Ashlar 
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:144
 | | 02/19/2007 9:27 AM |
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By now, you've probably seen those cool signatures that show the temperature, ph, and lighting status of folks' tanks. With a little work, you can have one too.
Step 1. Controller
At this time, there are a limited number of controllers that are supported. If you have a Neptune Systems AquaController 3 or higher that has the ethernet port option, a Neptune Systems AquaController Jr / 2 with AquaNotes, or a Premium Aquatics LightHouse controller, you're in luck.
Step 2. Data
Assuming you know the IP address of your controller or the computer running AquaNotes, grab a notepad and let's get started.
For AC3 users:
Log into the web page of the AC3- hit http://[ip address]/ .. it asks for a username and password. Write those down. Click on the status link on the left. You'll see a page like the following:
Notice that this user has an expansion module monitoring another tank, and device names such as RP2, TL2, FM2. Write down the names of the devices you'll want to show in your signature, and and of the tank parameters like Tmp, TmpA, pH, pHA1, ORP.
For AC2 / Jr users:
Log into the web page of AquaNotes- hit http://[ip address]/AquaNotes .. it asks for a username and password. Use guest / guest. Click on the status link on the left. You'll see a page like the following:
Right click on the status link and select 'Copy link location'. Paste this link into a document for safe keeping.
Notice that this user has device names such as LT1, LT2, and CTM. Write down the names of the devices you'll want to show in your signature, and and of the tank parameters like Temp, pH, and ORP.
For LightHouse users:
Bring up the data web page of the lighthouse- hit http://[ip address]/data.htm - you'll see something like this:
Write down any parameters that you would like to put in your signature like NowPH or NowTmp.
With a list of the fields that you want to show up in your signature, you're ready to make your controller internet accessible.
Step 3. Static URL
In order for the signature generator to poll the URL to your controller, the address must remain static. There are multiple sites on the internet that allow you to take a dynamic net connection and assign a static name to it. www.dyndns.org and www.no-ip.com are two popular ones. It is beyond the scope of this howto to describe in detail how to do this, but they are fairly straightforward.
Step 4. Routing to your controller
Now that you have a static URL like http://myreef.dyndns.org you need to tell your router or gateway to point to the controller when http requests come in. In linksys routers, look under applications and gaming; on dlink routers, check virtual servers under advanced. Different routers have different settings, but the general idea is to take incoming traffic on port 80 (http) and forward that request to the internal ip address of your controller (192.168.1.x for example).
When done, you should be able to access your controller's status page using the external address like http://myreef.dyndns.org/data.htm for lighthouse controllers, http://myreef.dyndns.org/cgi-bin/status.cgi for an AquaController 3, or http://myreef.dyndns.org/AquaNotes/status.asp?tankID=1 for an AquaController Jr / 2 with AquaNotes. Write down this URL.
Step 5. Accessing the sig generator
Click on 'Extras' above, then select 'Signature Generator'. Click on the 'New User' button, and fill in username, password (twice), email address, and name. Click 'Save'. Once back at the login screen, enter the username and password you just chose. Click 'login'.
Step 6. Creating a new signature
From the administration screen, you can see a list of all the currently defined signatures. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the green plus icon. This takes you to the add signature page.
Select your controller type from the list, and enter the external URL you set up in Step 4. Note: This URL must point to a status page (AC3 / AC Jr / AC2) or data.htm (Lighthouse). If you chose AquaController III for the type, enter the username and password used to access the AquaController status page.
In the parameter list field, type all the parameters that you want to show in your signature, separated by spaces, and enclosed in curly braces. ex: {Time Temp pH ORP LT1 LT2 PM1} (for an AC Jr / 2 / 3), {Title PH Temp ORP} (for a newer LightHouse), or {UTitle NowPH NowTmp NowORP} (for an older LightHouse). For an AquaController, these parameters are from your status page and can also include device names set up to be controlled (ex. LT1, LT2, PM1, HET, COL). The parameter field is case sensitive, so be sure to match exactly. Only parameters that show up on your status page can be used.
