Graphing 3-Axis Accelerometer

[KerneySA]

Apologies in advance for the length of this candidate TLDR post!

When I got home from a 2 1/2 hour highway journey at the end of the recent Thanksgiving weekend, I was a bit surprised to see that some of the neatly organized stuff in my passthrough storage compartment had shifted quite a bit, more so than normal. And I thought the drive home was smooth and without any stuff-jarring incidents. Obviously my left-to-right (and vice versa) motion was a bit more than I thought!

This coupled with an agonizing multi-mile trip a few months ago on a horrible dirt road (8 painful miles if memory serves) during which the glass front of my fireplace bounced off its mounts has me wondering what on earth is going on inside my effectively zero-suspension RV while on the road.

I remember reading some time back, I think on this website, about someone who put something like a go pro camera in their unit and was amazed by how much jostling goes on. And I remember reading posts on the relative lack of decent suspension on most towable RVs.

Finally getting to the point: I'm toying with the idea of securely placing a graphing 3-Axis accelerometer upon my RV kitchen countertop so, after arrival at my destination, if I so desire, I can see what went on, over time, inside my unit from a g-forces in the X-, Y-, and Z-axes perspective.

Has anyone looked into this and found something they like?

I'm going to try the iPhone Accelerometer app during my December trip if I can install it on my aged iPad as I use my iPhone as a GPS during the journey: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/accelerometer/id499629589

Thanks for sticking with this tome through to the end and any thoughts you care to share on a graphical data over time accelerometer showing the left to right, front to back, and up and down craziness that goes on inside our RVs while on the highways and byways we traverse would be appreciated!

Happy travels!

Steve

[SeaDog]

I guess I don't see what good doing that would be. You will confirm that stuff gets thrown around which in my experience with my rig is caused by my not securing things properly or driving to fast for the road conditions. JMHO

[Millertyme76]

I am curious as to what your base line for an acceptable g-force would be? I think a camera would be a better option if you wanted to see what was happening. I think the info you get might be a good talking point, but not very real world useful. I do calibrate single axis accelerometers ( vibration sensors) at work. They are used during dyno testing of motors. It is viewed as a go / no go test on the motors.

[KerneySA]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

I guess I don't see what good doing that would be. You will confirm that stuff gets thrown around which in my experience with my rig is caused by my not securing things properly or driving to fast for the road conditions. JMHO

That is one reason why I'm looking to collect these types of data, to ensure optimum driving speed based on road conditions. For instance, parts of I-95 SB north of Daytona Beach had stretches with somewhat nasty wear where the passenger side tires normally ride and, if traffic allowed, I was inclined to avoid said rough road by moving to the left until the road wear was back to nominal pavement.

[KerneySA]

Originally Posted by Millertyme76

I am curious as to what your base line for an acceptable g-force would be? I think a camera would be a better option if you wanted to see what was happening. I think the info you get might be a good talking point, but not very real world useful. I do calibrate single axis accelerometers ( vibration sensors) at work. They are used during dyno testing of motors. It is viewed as a go / no go test on the motors.

Acceptable g-forces are TBD as I have yet to collect any data that, hopefully, will be able to be time-correlated to road conditions. What I'd really like is a way to get the live visual RV vibration data, whether in graphical wave-form or picture/video, into the tow vehicle so, as road conditions deteriorate like on the stretch of un-paved road I can determine optimum speeds or what speeds to avoid. I tried all kinds of speed variations on that nasty 8-mile stretch including 5-10 MPH (no one else was on this nasty 'road') which would have taken FOREVER!

Same for rapid decelerations when I get cut off by someone deciding at the last minute to exit right from the left-most lane. That is what has, in the past, caused my 'not well enough secured' items to shift noticeably.

Perhaps what I need to consider is a re-evaluation of strapping everything down more securely! :-)

[TitanMike]

Data is nice but once collected what plans do you have to use it?

Unless re-engineering the suspension only steps I see to mitigate effects are:

Padding for items stored;
Leaving fragile items home;
Avoiding bumpy roads (especially Forest Service ones);

OR

Just drive slower when conditions dictate.

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[5picker]

It seems this forum has issues when someone asks for data if they can't comprehend what you'll do with it.

Many years ago, I was chastised here for asking for data. Instead of answering my question, everyone wanted to know what I was going to do with it and how it would benefit them. My asking wasn't meant to provide anything for them, it was for me but alas... no one could get past that.

I say go for it. Gather whatever data you want and use it however. Let us know if you find anything you believe interesting.

There are several video cameras out there that record to a SD card. Set one up and playback at the end of your trip.

I will tell you a friend of mine towed their camper home from the storage facility once and had his wife ride inside to hold something that had come loose. When they got home she was a terrified wreck saying never again as she described it as the worse Rollercoaster she was ever on.

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