AAG Solo User manual

SOLO
SOLO
Users manual
Users manual
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 1 30. Sep. 2016

I n d e x
1. Physical installation
2. Accessin the data
2.1. Main web pa e
2.2. Sin le Line Data files
2.3. ScopeDome data file
2.4. AAG CloudWatcher “Master”
2.5. Data lo er (USB pen)
3. Confi uration
4. “Hidden” features
4.1. Push notifications
4.2. Chan in DNS server address
4.3. Rollin back to an older version
5. Other interestin facts about the Solo
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 2 30. Sep. 2016

Thank you for your purchase of the AAG CloudWatcher “Solo”!
The “Solo” has been desi ned to improve the overall usefulness of the AAG CloudWatcher,
monitorin it, adjustin the heater, and constantly publishin information accessible in a
variety of ways.
1)Physical installation
The “Solo” has to be installed indoors. The installation cannot be more easy:
unplu your CloudWatcher from the power supply (if applicable)
usin the same power supply, power the “Solo” - any of the two plu s will
do
with the included (short) cable, join the other jack plu in the “Solo” with
the CW
Attach the SubD-9 (serial) from the CW to the “Solo”
and, of course, connect the Solo to your local network usin a standard
RJ45 cable (not supplied)
… that's it. In a few seconds the “activity” LED in the “Solo” will start blinkin (slowly),
showin it is communicatin with the CloudWatcher
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 3 30. Sep. 2016

2)Accessing the data
Now that the “Solo” is up and runnin , and connected to your local network, it will fetch an IP
address (automatically, usin DHCP, as standard in the vast majority of networks) and start
publishin information in a variety of ways.
There is a separate document explainin the procedure to enable your Solo bein accessed
from the internet.
2.1) Main web pa e
From your web explorer, now you can type: “http://aa solo” (in the address bar, not in
Goo le! ), and you'll see the main “Solo” pa e:
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 4 30. Sep. 2016

There are a few thin s worth explainin in this pa e:
in the upper left side , the current readin s are displayed. Hoverin the mouse pointer
over the icons will display the readin numerically.
at its leftmost side , some buttons:
–stop / start auto update (will refresh every 60 seconds if enabled)
–reload data now
in the upper ri ht , a lo pane with recent information
coverin the rest (and main portion) of the pa e, the raphs with information coverin
the current day and the day before.
Also at its leftmost side , some buttons:
–stop / start auto update (will refresh every 60 seconds if enabled)
–reload data now
–show / hide yesterday's data
–show / hide the three color back round (matchin the 3 levels of each
readin )
–show / hide a dotted line at the current “unsafe” settin
–choose between metric and imperial units
Last, in the lower ri ht side of the pa e the lan ua e can be chan ed, for the moment Auto,
En lish and Spanish are available.
This pa e can be made accessible from the Internet; the way of doin so varies from router
to router, but basically involves settin up a “NAT” rule for incomin connections at a iven
port to be redirected to the “Solo” – and of course the “Solo” needs to have a fixed IP
address. You can check our runnin unit at:
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 5 30. Sep. 2016

http://aa solo.lunatico.es:10800/
2.2) Sin le Line Data files
Some pro rams and drivers (at least CCDAutopilot and CCDCommander in remote mode, and
also our own and Chris Rowland's ASCOM safety monitor driver), just need to access a file
with weather data formatted in a specific way.
The “Solo” does publish this file, and thus you can add weather safety just accessin it from
the network. Browse the network to the “aa solo” computer (by the way, user “pi”, password
“cloudwatcher” ):
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 6 30. Sep. 2016

For et the “tmp” folder, and o to the “AAGSolo” one:
There are quite a few files, but it is “aa _sld.dat” (meanin AAG Sin le Line Data) the one
we're lookin for.
There's also a file called “aa _sldc.dat”, bein the same but with a comma “,” separatin the
decimal numbers. I've check that at least CCDAP, if installed in a machine with a locale usin
that comma to separate decimal numbers, needs this file.
So, you just have to make your automation software (or ASCOM driver) point to this shared
folder. Important, dependin on the Windows version, you may have to connect to the
“aa solo” from the Windows explorer at least once at the start of every session.
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 7 30. Sep. 2016

