RV fire early warning system

[beekeeper.va]

I have created an RV Fire Early Warning System. We became concerned following a friend's early morning RV fire during which he got little warning and barely escaped. Then I looked into RV fires and found "National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) estimates that 20,000 RV fires occur annually".

The system uses an Arduino micro-controller to receive input from a total of 10 sensors. It has 6 sensors that are located at the top of all the spaces where a fire might start. I also put in a set of sensors to watch the freezer and frig temps. And, I added sensors to report the current temp and humidity. It reads the current temperature and then stores the highest temperature it has sensed since the last time it was restarted. The program monitors the temperature and when it exceeds a "set point", it will alarm and turn the back-light from green to red and sound a very loud alarm. Even if the current temperature returns to below the set-point, the back-light stays red so that if you are gone and return you will know that something alarmed and can look into it. Pushing the reset button restores the back-light to green and starts a new record of "highest temp seen". It can be seen in operation here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRKdtJEbaKk&t=30s

I have reprogrammed it so that all the sensors show up on one screen and stays there long enough to read them better. I had to resort to "one-letter" designations for each space to get everything on the 20x4 LCD.

It worked well on our 4-day dry-camping trip from which we returned yesterday. The outdoor water heater (on propane) sensor let me know it exceeded its first set-point of 115 and reached a high temp of 128. I moved the set-point to 135.

I will add three sensors that will not show up on the screen until they go into alarm condition. Those will monitor propane, carbon-monoxide, and methane if found in the bedroom.

[Knightab]

Nice! are you looking to market it? Are the sensors wireless or hardwired?

[joshuajim]

According to RVIA, there are over 10,000,000 registered RV’s in the US. 10,000 represents 0.01%. I don’t think I’ll loose too much sleep over the fire risk.

I’ll let my insurance company worry about it.

[sdennislee]

Nicely done

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by joshuajim

According to RVIA, there are over 10,000,000 registered RV’s in the US. 10,000 represents 0.01%. I don’t think I’ll loose too much sleep over the fire risk.

I’ll let my insurance company worry about it.

Thanks for putting this into perspective.
OK fire alarms, detectors. I have 4 Kidde detectors that are electronically linked together, when one alarms- all alarm at the same time.
I don't know how the one in the engine bay will hold up though.

[Bob_C]

Want more info...

[beekeeper.va]

Originally Posted by joshuajim

According to RVIA, there are over 10,000,000 registered RV’s in the US. 10,000 represents 0.01%. I don’t think I’ll loose too much sleep over the fire risk.

I’ll let my insurance company worry about it.

It is not meant to protect your RV.
I hope your insurance agent is there to wake you up if it happens.

[beekeeper.va]

Originally Posted by bob caldwell

Want more info...

You can find the whole project here.
https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub...tor-7d76be?f=1

[beekeeper.va]

Originally Posted by Knightab

Nice! are you looking to market it? Are the sensors wireless or hardwired?

Nope. Open market parts. A link to the project is posted on another response. Sensors are wired using a one-wire sensor for the alarm sensors. The temp/humidty sensors (not needed for the alarm) are not one-wire so need there own wires.



I will add propane/methane/carbon monoxide detectors to it on the next iteration.

[Tjclarke696]

In 2016 there were over 350,000 home fires with over 2,700 deaths. You better put one of those systems in your sticks and bricks.

[sdennislee]

Thanks for sharing the details. Looks like it was a fun project for you figuring it all out.

I can fondly remember when I had the energy for fun projects, now I have to hire the energy.

I'm going to share this with a friend who is full of energy.Let him practice on his then fo the good job on mine.

[CLIFFTALL]

That is pretty cool ( pun intended ). Thank you for sharing this project with us.

[Old-Biscuit]

Nice little project!


Got some questions:
Audio Alarm?
How LOUD?
Does it sound off before Smoke Detector/Carbon Monoxide/LP Detector?
(They alarm off of fumes/vapors rather then heat)


Water heater sensor.......???
Water heater uses a 130*F t-stat to stop propane heating (normal occurrence), has a High temp t-stat that trips DC to water heater if temp reaches 170*F (normal backup set point should t-stat fail)


Majority of RV fires are from smoldering electrical wires, oil fires in engine bays, brakes/oil etc.


How many places are you going to place temperature sensors.....which only will detect actual fires

RV Fire.......GET OUT RUN AWAY AS FAST/FAR as you can

[ronster]

Nice write up and project,think I'll give it a try!Glad you're in VB,close advice......Ron Sparta Va