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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Indiduino MeteoStation (updated hardware and firmware)

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For those interested in an updated version of the Indiduino MeteoStation, I have modified mine over the last few months (on and off) to use 'more current' sensors. The version I currently have works with the current MeteoStation indi driver but now uses a BME280 sensor for the temperature, humidity and pressure measurements, replacing the DHT21 and BMP085 sensors, and uses a TSL2591 light sensor that replaces the irradiance sensor (solar cell). The TSL2591 sensor now provides an estimate of the sky quality in magnitude per arcsecond squared, instead of the sky irradiance previously given by the solar cell. Thanks to Nacho Maas and Magnus Erikson for the previous versions, and to Beckrd and others for the SQM software that I adapted to the MeteoStation; that made my life much easier.

If there is interest, I can submit the updated arduino firmware (as a different version) and xml file to be included in the 3rd-party indilib branch.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Alfred, Adrian, anofeles, Wolfgang Reissenberger
4 years 4 months ago #45867

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If you would be so kind...
4 years 4 months ago #45879

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I just have to learn how to do a fork and pull request on github, never done that before! :-/
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4 years 4 months ago #45881

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Can't wait to test it out! Thanks a lot.
4 years 4 months ago #45884

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Issued a fork and pull request but not sure if I did it correctly. If yes, and if the changes are appropriate, we may see it sometimes. :-)
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4 years 4 months ago #45885

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SQM is using ttyUSB instead of ttyACM. Is your MeteoStation also using ttyUSB?
4 years 4 months ago #45888

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Great work, Gilles, many thanks, having the tsl2591 as light sensor brings much value!

Since I am building my own small weather station I am very interested what type of enclosure you are using. Especially for the light sensor, is it possible to shield it from the weather without disturbing it?

Wolfgang
4 years 4 months ago #45892

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I am using a 3.3 volts, 8 MHz Arduino Pro Mini for its size and I2C supply compatibility, connected to the PC via a USB FTDI cable. It is recognized as a /dev/ttyUSB* device.
4 years 4 months ago #45900

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I am using an Arduino Metro Mini, which works fine under Linux. What do you use as housing for the electronics?
4 years 4 months ago #45901

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Thanks!

The enclosure I am using is the one described in indilib.org/forum/general/2265-building-...d-housing.html#17029, thanks to Magnus Eriksen. It uses a cavity in which the TSL is installed, protected by a TPU gasket and a plexiglass window. I am not sure if the plexi affects much the sensor reading as I have not verified that yet.

The only drawback of the enclosure is the space available for the Arduino, it is very small and I had to use an Arduino Pro Mini to make things easier. Apart from that, the enclosure design is very nice and prints well with PETG.

Gilles
4 years 4 months ago #45902

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Hi Gilles,
many thanks again for your update of the Arduino firmware for new new sensors. I tested it, everything works fine. Only for the meteoWeb page I needed to make some minor changes so that it could show the SQM values instead of IR-Radiance.

But with the variety of sensors comes in a new complexity for users. Depending on the specific set of sensors, users need to change both the firmware, the INDI skeleton file and in some cases even the HTML page and the python scripts.

What do you think if we reduce the Arduino firmware in such a way that it gives access to sensors, but all calculations are shifted up to the INDI driver. As a mid term goal it would be great if everything can be configured through the INDI driver without touching the firmware.

Does that make sense?
-- Wolfgang
4 years 3 months ago #46466

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Hello Wolfgang,

Thanks for your encouraging comments, they are very much appreciated.

Jasem has asked me to work on the MeteoStation documentation which would benefit from a refresh and an up-to-date upgrade, given the possibility of new/different sensors. I am thinkering on that while working on my automated observatory, based on Gonzo the Great's idea and concept. So time is shared between family and many projects and things don't get done as quickly and efficiently as I would wish.

Back to your suggestions, the users who embark on building the indiduino MeteoStation need to specify whatever sensors they intend to use so there is no easy way around configuring the firmware. Maybe we could put the sensor configuration elements (sensors related #define) in an include file instead of the actual "indiduinoMETEO.ino" file. The users would only have to edit that "indiduinMETEO.h" file and we could put enough info in it to make it simple to configure. the INDI skeleton files should not require modification if you use the appropriate 'virtual' driver (Arduino MeteoStation or Arduino MeteoStation SQM) but I can take a look at that to make sure. Concerning the HTML page and python scripts, not having much experience there, I can't unfortunately be of much help, even though I can have a look.

As far as reducing the Arduino firmware and shifting calculations to the INDI driver, as the firmware is based on the Arduino firmata sketch, I am not sure this can be done easily. I am far from being an expert (more like novice) with firmata so I do not really know what is involved in that change. Furthermore, except for the SQM sensor which adjust its gain and integration time in the firmware, all the other sensors just provide values that are scaled and sent to the /usr/bin/indi_duino driver. I will take a closer look at what we can do to make things easier but can't promise much yet.

Thanks again for your ideas/suggestions/comments.

Gilles
4 years 3 months ago #46540

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