Home Assistant On Wheels: We’re going Inside the SmartyVan

About this episode

Mike from SmartyVan discusses transforming a Mercedes Sprinter into a smart RV using Home Assistant.

Director-turned-vanlifer Mike from the YouTube channel SmartyVan shows how he turned a bare Mercedes Sprinter into a fully automated, off‑grid smart RV powered by Home Assistant and ESPHome. We cover DC power realities, alternator charging vs solar, Starlink on the move, Bluetooth presence, wired vs Zigbee sensors and PoE cameras with Frigate. Perfect for vanlife, RV, and tiny home builders. Watch this episode on YouTube Show notes for this episode are available at https://homeassistant.fm/HA227 Support the Podcast Get early-access to episodes and an ad-free feed by supporting our Patreon. https://homeassistant.fm/patreon Share your story We wouldn't be able to do this podcast without community members and home automation enthusiasts sharing their stories. To register your interest to come share your home automation journey, head over to homeassistant.fm and click share your story . Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro, sponsors, Mike arrives 00:05:00 - From Sprinter shell to smart RV 00:10:00 - Power: solar, alternator, efficiency 00:16:00 - Home Assistant in a DC world 00:22:00 - Pi 4, microSD, backups 00:28:00 - Internet, Starlink, offline logic 00:35:32 - Van automations that matter…

People in this episode

Guest: Mike

Topics covered

• vanlife
• smart RV
• Home Assistant
• automation
• off-grid living
• sensors
• power management

Keywords

• vanlife
• smart RV
• Home Assistant
• ESPHome
• solar power
• Zigbee
• sensors
• Frigate
• Starlink
• automation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SmartyVan, Home Assistant, ESPHome, Starlink, Frigate

Places: Mercedes Sprinter

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