2.3) ScopeDome data file
Accesin the network in the same way, we can find a special file for the ScopeDome software,
namely “scopedome.csv”:
… just select this file in your ScopeDome software, Confi , Cloud Sensor Confi (Current
Cloud Sensor Status File Name)
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 8 30. Sep. 2016

2.4) AAG CloudWatcher “Master”
The “Solo” also behaves as a CloudWatcher Windows application in Master mode, so you can
connect other instances of the Windows software, runnin as Remote, to the “Solo”.
ote: to chan e your current Windows software from Master to Remote, you'll have to run
a small utility called “AAG_ResetParameters” included in your current software. Browse your
hard disk to the installation folder, typically C:\Pro ram Files\AAG_CloudWatcher or
C:\Pro ram Files (x86)\AAG_CloudWatcher, to find it. Reset all parameters (please take note
of your current K-factors and Limits settin s before doin so!), and runnin your software
a ain will ask “Is this a Master or Remote installation”
Browse the network a ain to the aa solo machine (reminder, user “pi” password
“cloudwatcher”), and you'll find the AAG_CWNetData.dat file:
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 9 30. Sep. 2016

This is the file your “remote” AAG pro rams will need to operate. Selectin , from those
applications, the folder containin it will allow them to run.
As said before, dependin on the Windows version, you may have to connect to the “aa solo”
from the Windows explorer at least once at the start of every session.
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 10 30. Sep. 2016

2.5) Data Lo er
A new (for version 1.4) and useful feature of the Solo is its ability to record a CSV file in a
user supplied USB stick. You just need to insert, in one of Solo USB ports, a suitably
formatted USB memory stick (suitably formatted means FAT – other formats may work if you
know what you're doin ...).
Once the stick is inserted, the Solo software will detect it, mount, and start addin
information to a CSV file (userdata.csv) in the base folder of the stick – so you just have to
insert the stick for the lo in to start.
However, to remote the stick, you have to “unmount” it (similar to the Windows “safely
remove” operation) – there is an option in the confi uration pa es to do so.
Final note: the software will append information to the file if it exists; if you have already
taken the file in your computer and want to start afresh, just delete it from the USB stick
before insertin it a ain in the Solo.
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 11 30. Sep. 2016

3)Configuration
To access the confi uration pa es, please, a ain in your web browser, type:
https://aa solo/confi /
notice the “s” after http – this means it is a secure protocol. You'll et a warnin , or maybe
several, about the site not bein secure. You are in your local network, so please trust you're
accessin your “Solo”. You'll be asked for user and password, in this case the user is “solo”,
the password the same as before, that is, “cloudwatcher”.
The reason for this warnin is we're usin a custom certificate that allows all information to
be encrypted, for safety, but the certificate itself is not re istered in a certification authority;
that's a more complex and expensive step unneeded here.
Once you've a reed to proceed to the site, you can access three pa es:
–configuration, where you'll be able to setup your “Solo” in a very similar
way to the CloudWatcher Windows software.
–system details, where you can make some adjustments, set the time /
date, network confi uration, chan e the default password1 (“cloudwatcher”),
reboot the system (just in case), and also shutdown it.
–For the shutdown process, and iven it will take you a trip to the observatory
to start it a ain, you'll be challen ed to confirm your selection.
–USB status, it may be unmounted, as shown, or mounted. Clickin the
button will check the USB status a ain (if unmounted) or unmount it prior to
a safe removal (if mounted)
–Last, update the system. From here you can check if there's a new version
and, optionally, update to it.
1 Please note the password you can chan e here is the one to access this confi uration section of the web. It
does not affect the password used to access the files usin the Windows network.
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 12 30. Sep. 2016

Just a few notes about the confi uration – please consult the online documentation for the
Windows pro ram for more specific data.
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 13 30. Sep. 2016

