🐶 Dog Trailer Monitor

A lightweight Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W–based monitoring solution for dogs inside a car trailer.
It provides live video streaming, GPIO relay control (e.g., for fans or lights), and a built-in Wi-Fi access point for local connectivity – even when no external network is available.

🔧 Hardware

The system was designed to run with minimal hardware while remaining robust in outdoor/automotive environments:

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
• NoIR Camera (for day/night video)
• 2-Channel Relay Module (for controlling fans, lights, etc.)
• LM2596S Step-down Converter (12V → 5V power supply)
• Custom enclosure with mounting hardware
• Cable grommet for safe external wiring

⚡ Circuit & Wiring

The following diagram shows the wiring of the Raspberry Pi, relays, and power supply:

📦 Installation Guide

📥 Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit, Bookworm)

1. Flash Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm (64-bit) to a microSD card using the Raspberry Pi Imager.

2. Insert the card into the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and power it on.

3. Connect the Pi to Wi-Fi (via desktop GUI, nmtui, or nmcli).

4. Update all system packages:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

✅ Your base system is now ready.

🌐 Install Dogtrailer Webapp and Access Point

1. Copy the provided install.sh script to your Raspberry Pi (e.g., via SFTP).

2. Run the installation script with root permissions:

sudo bash install.sh

The script will:

• Install all required dependencies
• Set up a Python virtual environment
• Deploy the Dog Trailer Monitor webserver
• Configure a Wi-Fi access point for direct connectivity (SSID and password defined in .env)

Once installation is complete, the webserver will automatically start on boot.

▶️ Usage

Open a browser and connect to the Pi’s Access Point or local IP address: http://RASPBERRY-IP:5000

You will have access to:

• Live video stream from the Pi camera
• Relay controls (e.g., switch fans/lights)
• Status page with system information

📡 Access Point Management

The installer sets up a Hotspot profile called Hotspot in NetworkManager.
For security reasons it is not activated automatically during installation, but it is configured for autostart after reboot once it has been activated at least once.

Run this once (locally or via SSH) for a one-time activation:

sudo nmcli connection up Hotspot

⚠️ If you are connected via Wi-Fi/SSH, the connection may drop because wlan0 will be reconfigured.

After this, the access point will automatically start on every reboot. Clients can connect to the SSID:

• SSID: Dogtrailer
• Password: dogtrailer
• Gateway/IP of the Pi: 192.168.1.1

You can then open the web interface under: http://192.168.1.1:5000

Useful commands for NetworkManager profiles:

• Show all connections: nmcli connection show
• Show active connections: nmcli connection show --active
• Stop the access point manually: sudo nmcli connection down Hotspot

🐞 Debugging & Development

Check service logs:

journalctl -u dogtrailer -f

Restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart dogtrailer