“Waiter ECC was born out of a hobby that solved a problem with my 99 Southwind.”
I’m a semi retired systems engineer who designed, built, and programed equipment for our nations defense and intelligence industry. I say semi-retired, because I’ve never really quit working. Since I enjoy what I do, I work several months a year at a major food process and packaging facility near my home town doing pretty much the same thing; designing, building and programing machines and equipment to better serve that industry. Not exactly the same type of equipment I’ve worked on in the past, but the concepts of identifying and solving problems are exactly the same. Its kind of a hobby that I enjoy, I get paid to do it, and the hours are very flexible.. What better job to have. 🙂 🙂
One of my “hobbies” is working on my older Southwind. In the summer of 2018, my Southwind became haunted with a mind of its own. The furnaces would turn on, even when OFF. The A/C units would run at the same time as the furnaces. This was getting worst and finally got to the point I couldn’t leave power on the motorhome because things would turn on at random.
I did a visual inspection of the controller and thermostat, although a little dusty there wasn’t any obvious failures. I contacted Intellitec, their service department said they no longer sold these items, but for a fee, could “attempt” a repair on my original units. The numbers I seen for repair/replace were in the range of $200-$400. As an option, I started looking into what I needed to build my own system.
I bread-boarded a system (yes, actually built on a 12×18 sheet of plywood) and installed it for use during the winter of 2018/2019. This was kind of a proof of concept model. It worked out so well, I decided to do an initial prototype system, complete with a custom circuit board and touch screen display.
As fellow RV’ers got wind of this, I started getting calls and emails asking; “could I make one for them?”. I put together a couple of these systems for friends who installed them in their motor-homes. Word started to spread and it became obvious I was going to need to offer these to the public. I wanted to build a system that require little to no technical or computer skills. Basically, the goal was to unplug the old stuff, plug in the new stuff, turn it on, and it would work.
Feedback from Beta Testers:
Several of the more technical beta testers have asked about modifying the WiFi connectivity scheme so that the end user could connect the control module and Operator touch screen to their private network. This may be included in the future, but for now, the goal is to keep it simple and easy to install.
There is also an interest in controlling Power Gear levelers, Generator, and even the water heater. The Operator Touch Screen has these capabilities programmed in, but the hardware control modules haven’t been built past the proof of concept bread board. I’ll work on these this winter while snow-birding.
If you have any questions or suggestions for enhancements, drop me a line.
Thank you
John Mc
AKA Waiter
Where did the “Waiter” come from? When I was in the Air Force, I flew on EC-135s. When pulling those long hours of alert duty, I’d occasionally offer to get my fellow crew members a cup of coffee. One day, the commander said I was a better waiter than the one at the mess hall, so I was bestowed the nick name “Waiter”, and it stuck for all these years.