Camper Jarvis SmartKnob

Feel it, don't search for it

A small motor inside the knob creates every detent. You feel each step as you turn, crisp and precise like a high-quality mechanical switch. The built-in speaker also tells you which menu you are in and reads out the key values: turn to the water menu and you hear the fill level. It announces warnings and alarms too. So you can operate the SmartKnob without looking, even blind. At night in a dark van just as well as with your hands full in the kitchen.

Turn to select, press to confirm, double-click to go back, long-press for your scenes. That is all there is to learn.

Only the essentials on the knob

The SmartKnob reduces operation to what you really need in everyday camping life: switching lights, adjusting the heating, keeping an eye on water and battery. The brilliant AMOLED display behind anti-fingerprint coated glass shows exactly that, clear and without distraction. 66 LEDs in the ring show states and warnings at a glance.

Everything else, like setup, statistics and the detailed values of battery, solar and more, lives in the dashboard. That is an overview page you simply open in the browser on your phone, tablet or laptop, no app needed. The SmartKnob creates its own Wi-Fi for it: connect, open jarvis.local, done. If you like, it also joins your van's Wi-Fi. Remote access on the road is in preparation.

It notices when you are there

A radar sensor detects whether someone is in the van. Walk up and the display wakes, leave and it stays dark. A light sensor adapts display and LED ring to the surroundings and also triggers automations. At night in complete darkness and with movement, Lighty can switch on a soft orientation light at 1%, for example.

Climate and position always in view

The SmartKnob measures temperature, humidity and air pressure right in the living area, plus the tilt of your vehicle. The position sensor also knows when you are driving, so sloshing in the tank does not count as usage.

Automations that think ahead

Create scenes and rules in the dashboard: heat the boiler with surplus solar, let the fridge run quieter at night, warm up before the alarm goes off. Guest mode stops anyone from changing your settings. Winter mode lets the modules sleep during long standstills to protect the battery. Extra features are unlocked by licence, even completely offline.

Installed in minutes

Screw the mounting frame to the wall, route the power cable through the wall and plug it in, then the SmartKnob clicks into place without tools. It runs on 12V and 24V and draws only 0.3W in normal operation. The USB-C port charges your phone on the side.

Find faults instead of hunting for them

The SmartKnob has built-in self-diagnostics. They remember technical events such as voltage dips, restarts or tripped fuses on a module, even across a power cut. If something ever goes wrong, your dealer or our support sees the cause straight away instead of searching for it. That saves guesswork, back-and-forth and often a workshop visit. The self-diagnostics know how the device is doing, not what you are doing: they hold no personal data at all.

More in our knowledge base

Step by step, in German: switching on the SmartKnob for the first time, the four gestures and how Camper Jarvis is built. The latest software is on Firmware & updates.

Good to know: The SmartKnob was inspired by the open-source SmartKnob project by Scott Bezek. We have extensively redesigned the hardware, with our own antennas, electronics, additional sensors and our own force detection. The software is entirely our own. The original project is licensed under Apache 2.0 (software, electronics, documentation) and Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (hardware, mechanical design).