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IFTTT (If This Then That) with NINA for clouds/rain/snow

Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA) Plate Solving Sequencing
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Gabriel Wiklund avatar
Gabriel Wiklund avatar
I have just set up IFTTT and NINA so that i get a phonecall during failures in a sequence. I have tested it by trying to connect to my equipment and it works, i get a phonecall because of failure to connect.

Then it occured to me, since i already use Center after drift, that if i would change it to evaluate every exposure = every exposure would be plate solved.
Which means, if clouds move in the platesolve will fail, and then i will get a phonecall that would wake me up in the middle of the night in time to go out and roll the roof back before snow/rain. If i go out and see that it's only one cloud passing my imaging will not be interupted so i can just ignore it and go in to sleep again.

It's still one month before astro-dark is back again here at 62° N so i can't really test it.

My question is, does anyone see a problem with this method, if so what have i missed or do you have a better solution for a rain/snow scenario?

One thing i am not 100% sure about is if a failed plate solve IS a failure or if it counts as an error, not sure if errors are sent to IFTTT…

Clear skies
Gabriel
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Keith Mombourquette avatar
Keith Mombourquette avatar
I use Pushover to notify me of failures, and set it up with an audible alarm.  Rather than plate solve every image, I rely on PHD2 failures to tell me when it is getting too cloudy to image.  The message I get is "failure running Restore Guiding".  If you would rather use IFTT and trigger a phone call I see no reason why it would not work, but the error that would trigger first is likely the failure to restore guiding.
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Gabriel Wiklund avatar
Gabriel Wiklund avatar
Makes sense, thank you!
AstRobert avatar
AstRobert avatar
Can you point me towards guidance how to set up such communication between nina and "such services".

I just realised a rain sensor that rings my phone with Blynk as IFTTT is not free for the applets I would need for that, anymore…

but detecting clouds like you described would of course be the safer route to go in advance of waiting dor actual rain.

cheers robert
Christian Großmann avatar
Christian Großmann avatar
I used IFTTT a while ago and it worked fine. From experience, I would also suggest to use PHD2 failure as alarming method. Imagine taking a 20 minute sub. If you use plate solve as trigger, you may miss the last 20 minutes (worst case) until your rig is able to recognize a problem. PHD is usually taking subs in the second range. It's much faster. Even for clouds sometimes 10 or 20 minutes is a long time.

Nowadays, I use a Hitec Astro Weather Deluxe for monitoring the clouds. It is not the best option, because the ascom drivers do not support 64bit operating systems and so it can't be used in Nina directly anymore. But I managed to build an DIY Arduino based safety monitor and check it's safety relay state. But that's another topic.
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Keith Mombourquette avatar
Keith Mombourquette avatar
AstRobert, you need to install the Ground Station plug-in.  This is a good place to start https://daleghent.com/ground-station .  The page includes a YouTube video from Patriot Astro which is excellent.
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Makrem Larnaout avatar
Makrem Larnaout avatar
Keith Mombourquette:
I use Pushover to notify me of failures, and set it up with an audible alarm.  Rather than plate solve every image, I rely on PHD2 failures to tell me when it is getting too cloudy to image.  The message I get is "failure running Restore Guiding".  If you would rather use IFTT and trigger a phone call I see no reason why it would not work, but the error that would trigger first is likely the failure to restore guiding.

I also use this technique ;)
Gabriel Wiklund avatar
Gabriel Wiklund avatar
AstRobert:
Can you point me towards guidance how to set up such communication between nina and "such services".

I just realised a rain sensor that rings my phone with Blynk as IFTTT is not free for the applets I would need for that, anymore...

but detecting clouds like you described would of course be the safer route to go in advance of waiting dor actual rain.

cheers robert

Here is a link to the tutorial that got me in to this without any prior knowlege:

https://youtu.be/UGoEK0_Fjcg?si=alrGfpZ14zOaZwMY
Gabriel Wiklund avatar
Gabriel Wiklund avatar
Christian Großmann:
I used IFTTT a while ago and it worked fine. From experience, I would also suggest to use PHD2 failure as alarming method. Imagine taking a 20 minute sub. If you use plate solve as trigger, you may miss the last 20 minutes (worst case) until your rig is able to recognize a problem. PHD is usually taking subs in the second range. It's much faster. Even for clouds sometimes 10 or 20 minutes is a long time.

Nowadays, I use a Hitec Astro Weather Deluxe for monitoring the clouds. It is not the best option, because the ascom drivers do not support 64bit operating systems and so it can't be used in Nina directly anymore. But I managed to build an DIY Arduino based safety monitor and check it's safety relay state. But that's another topic.

Good point!
Tom Marsala avatar
Tom Marsala avatar
+1 for Pushover!
Tom