RVAltCtrl

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Getting Started

Welcome, and thank you for purchasing RVAltCtrl. It's built to keep you in control of your RV even when the built-in display gives up, and to add many awesome capabilities your RV never had in the first place.

This page will walk you through getting set up. Once you're up and running, the rest of the docs cover the other features of your new RVAltCtrl device.

Once your device is online on your network, the RVAltCtrl Portal at my.RVAltCtrl.com is the primary place to see your device's status and access it, whether you're connected locally or remotely. See RVAltCtrl Portal for more.

If you prefer to read these pages in light mode or dark mode, there's a theme switch in the upper right corner of this web page. RVAltCtrl's own pages can switch between light mode and dark mode too, so once you are all setup, in Settings → Display & Units, under the Appearance section.

Setting Up

There are two things to set up, and they're independent of each other:

  1. Getting RVAltCtrl on your Network. This isn't required to use RVAltCtrl's most basic functions, but it's highly recommended, alerts/notifications, remote access, sensor data on your Apple Watch, and several other features all depend on it. If you'd rather keep RVAltCtrl purely as an emergency backup, you can skip this and keep using it from Access Point mode, as described in Getting RVAltCtrl on your Network. It just won't be as convenient, since you'll need to switch your phone's WiFi over to RVAltCtrl's network each time, and your phone won't have internet access while connected to RVAltCtrl in Access Point mode.
  2. Matching RVAltCtrl to your RV model, so it knows how to talk to your RV's systems. See Matching RVAltCtrl to your RV model for the full walkthrough.

Getting RVAltCtrl on your Network (Brief Overview)

There are two ways to do this, pick whichever's easier for you:

Option 1: Bluetooth (easiest)

  1. Make sure RVAltCtrl is in setup mode, either because it's brand new or because you returned it to setup mode. The middle LED blinks four times, pauses, and repeats when it's ready, with no other blinking in between.
  2. On your phone, tablet, or computer, go to https://my.rvaltctrl.com/setup in a Bluetooth-capable browser, such as Chrome or Edge. On an iPhone or iPad, use the free Bluefy app instead, since Safari itself doesn't support Bluetooth from a web page.
  3. Tap Connect to Device, then select RVAltCtrl-XXXX from the list that appears.
  4. Once connected, tap Scan for Networks, select your RV's WiFi (2.4 GHz), enter the password, and tap Connect to WiFi.
  5. RVAltCtrl joins your WiFi and reconnects to it automatically from then on. The page gives you a direct link to RVAltCtrl's own portal once it's connected.

Option 2: Manually, over WiFi

  1. Make sure RVAltCtrl is in setup mode, either because it's brand new or because you returned it to setup mode. The middle LED blinks four times, pauses, and repeats when it's ready, with no other blinking in between.
  2. On your phone, tablet, or computer, connect to the RVAltCtrl-XXXX WiFi network RVAltCtrl creates the first time it powers up (password GoCamping5678).
  3. A setup page should open automatically. If not, go to http://RVAltCtrl.local or http://192.168.4.1 in a browser.
  4. From the Home page, tap "Connect it to your WiFi network," scan for networks, and select your RV's WiFi (2.4 GHz).
    • Optionally, set a static IP address here if you'd like RVAltCtrl's address to never change.
  5. Enter the password and press Connect. RVAltCtrl joins your RV's WiFi and reconnects to it automatically from then on.
  6. From then on, reach RVAltCtrl at http://RVAltCtrl.local, or by its IP address if that name doesn't resolve on your network.

See Getting RVAltCtrl on your Network for the full walkthrough, with screenshots and the technical details behind the .local address and why it's http:// rather than https://.

Matching RVAltCtrl to your RV model (Brief Overview)

Once RVAltCtrl is on your network, or while you're connected directly to it in Access Point mode, open a browser and go to http://RVAltCtrl.local, or its IP address, to complete these steps.

  1. On RVAltCtrl's Home page, if a model isn't set up yet, tap Go to RV Model, or get there at any time from Settings → RV Model.
  2. Tap the Select your RV model dropdown and choose the model that matches your RV.
  3. For CZone-equipped RVs, choose the CZone option and let auto-detect fill in the rest, that's the best choice for almost everyone with a CZone system.
  4. Press Save to Device. RVAltCtrl reboots automatically, a quick process that takes about 10 seconds, to apply your RV model.

See Matching RVAltCtrl to your RV model for the full walkthrough, with screenshots.

Security & How This Works

RVAltCtrl is designed to live entirely on your RV's own local network, the same private network your phone, tablet, and laptop already join to reach it. By default, nothing about how you use RVAltCtrl ever leaves that network.

The web pages come from the device itself. When you open http://RVAltCtrl.local or its IP address, you're not reaching a server out on the internet, you're talking directly to a small web server built into RVAltCtrl. That's true whether you're connected to RVAltCtrl's own Access Point WiFi during setup, or to your RV's WiFi afterward, everything here happens directly between your phone and RVAltCtrl over your own local network. Nothing is ever sent over the public internet.

That's also why the address is http:// instead of https://. HTTPS depends on signed certificates, and those can't be issued for local device names or private IP addresses, only for publicly registered domain names. That's why RVAltCtrl, your home router, your printer, and most other devices on a local network all use plain http:// for their own setup pages. See Getting RVAltCtrl on your Network for the full technical explanation.

Remote Access is opt-in, and off by default. Everything above describes RVAltCtrl's normal, local-only mode of operation. If you'd like to reach your RV from outside its own WiFi network, say to check tank levels from across the campground, Remote Access is available as an optional feature. It only works through access tokens you generate yourself while standing at the device, connected to its own WiFi, so nothing about your RV is reachable from outside your network unless you explicitly turn it on.