Cool Gadgets for Your RV

Nothing is more stressful than worrying about your pet left alone inside an RV. Will your furry traveling buddy tear the place apart, or suffer from crippling heat because of an HVAC issue? Will your dog bark incessantly? Technology has made it possible to “spy” on your pets at a low cost. After studying the field of remote cameras and first settling on a model that just didn’t work, I found the Kamtron 1080P WiFi Pet Camera on Amazon (just Google “kamatron dog camera”). It has all the features needed to keep an eye on our standard poodle and, at around $40, the investment was rather low for a camera packed with features. There are dozens of these cameras on the market, so doing a little homework is paramount.

The Kamtron camera takes up a tad more than six inches of space and is very easy to mount using the included plastic bracket. Finding the right location will require downloading the MIPC app and setting up the camera, which is easy and supported by voice prompts and load chimes. You’ll have to be connected to a Wi-Fi source, however, which can be the Achilles’ heel for RVers on the go. If the RV park Wi-Fi is not suitable, you’ll have to use data from a dedicated device, smartphone or tablet — that means leaving one of these devices in the RV. Since you’ll only be connecting to the camera periodically, data usage should be minimal. This camera will not work on a modem’s 5Gz network, only 2.4GHz.

Once paired, it’s best to place the camera in locations temporarily to establish the best overall view inside the RV. Just move the camera while watching the view on the phone. When the right place is found, the bracket can be mounted in a number of ways. In our case, the camera was mounted to the decorative molding around the slideout and removed from the bracket when on the road.

Surprisingly, considering the low purchase price, this camera is chock full of features. Logging on to the app, which takes only a few seconds, the user is able to watch what’s going on inside the RV, listen to any sounds and talk to your poochie. You can also set it up to notify you (via alarm) if there’s movement inside. Granted, that feature isn’t practical for watching animals, but can be useful as a security device when leaving the RV vacant. Controls on the app allow you to rotate the camera side-to-side and up-and-down, which is indispensable when tracking animals. This is accomplished by swiping a finger over the color image, which can be enlarged to cover the entire screen.

The camera has been very reliable, but there were a few hiccups when downloading upgraded firmware and restarting the process. It took a few tries, but we finally got there. One more thought: If you are a little paranoid about hackers spying on you inside the RV, the camera can be covered by using a small nylon ditty bag typically found in outdoor stores. When on the road, it’s a simple process to unscrew the camera from the base, unplug from the 120-volt AC source and store it in a safe place.