ModSensorsWashroom trailer monitoring for fleets
A washroom trailer goes out of service when a tank fills or runs dry, when the heater circuit trips and the lines freeze, or when someone damages it overnight. Each one costs a truck roll.
Tank levels and pump-outs
A pressure sensor on each tank drain reads the fresh, grey and black levels to the percent, up to 4 tanks per hub. Sludge in a black tank does not stop it the way it stops a float switch. The app projects the pump-out date from the last week of use.
If the app shows a black tank at 65% on Monday with four days to full, the pump-out goes on Wednesday's run with the two other trailers on that road. Water tank monitoring explains how the sensors read the tanks.
Heat and power through the winter
The power monitor reads mains presence, battery voltage and current draw every minute. When the heater breaker trips, the genset stops or shore power drops, the alert goes out within minutes, while the trailer is still warm. A battery backup keeps the hub and alarms running after mains is lost.
Temperature sensors plug into the same hub and sit inside the trailer, so you also see the indoor temperature of each unit. A reading below a threshold you set, say 5°C, raises the same alarm as a full tank or lost mains: horn and light on the trailer, and a phone alert with cellular. That covers two cases the power monitor misses: a heater that quits with the breaker still on, and a door left open over a long weekend. Power monitoring lists what the monitor measures and alerts on.
Alarms the crew can see
A status screen by the door shows tank levels, power and any active alarm. When a tank crosses its threshold or the mains drops, a horn and light on the trailer go off. All three run on the trailer and keep working with no cell signal.
With cellular, the same alarm reaches your phone and the office dashboard, where every unit in the fleet sits on one map with its history. On a weak-signal site an external antenna can be fitted to the hub. Cellular connectivity covers what the connection needs.
After hours
If units come back damaged or go missing, add a camera. Motion sends a photo to your phone, and a clip of about ten seconds is saved with each event in the app. The camera follows armed hours you set, so a crew using the unit at 7 a.m. does not trigger it. Night vision reaches 30 metres, and you can set off the siren and floodlight from the app. It works over LTE with no Wi-Fi on site and is the only part mounted outside the trailer; see trailer security camera.
New builds or units already in the fleet
Builders fit the hub and sensors during the build and ship the trailer monitored. Fleets add it to units already out working: the sensors fit the standard drain fittings and nothing is cut. A typical install takes an afternoon, on a trailer of any age from any manufacturer.
One hub serves each trailer, and sensors plug into it later, so a unit fitted with tank sensors can get a temperature sensor or a camera next season.
A typical washroom setup
There are no kits. Each trailer gets a hub, and you pick the sensors it needs. As an example, a washroom trailer often gets:
- a hub
- 2 tank sensors, fresh and waste
- power monitoring with battery backup
- a status screen by the door
- a horn and light relay
That setup runs on the trailer with no connection. Cellular is optional. Most fleets start with tank and power monitoring on washroom trailers and add cellular to the units far from the office. Get a quote on the pricing page; quotes go out the same day.
Common questions
Does it work on trailers we already own?
Yes. The sensors fit the standard drain fittings on the tank and nothing is cut, so the age and make of the trailer do not matter. A typical install takes an afternoon.
Can you fit it when the trailer is built?
Yes. The hub, sensors and status screen go in during the build and the trailer ships monitored. The hardware is the same as a retrofit, so a builder's new units and a fleet's older ones show up on the same dashboard.
What happens if the site has no cell signal?
The horn, light and status screen run on the trailer and keep working with no coverage at all. Phone alerts, history and the dashboard need the cellular connection. If the signal is weak rather than absent, an external antenna can be fitted to the hub.
Will it tell me before the lines freeze?
It alerts when the cause happens and, with a temperature sensor, when the inside temperature drops. Mains is read every minute, so a tripped heater breaker or a stopped genset sends an alert while the trailer is still warm. A temperature sensor inside the trailer adds a second check: when the reading falls below the threshold you set, it raises the same alarm. How much warning that gives depends on the outside temperature and how well the lines are insulated.
Talk to us
Tell us how many trailers and where they sit. We will send a quote the same day.