openinverter forum

I had something in my head; how we (DIY EV) are gonna control our cars from our phone over internet, from home or the office.
So i was planning to build an APP for that. In the car offcourse we want a module who connects to the internet.
Where ever it is...
So we got an normal operating system running apache and a internet connection.
Over USB i will connect CANBus to the car. The HAT will give me GPS and 4G.

I will use it to schedule the heating and charging etc. etc.

Ideas are welcome.

How are you planing to secure it? Your mention of apache is concerning, but I get it, I am over generalizing a bit.

Good point i think by using api-keys pairing.
On the internet interface everything outgoing or incomeing will be blocked except port 80?
Maybe by making an VPN connection first?

Do you have suggestions?
Another way would be to send SMS with IP of phone and then receiver can simply check if its owner and then add only that IP to firewall?
Or make it totally sms based?

Cool project!

I always used VPN (openvpn) as it also facilitates things when machines are on the same network. You just need some server that is permanently running. Could even be another Pi on your home network.
It rules out all these headaches about dyndns, outdated server software because there is no open ports

Yes; I thought I would VPN into the car but indeed "phone home" is even safer concept.

I just would like to schedule heating and monitor charging / settings.

And know where the vehicle is.

EV_Builder wrote: ↑Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:45 pm Yes; I thought I would VPN into the car but indeed "phone home" is even safer concept.

I just would like to schedule heating and monitor charging / settings.

And know where the vehicle is.

Boating people have SignalK/Influx db and dashboard with grafana like this ..


any use ?

Might be, might be. Txs

EV_Builder wrote: ↑Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:14 pm Maybe by making an VPN connection first?
Do you have suggestions?

I am a professional network engineer so I'd like to say I can speak with some authority on this particular subject.

The best approach is to use a VPN to "phone home", and block all traffic from the public interface apart from the VPN itself. I'd recommend Wireguard these days for the VPN, it's simple and lightweight. But openvpn is also a popular choice.

You will need a machine somewhere with a static IP for it to connect to. Once the VPN is established, you will have a nice secure way to access the device back through the VPN tunnel.

So my phone and my car should do that. Then I can communicate gotcha.