Shelly Guard – An Alarm System for Motorhomes
We have developed, designed, and programmed a solution for all of us nomadic people in motorhomes and caravans.
Why?
We simply hate having to leave our motorhome alone to explore the cities we’re parked in. Since we live in it full-time for half the year, we have things we’d really rather not have stolen.
Secret hiding spots and a built-in safe solve some of the problem. Still, we walk around town, lugging a backpack of essentials (laptop, etc.) with the feeling that someone might break a window or break into the vehicle without us knowing.
Cameras also solve some of the concerns. We repurposed some old smartphones and installed Alfred.camera on them. That works fine for seeing who’s lurking around, but monitoring and “triggering” an alarm with cameras isn’t practical.
“Motion-activated alarm zones” went off every time a car drove by — and if you have a dog or hamster in the vehicle, that’ll definitely trigger false alarms too. “Sound activation” wasn’t really a good choice either; the neighbor’s dog barked and that idea went out the window. So camera-based alarm is a no-go for us.
Traditional alarm systems:
We hate paying a premium for proprietary solutions — we hate it even more if there’s a subscription attached, especially if it’s mandatory. And the systems we’ve found don’t allow for much expansion.
Prosegur, G4S, or other reputable alarm companies will hardly reach your motorhome in time, so that won’t help us much in Albania or north of the Arctic Circle.
You can get some with both deluxe immobilizers and apps that alert on break-ins. We looked at a couple of them — they all came with subscriptions and excelled at using horns and flashing lights to the great delight of everyone at 4 AM.
But then we found Shelly!
Two year ago we started experimenting with a cheap “light switch” — a “smart home” solution we found online. It comes from a Bulgarian company called Shelly. We discovered that it allowed programming (scripts) that could solve fairly detailed tasks.
The solution to the worry of someone breaking into the motorhome is now in place. We’ve added “door opening” sensors at all entry points and “motion detectors” inside. We don’t have pets, so the monitoring is straightforward. If something moves inside the vehicle, we want to know about it so we can call the rat catcher.
To ensure it also works if you have a dog, or just want a “partial alarm” that only covers certain sensors (e.g., avoiding activating room sensors at night while sleeping), we also made an “advanced” version.
- Basic is for those who don’t have a dog and sleep lightly. It simply arms everything when you leave the vehicle and notifies your phone if a sensor is triggered by any guests.
- Advanced is for those who leave their dog (or cat — or hamster) in the vehicle, or sleep so soundly that thieves could break in while they sleep. Two different modes are available in the same system:
- Basic (as above) — everything armed and any sensor sends an alarm = the hamster is left out.
- Advanced — “Sleep/Dog mode” — only certain detectors are activated (perimeter). You decide which sensors should be included in this mode and can select it with a specific button press.
On your phone(s), you install Shelly’s standard app. It includes “alarm notification mode” that certainly won’t go unnoticed in calm weather even if your phone is muted.
It can easily be changed to any notification system you prefer (including PushOver and Telegram) if you don’t like the Shelly app. Just say the word.
For nerds?
In Open Source — do it all yourself — yes, it requires some technical savvy — maybe more than you can reasonably expect from people who enjoy relaxing in their motorhome.
That’s why we’ve decided to create a ready-made “turn-key” system that only requires you to mount it yourself.
There’s no fundamental difference between whether you download the code, upgrade all devices, install, connect, and test everything yourself, or whether you buy a ready-made solution “in-a-box” and just mount it all.
- The hardware is purchased by us, assembled, programmed, and shipped to you. Free shipping within the EU on purchases over €300 — many say that’s a good marketing idea — so we offer it. Otherwise, we’ll look into what it costs to ship it to your door. It’ll probably take a little more than a week or two before the cake is baked and shipped — you’ll naturally receive tracking info and day-by-day progress updates.
- The gateway itself needs to be equipped with the correct script and configured for both Shelly Cloud, your WiFi network, and all the sensors and buttons needed in your vehicle. We handle that as part of the job.
- The devices (sensors and buttons) also need to be purchased, upgraded, configured, and added to your project. We handle that too.
- The cloud instance needs to be set up, scenes and devices added, and of course tested. As you’ve probably guessed, we do that as well as part of the delivery.
- Finally, 30+ years of experience in IT tells us you’ll still need at least one hour of installation support to resolve issues, so we’ve included that. An extra hour and a half for the advanced solution because there’s more that can be tricky.
- Support access to the system is a prerequisite for me to be able to help you. You get full control over the entire system, and even if you don’t need help on day one, you still have time on account for later. If you run out because you have grand alarm ambitions, you can of course buy more support to solve your specific needs. Our own mistakes are naturally on our dime.
- You receive a complete installation guide with the system. Basically, you need to:
- Connect power to the box
- Mount door and room sensors where it makes sense
- Install the Shelly app on your phone(s) — everyone in the family can be part of the alarm chain. That’s your task.
What’s included in the solution regardless of model:
✅ €0 Subscription: Save hundreds of euros per year.
✅ 100% Open Source: Transparent code, full control, no secrets.
✅ 100% Access: You can see everything yourself, and if you dare, you can change it all. Maybe you have a future as a programmer?
✅ Pre-configured: Ready to install — no challenges with Bluetooth pairing and setting up tricky dependencies in the Shelly ecosystem.
✅ Support included: We help you get it working — or expand it later.
✅ Smart Watchdog: Warning if the system isn’t accessible externally. Free if you’ve purchased one of the packages.
✅ Expandability: You can easily expand the system later with additional sensors as needed.
✅ Upgrade path: If function- or security-critical updates become available, we help implement them so you continue to feel secure.
⚠️ Important to know before you buy (THINGS NOT INCLUDED)
❌ No Thatcham certification — The system is an advanced monitoring solution, but doesn’t automatically give you an insurance discount. ❌ No professional monitoring — There’s no guard calling the police. You need to respond to the notification on your phone yourself.
❌ No physical installation included — It’s a DIY solution. We ship pre-configured components and provide online support, but you mount everything yourself.
❌ No dedicated app — The system runs on the free Shelly Cloud platform (no new app to download).
❌ Requires internet in the vehicle — To receive push notifications, your motorhome needs a 4G/Wi-Fi connection.
General Design
Figure 1 — This is basically what the system looks like — An unreasonable number of sensors can be connected