–timezone: you have to select your time zone so the readin s are accurate and match
your local time, for the automation pro rams. The data in the web pa es will match
the local time of the place you're connectin from.
–load previous / default configuration: options to let you recover from errors or
tests.
–max rain graph / max light graph: definin the upper limit of the raphs, so they
look pretty. The other raphs (cloud, temperature, wind speed) adjust themselves in
the current data ran e.
–Ambient and IR temperature offsets, used to compensate for the electronics
heatin and other factors; the offsets will be substracted from the raw readin s of the
sensors.
–And last, the “unsafe” limits; here you can specify the limit exceedin which a
readin will be considered unsafe. This is a difference from the Windows software,
where you had only 3 options (matchin the 3 ran es) for settin unsafe.
So, for instance, you can define wind speeds 0 to 5 Kmh to be calm, 6 to 25 to be
windy, and above that to be very windy, but set the unsafe wind limit to, say, 20 Kmh.
The System pa e is very strai htforward, only worth notin is the Network confi uration:
… here we can specify if we just want the address of the Solo to be obtained automatically
for our router (full automatic), avoidin any problem, or if we prefer to also specify a static
(fixed) address, which is useful to make the Solo accessible from the internet.
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 14 30. Sep. 2016

4)“Hidden” features
There are a number of interestin thin s the Solo can do that lack proper support in the
confi uration pa es, for the moment, but still can be accessed.
4.1) Push via Pushbullet
If you want the Solo to send push messa es to your smartphone, PC, or whatever, now there
is support for this usin Pushbullet, a reat and free system.
You'll need to open a Pushbullet account; then you'll have the option to install a client or you
can check your notifications in the website; the client pro ram is available for many
platforms, and quite useful IMHO. With your account you'll have a key, a lon strin of
characters, that identify your Pushbullet account.
To activate the sendin of messa es when the weather chan es from UNSAFE to SAFE (and
vice versa), just open your internet explorer, chrome, or whatever and type:
https://aa solo/c i-bin/c iSetPBKey?your-pushbullet-key
Please note the "s" in "https", and replace the "your-pushbullet-key" for the actual key.
To disable it:
https://aa solo/c i-bin/c iSetPBKey
Su estion: activate it only in ima in ni hts.
4.2) Setting DNS servers
If your Solo has problems accessin the internet (you will most probably notice when tryin
to check for updates), you can set your correct DNS servers, as provided by your ISP, usin
this c i (web pro ram):
https://aa solo/c i-bin/c iSetDNS?ip.of.your.dns
... you can set up to two DNS:
https://aa solo/c i-bin/c iSetDNS?ip.of.your.dns1&ip.of.your.dns2
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 15 30. Sep. 2016

Tip: to find out your current DNS, open a windows command prompt and type “nslookup”:
… as shown above. The Address shown is your current DNS server (for your PC), and you can
safely use it for the Solo, so it would be, for that address:
https://aa solo/c i-bin/c iSetDNS?194.224.52.36
4.3) Rollin back to a previous version - or to a future one
In case some version oes wron in the future, we hope not, you'll be able to force the
system to download and install any specific version:
https://aa solo/c i-bin/c iForceVersion?version_number
To reinstall this current version 1.2, for instance, that would be:
https://aa solo/c i-bin/c iForceVersion?12
… notice we don't use the dot between the numbers.
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 16 30. Sep. 2016

5)Other interesting facts about the “Solo”
✔The “Solo” is based on the Raspberry Pi model “B”, and has a really friendly power
consumption of approx < 2 W.
✔Inside the box there's a SD card actin as the hard disk of the device. It is mounted in
“read only” mode, meanin that:
•there's no problem at all unpowerin the unit, the SD card will never become
corrupt. It is only written, for a very short while, after confi uration chan es or
a system update.
•It will take a while (minutes...), after powerin the Solo, for it to retrieve the
correct time and date, please be patient!
•Also, the SD will not “worn out”; these cards had a limited number of write
operations, so bein read only will extend its life almost indefinitely.
✔You can et the last readin from the CloudWatcher easily to use in a pro ram or a
personal web: http://aa solo/c i-bin/c iLastData
✔In a similar way, you can et the historical data for up to 48h: http://aa solo/c i-
bin/c iHistData
✔The system is quite hacker friendly; you can, under your responsibility , lo in via ssh
and tweak the web pa es or whatever. For ssh connections, the user is “pi”, the
password “cloudwatcher”.
✔… and, as always, your su estions are most welcome.
____________________________
SOLO - Users manual v. 1.4 17 30. Sep. 2016