A caravan spends most of its life without you: on a seasonal pitch, in winter storage, at a campsite while you are away. Those are exactly the moments when you want to know whether it is freezing inside, whether the gas bottle is still holding out and whether the leisure battery isn't draining. The Truma Combi in your caravan can heat — but as standard you can only control it directly on the CP Plus panel inside. Remotely? No chance.
That is exactly where CampMatic comes in. And because a "caravan" is its own case — not the same as a self-propelled motorhome — it is worth an honest look at what makes a caravan special.
Why a caravan is a special case
A motorhome almost always has a leisure battery on board that supplies power continuously. A parked caravan does not necessarily: with no tow car attached, 12 V power is not a given. Some caravans have their own leisure/supply battery, but many draw their power only through the tow-hitch socket from the car — and on a parked caravan that is disconnected.
We say this openly because it matters in practice: CampMatic needs a permanent 12 V or USB supply. In a caravan, any of these sources will do:
- Leisure/supply battery — if the caravan has one, ideal.
- Solar panel — keeps the supply stable in summer storage.
- Power supply / mains hook-up — on a seasonal or permanent pitch with electricity.
- Power bank or USB battery — the simplest solution for shorter stays.
Without one of these sources CampMatic stays off — and then even the best app is useless. So plan the power supply in from the start. On a permanent pitch with mains it is trivial; for remote winter storage we recommend solar or a hefty power bank.
Two routes for the caravan
CampMatic comes in two lines — depending on whether you want to control your Truma heater or just monitor your onboard system.
CampMatic Truma — control the heater remotely
The Truma line clips in between the CP Plus and the Combi and makes your heater remotely controllable. From your phone you set the target temperature, switch the heater on or off and set hot-water mode — whether you are two rooms away or 200 km distant. So the caravan is pre-warmed when you arrive at the weekend, instead of stepping into a cold box.
- Supports Truma Combi 4, 4E, 6, 6E, D 6, D 6E and Vario Heat.
- Requirement: Truma CP Plus from firmware C4.00.00. The older iNet X is not supported.
- Installation: plug-and-play in under 10 minutes between the CP Plus and the Combi, over 12 V, no soldering.
CampMatic Guard — heater-agnostic monitoring
Not every caravan has a Truma Combi — and not everyone wants to control the heater, they just want to know everything is fine. That is what CampMatic Guard is for: heater-agnostic, so for any camper and any caravan, whatever heater is fitted. Guard needs only 12 V or USB and monitors:
- Gas bottle — fill level via a Mopeka sensor (1..n bottles).
- Leisure battery — voltage and state of charge via BM2 (1..n batteries).
- Environment / frost — temperature and humidity via Ruuvi (1..n sensors), including a frost alarm.
To be honest about it: the sensors are not included. You buy them to match your needs — rough guidance: Mopeka Pro Check around €40, BM2 around €15–25, RuuviTag around €30–50. One sensor per monitored thing, several work fine.
No WiFi at your pitch? The 4G argument
Typical caravan life: the van sits on a pitch, in winter storage or in a field with no usable WiFi at all. Your home WiFi is no help when the caravan is parked 100 km away at the dealer or on the seasonal pitch.
That is why CampMatic comes in two connectivity variants:
- WiFi — connects to any 2.4 GHz network, including your phone's hotspot or an LTE router in the caravan.
- 4G — goes online over its own SIM, completely without WiFi, across Europe. Any SIM without a PIN works; an IoT SIM is available from around €2 a month.
For a parked caravan with no infrastructure, the 4G variant is almost always the right choice — it is the very reason you can look in on your caravan from afar at all.
What you get on your phone
Whether Truma or Guard, the data ends up in the same places:
- CampMatic app — heater, gas, battery and environment as tiles side by side, with live values and history.
- Telegram bot — push alerts for frost, battery undervoltage or when the device goes offline, plus on-demand queries by command.
- Home Assistant & MQTT — every value as an entity via auto-discovery, including ioBroker over MQTT. Alexa can be connected through Home Assistant.
That lets you spot connections that separate island apps hide — for example when the inside temperature drops even though there is still gas, because the battery has become too weak for the heater electronics.
Which one fits my caravan?
| CampMatic Truma | CampMatic Guard | |
|---|---|---|
| Control the heater | yes (Truma Combi + Vario Heat) | – (monitor only) |
| Monitor gas & battery | yes (with sensors) | yes (with sensors) |
| For which heater | Truma Combi with CP Plus | any / every heater |
| Power supply | 12 V | 12 V or USB |
| WiFi price | €149 | from €59 |
| 4G price (no WiFi) | €189 | €89 |
In short: if you have a Truma Combi with CP Plus and want to control it remotely, take the Truma line. If you just want to keep an eye on gas, battery and frost in a parked caravan — whatever the heater — the cheaper Guard is enough.
Conclusion
The Truma Combi is common in caravans, but as standard you can only control it on the spot. CampMatic Truma (WiFi €149, 4G €189) makes it remotely controllable from an app — plug-and-play in under 10 minutes, no soldering. If you only want to monitor, take CampMatic Guard (WiFi from €59, 4G from €89) for gas, battery and frost protection, independent of the heater. In either case: make sure your caravan has a permanent 12 V or USB supply — then you have your caravan under control from anywhere, with 4G even with no WiFi at your pitch.
→ CampMatic Truma WiFi (GC_HW01) — control your caravan heater from an app, €149
→ CampMatic Guard WiFi (CM_LC_01) — monitor gas, battery & frost, from €59
Not sure whether your Combi fits or which power source makes sense? Check the help or write to us — we are happy to help you choose.
