Possible repurpose to a vehicle presence sensor

[Bill Brower]

jon00 Hey Jon. I’ll try again. The power banks I tried appeared to sense when something was plugged in and the USB ports would go to sleep under such a small load. I’ll try again. My Ford has an always on USB port, so that’s good. The wife’s Acura doesn’t. There are free spaces and around four fuse boxes. I bought a bunch of fuse pigtails that are fused and I have some DC to DC converters I was going to wire in like the one showed earlier. But I’d rather do the power back for now. I also want to see how long a power bank would power an ESP32.

[Bill Brower]

So far, the range isn’t too far outside the garage, but inside the garage, the BT set up has been rock solid through an ESP8266 to HS.

[Pete]

My current set up is still with a 24/7 connection to the CheaperRFID device.

I do have CarPCs in two vehicles which run a custom KODI HU interface with a bus / ODB2 connection (written in Python). Now the two automobiles have multiple BT connections. One standard built in to automobile BT for telephone. The CarPCs now use an LTE connection to the internet when the automobile is on. I can remote control vehicles but not drive them remotely. Built in Navigation (with TTS / VR) sucks so starting to implement Google with voice navigation which is real time and I like it.

The car pc's plug in and power a micro OpenWRT wired / wireless router (with LTE connectivity). Tiny thing with two ethernet ports and one wireless port.

Testing an OpenVPN connection (running on car pc) to home PFSense firewall and do direct uploads of data now which I like (like MQTT stuff).

The above noted would this device work for me if only used when automobile was on?

[jon00]

jon00 Hey Jon. I’ll try again. The power banks I tried appeared to sense when something was plugged in and the USB ports would go to sleep under such a small load. I’ll try again. My Ford has an always on USB port, so that’s good. The wife’s Acura doesn’t. There are free spaces and around four fuse boxes. I bought a bunch of fuse pigtails that are fused and I have some DC to DC converters I was going to wire in like the one showed earlier. But I’d rather do the power back for now. I also want to see how long a power bank would power an ESP32.

Right. Some newer versions have "Trickle charge" or "Low-Current Charging" capability. You need to do your research how they work per power bank. You can also get devices like these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/17478262671...QAAOSwqn5groLw

There are plenty of you tube videos too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOL3ic8msas

[Bill Brower]

Pete It the car’s USB port is always on, the tracker will operate as it should with nearly zero battery drain. If the dongle USB port shuts off when the ignition is off, the receiver will think the USB dongle is out of range. That’s what is behind the discussion for always-on powering of the dongle. Clear as mud?

[Pete]

Understood. So that means that the USB dongle has be always powered on.

I am hoping that the receiver works in the basement near the HAI Alarm can to the garage and near garage. I could just stick it in the garage and connect it to zone wires to the basement alarm panel.

I already do this with the Cheaper RFID stuff and can maybe install the USB device next to the cheaper RFID device as it is mounted autonomously powered in the dome light area. I have been using those tiny 12VDC to USB cables now in the car and at home in the alarm panel such that I could probably fit one in the headliner.

I rewired the USB ports / cigarette lighter ports to go on only with ignition on using jumper / separate fuses in the fuse block here on two vehicles.

I do have the Group Size H8 batteries in two vehicles.

[jon00]

Looks like the USB Bluetooth devices average around 1 milliampere (5V).

Just an idea, if you don't want to mess with your car's electrics to get a permanent 24/7 feed, I expect you could use a USB power bank for this.

A cheap 5000 mAh version would last for weeks without charge. Keeping this plugged in to your cars supply would charge it whenever the vehicle was used.

I think I have found the ideal power source for this: https://voltaicsystems.com/v25/

Even supports a plugin solar panel!

[Bill Brower]

I think I have found the ideal power source for this: https://voltaicsystems.com/v25/

Even supports a plugin solar panel!

You have more money than I do, brother!

Cheers

[Pete]

1 milliampere (5V) isn't much of a draw for me. Not sure how much draw is coming from the tiny buck 12VDC to 5VDC converter cable. I purchased these in bulk a few years ago for about $2 USD each. I do not see them on Ebay these days. New phones fast charging mode still works fine with these.

Years ago would keep an external BT GPS module with built in rechargeable battery in the automobile. This was before GPS was integrated to a smart phone (2G phones). Over time of about a year the battery swelled up and became dysfunctional. Probably due to battery charging technology / type of battery at the time.