FRODO is an information and control command spot for your camper or caravan trailer.
You probably have a certain level of automation that you enjoy in your home already; perhaps you use a smart thermostat, or maybe you have a home alarm. The cool thing about home monitoring and automation is that it doesn’t matter how old your home is, there are products that can be added at any time which will modernize it, making it as self-regulating and automatic as you want it to be.
People who own travel trailers and campers don’t necessarily have the same options. Sure, you could drop $500K on a new top of the line travel bus with all of the bells and whistles, but unless that has been your retirement goal for the last 40 years, it probably isn’t happening anytime soon. Right? So what do you do if you have an older or more modest camper trailer or small mobile home? You can change out some of the major fixtures and appliances, but you’ll still have no hope of automation. Or will you?
FRODO is a new product from SeventyNive, a Slovenian company that aims to bring home automation to any camper or caravan trailer. FRODO is meant to be an “affordable substitution for old analog consoles that brings new horizons to travellers user experience.”
The FRODO GUI
FRODO is an information and command spot, that “displays how much time you have [remaining] until you have to fill up water, gas or electricity. Intuitive use of touchscreen interface allows you to control all systems in your language. On top of it, you can comfortably connect to internet.”
An example of one possible FRODO setup
Benefits of installing a FRODO system include being able to add the following functionalities to your camper or mobile home: –
- Information display – One glance over display is enough to clearly see all the information about stocks of water, electricity, gas, etc.
- Calculation of autonomy – The system measures consumptions on numerous occasions and intelligently calculates how much time can the vehicle be independent (in days or hours).
- Centralized control – Everything from one point. From turning water pump, heater, setting inside temperature, etc.
- Alerts & Hassle free travelling – The system alerts every time the level of Gas, Water, etc. reaches critical level. Planning next stop on the road to refill is much easier.
- In your native language – Because the system is fully customizable we offer graphic interface in your language.
- User friendly operation – Logic induced interface is supported with User manual of the whole vehicle embedded in the unit. For example driver can press info button when the water tank is empty to see how to refill it.
- Connectivity on the go – Internet access point (optional) – Module for Internet connectivity through GPRS 3G network.
- Measuring gas level (optional) – Module for measuring gas levels in containers.
- Intrusion alarm (optional) – The desired alarm system can be connected to the unit.
- Cooking gas, flood and sleeping gas alarm, etc. (optional) – All sorts of sensors and devices can be connected to the unit in order to achieve centralized control and overview of the trailer or camper.
I asked Luka Pitamic, CEO of FRODO, for a little more information …
Q. Is FRODO an after-market add-on for existing trailers? Or is this something to add as an option when purchasing a new trailer from a vendor?
A. It is both. However, customising is much more cost-effective for a large number of units.
Q. What is the base cost for a FRODO unit?
A. Around 110 EUR or 140 USD
Q. When will they be available?
A. Within a few months
So there you have it.