Boat Monitoring Systems - SMS, Video, Theft?

[tgrimmett]

Have any of you tried a boat monitoring system - the kind that check for things like high water, low battery, anchor drag, motion sensing, temps, and the like - and would send you an SMS alert or allow you to see a camera image while you are away from the boat?

I have an older system (Boat Nanny, OK but out of production), and I'm looking for something more up with the times. I read an interesting intro article recently in Practical Sailor that talked about Brnkl, Siren Marine and Yacht Sentinel. Ofcourse they all look great on their websites, but if you have an experience with these solutions and could share your experiences, costs, cell coverage, and anything else, I would greatly appreciate it!

[smac999]

I have a brnkl sitting on a test bench right now. played with it a little bit the other day.

notifications seemed a little hit and miss. but I was setting stuff off a lot. like a bilge pump or shore power loss every couple mins. probably work better with less things happening.

I don't really like the connector on it. the camera has to sit out in the open. with all the control wires hanging visable below it. I figure if you unplug it you just defeated the whole system? it's not something you could hide.

but it has a voltage history tracking of multiple battery banks, history of bilge running. boat air temp, shore cable disconnects, door opens, etc. for up to 7 days looks neat

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by tgrimmett

Have any of you tried a boat monitoring system - the kind that check for things like high water, low battery, anchor drag, motion sensing, temps, and the like - and would send you an SMS alert or allow you to see a camera image while you are away from the boat?

I have an older system (Boat Nanny, OK but out of production), and I'm looking for something more up with the times. I read an interesting intro article recently in Practical Sailor that talked about Brnkl, Siren Marine and Yacht Sentinel. Ofcourse they all look great on their websites, but if you have an experience with these solutions and could share your experiences, costs, cell coverage, and anything else, I would greatly appreciate it!

I have a product installed, Trek transponder, an Aussie product that works well and does many things with the ability to request a status report at any time via sms.

[coastalbrandon]

Originally Posted by smac999

I have a brnkl sitting on a test bench right now. played with it a little bit the other day.

notifications seemed a little hit and miss. but I was setting stuff off a lot. like a bilge pump or shore power loss every couple mins. probably work better with less things happening.

I don't really like the connector on it. the camera has to sit out in the open. with all the control wires hanging visable below it. I figure if you unplug it you just defeated the whole system? it's not something you could hide.

but it has a voltage history tracking of multiple battery banks, history of bilge running. boat air temp, shore cable disconnects, door opens, etc. for up to 7 days looks neat

Hey @smac999, happy to hear you have a BRNKL! I'm the founder, Brandon.

Just to clarify a couple of things - the product comes in two variations: All in One and External Camera (click here to see the comparison). The external camera option allows you to hide the electronics enclosure and have a discrete waterproof camera on display. The all-in-one has the camera built-into the electronics enclosure. If someone were to cut the cables leading to the unit the device will remain powered up for 24 hours and continue to take photographs, send GPS, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and impact data. You would certainly receive alerts that the other devices were disconnected in the event of the connector being taken off or cut.



The notifications for each individual sensor can only go off once every 15 minutes, this reduces the number of nuisance alarms from that single sensor. We have seen other products that push the same alert over and over again every 15 seconds, which is very unnecessary. An alert from one sensor will not 'block' an alert from a second sensor, for example if your bilge alert is going off once every 15 minutes it will not block you from receiving an alert from a pressure mat.


If you guys have any questions or would like any other details about BRNKL I'm more than happy to discuss! My e-mail is brandon@brnkl.io.