the days when most of us who have a 'caravan toolbox' with pliers, cable connectors, gaffa tape, various odd bits and pieces of collected parts and some screwdrivers can get something to function more or less as it should until we can arrange for a service engineer to have a look.
If a fly by wire aircraft electronic system failure takes place there are always back up systems so that after the Airbus has landed a white overalled technician can unscrew one very expensive grey box and plug in it's equally expensive replacement unit.
On a frost covered rally field after a night at the pub that ain't going to happen...........

 

[Sproket]

Next they will be coming up with voice recognition to unlock the door

, try doing that when you have been to the pub

 

[WatsonJohnG]

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