Observatory+control+room+and+weather+station

The weather station node has been moved into the 16 inch F4 Run-off Roof Observatory in Septemeber 2011. A new mast has been installed PAGE TO BE UPDATED WITH SKYSOLVE AND UPDATED SOFTWARE FOR WEATHER STATION

=__**New weather**__= Notes from Zej:-

Method 1: Run ACP without Weather ... ACP -> Preferences -> Weather -> Un-tick "Enable weather services" ...and ensure Weather is disconnected.

Method 2: Remove the *.txt plans from ... C:\Documents and Settings\datscope\My Documents\ACP Astronomy\Plans ... so the ACP-Weather.js script does not try to restart

Method 3: (this was done last night) Force ACP to use the old default weather action by making sure that this file exists ... C:\Program Files\ACP Obs Control\ACP-Weather.vbs ... and that this one is renamed to something else (at the moment it has .new tagged on the end to stop it running) ... C:\Program Files\ACP Obs Control\ACP-Weather.js

The structure and use of the Weather files is detailed in ACP help but this summarises DATscope use. The Weather component (ie ACP selectable Weather server object) created for DATscope is the .wsc (Windows script component) file ... C:\Program Files\ACP Obs Control\WeatherComponents\DATweatherOK.wsc ... if Weather is connected, ACP runs this script to check if weather is OK or UNSAFE as reported by DATenclosure DATenclosure must be running, if it isn't then ACP will go UNSAFE after a short while.

If weather goes UNSAFE, ACP will look for these scripts in order and run the first one it finds ...

C:\Program Files\ACP Obs Control\ACP-Weather.vbs - this is the default, original ACP script, it just parks the scope. C:\Program Files\ACP Obs Control\ACP-Weather.js - this is the new DATscope script and attempts to restart any available plans

=__**Weather station hardware**__=

See the sections on Observatory Auxiliary Control and the LED indicator panel for weather monitoring and interlocks.

The weather station has sensors for:-
 * Rain sensor 1 ([[file:datscope/Kemo rain sensor.pdf|Kemo rain sensor.pdf]])
 * Rain sensor 2 (Tipping bucket home made)
 * Rain sensor 3 (Hydreon Optical Rain Sensor - Model RG-11 [] )
 * Wind (multi directional industrial limit switch with wind vane)
 * Daylight ([[file:datscope/Kemo light switch.pdf|Kemo light switch.pdf]])
 * Lux level (LDR sensor)
 * Cloud sensor (Webcam)

The weather station is mounted off a pole on the corner of the control room. Most of the weather station sensors are 'hard wired' and are interlocked to the dome door and run of roof.

The weather station does not soley rely upon software to close the dome door or run-off roof, although the Cloud sensor and LDR sensors are software only.

Each of the 'hard wired' sensors have repeat inputs to the Weather station monitoring software. This is written in Visual Basic 2008 Express.

The inputs are interfaced to the Weather station PC via a Vellerman K8055 USB I/O board. This same board has an output to a relay in series with the 'hard wired' sensors which will de-energise in BAD weather or on system failure.

Below is a screen dump of the Weather Station (DATWeather) Form. Changes in the Weather Status is logged and there is a check box to enable/disable the relay output. This Form is used in conjuction with the Webcam for the Cloud sensor.

The Cloud sensor and LDR sensor have set points that can be tuned. All other sensors are digital On/Off.

The image below shows the new DATWeather form as of December 2012. This has a lot more functionality than the older R3.00 version that I originally wrote a few years ago. Status for each observatory will be displayed when the integration is completed. The 'Emergency' button opens the 24V relay that loops to all observatories. This provides an additional backup to close all from a different location if required. A lot of work has gone into calibration of the web cam to correlate camera sensitivity to temperature. This has all be done by Zej and is now much more stable, but more work is required. A temperature sensor at the camera itself is needed. At the momement it relies on the external temperature for calibration which is mounted near the observatory and not on the weather pole inside the camera weather proof enclosure. This would provide much better temperature monitoring of the camera.

Change image to have enable check box on 24V relay

An additional tab is included for settings adjustment. This is not used in normal use and only required for callibration adjustment.

Image below shows the old weather station form from 2011.

Image below shows a scren dump of the weather station from the 18/11/2012. Some slight changes have been intrduced since. It shows the AMCAP cloud sensor web cam top left, the DATWeather form and the new all sky camera. The all sky camera uses a Meade DSI camera and fish eye lens. The Meade DSI uses 10 second integrations. Stars can be seen in the image including the dome open and observing.

Image below was taken on the 26/12/2012 in moonlight. It shows status of 16F4 too. Notice that the run off roof is open and observing, but not yet reporting status to DATWeather yet.

Image below show both observatories open and observing on the 9th January 2011 with the weather still OK but close to dawn.



Image below shows the observatories closed. The Cloud sensor (works off refleced light) had tripped first with teh LDR sensor only just reaching its set point.

Below is a pdf of the wiring for the weather station:-

If the Cloud sensor or LDR sensor fail, the observatories will still close in bad weather. The cloud sensor and LDR sensor just add additional protection.

There are repeat inputs to each Observatories Observatory Auxiliary Control. The dome has an additional LED indicator panel for remote indication.

See the 20 inch Observatory and Telescope documents and the Run-off Roof Observatory documentation pages for more information.

The image below shows the rain station on it's pole with the new (installed July 2010) Tipping bucket rain sensor. (needs a coat of paint and better bird spikes!)

The images below show the very simple 'Tipping bucket' rain sensor I have made. This is used as a 'back up' if the main Kemo rain sensor fails or does not repsond quickly to a sudden down pour.

It is not as sensitive as the Kemo sensor, but is less likely to fail. The Kemo sensor is not that reliable and I have had to replace it every 6 months or so !!!

The tipping bucket uses a magnetic reed switch for activation of 'BAD' weather to the system and is in series with the 24V weather loop for all other sensors.

The upper mesh and small holes drilled in the base are an attempt to stop leaves and larger objects blocking the sensor. So far it has worked well.

UPDATE WINTER 2010: The sensor will ice up and fail to operate correctly. For a week it had iced up in the open state and both observatories where down! Heater may be reqquired.



The image below was when the telescope use Mel Bartel's Stepper drive system (up until 2008). The control room is now not manned during remote obervations. The old PC's have now gone.

The Control room is now a just a hub for mains power and ethernet distribution to each observatory, and for the weather station.



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