The template fields are where you lay out how your signature will look. These lines can contain literal text, or $variable placeholders that will be replaced with actual data from your controller. The parameter list will define what placeholders are valid for your template. These placeholders are case sensitive, so $tmp is different than $TMP or $Tmp. Note that LightHouse controllers report ph and temperature values times ten or one hundred respectively. To show proper values, you must use the tcl command [expr $variable / 10.0] or [expr $variable / 100.0]. Light heater, and chiller status is reported as a 0 / 1 for on and off. You can sue the following code to decode those values. [if $Actinic {set x "ON"} else {set x "OFF"}] Advanced users can use tcl to format date and time fields however they wish.
Figure 1. Example AC Jr / 2 / 3 Template
Figure 2. Example LightHouse Template (Older Version)
Figure 3. Example LightHouse Template (Newer Version)
Under color details, click the 'Background Color' or 'Text Color' radio buttons and click a color in the color map to change the color. You can also type in custom hex colors. If you don't want a background color, click the 'transparent' button.
If you have an image you would like to use as a background, it can be uploaded via the browse button. This image must be a png file, specifically a png-8 image. While the sig will dynamically resize to match the dimensions of your image, max recommended dimensions are 400 pixels wide by 85 pixels high. If you've previously defined a background image and wish to remove it, check the 'remove background' checkbox.
That's it! Click 'Save' to add your signature.
Step 7. Wait
The addition of a new signature takes as much as five minutes. Don't be disappointed that when you get back to the administration screen, all you see is a broken image. Hit reload / refresh in five minutes, and assuming you entered your detailes correctly, your sig should be visible. | |
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Glenn
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:141
Keller, Texas
| | 02/21/2007 6:53 PM |
| | I know that both probe connections can be used as PH. Is there a way to edit the info to show both PH controllers. | |
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Ashlar
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:144
| | 02/21/2007 7:20 PM |
| | Glenn, if you have an AC3 Pro and you connect a second ph probe to the port that normally services the ORP, you can have that second ph probe status show up using the $pH2 variable. | |
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Ashlar
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:144
| | 02/23/2007 10:23 AM |
| Here's something you can include in your template to format the time
better..
(it's messy, but the format of time on the AC3 is kind of nasty..)
If the current time is showing up as "Feb 23 2007 18:58:41"
[lindex [split $Time] 3]
Will show just "18:58:41"
[lindex [split $Time] 0] [lindex [split $Time] 1]
Will show just "Feb 23"
And this one..
[clock format [clock scan "[lindex [split $Time] 0] [lindex [split $Time] 1] [lindex [split $Time] 3]"] -format "%m/%d %l:%M %P"]
Will show "2/23 6:58 pm"
Or..
Tank status as of [clock format [clock scan "[lindex [split $Time] 0] [lindex [split $Time] 1] [lindex [split $Time] 3]"] -format "%l:%M %P on %m/%d"]
Will show
"Tank status as of 6:58 pm on 2/23" | |
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dougchambers
Copepod
Posts:4
| | 02/23/2007 7:28 PM |
| Steve - Great little application! I see that "another board" killed your thread about the Signature tool. Is anyone else having problems getting to the Signature tool screen from the website. When I click on the link under the EXTRAs pull-down, it opens another main screen nested in the target frame, but not the Signature Tool.
Have you considered opening up the code if someone wanted to host the snapshots on their own website and server?
Thanks,
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Ashlar
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:144
| | 02/23/2007 7:49 PM |
| Doug, Scott here.. I'm actually the author of the sig generator stuff. Steve wrote the widget.
If you're having trouble accessing the sig generator, let me know- I don't have any problems with getting to it right now.
I would give out the code, but it's written in tcl. Tcl isn't as popular a language as it used to be, so I'm not sure how many folks would find it useful. | |
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dougchambers
Copepod
Posts:4
| | 02/28/2007 10:17 AM |
| Thanks Scott!
There is an interesting quirk when using ASCII characters in the text string. I use the ° symbol for our Temp variable. When ever I open the signature for editing, it comes back with a couple of extra characters between the number and ASCII symbol. Not an issue because I delete it out, but I thought I'd mention it if anyone else saw an issue.
Thanks again,
Doug | | | |
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Ashlar
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:144
| | 02/28/2007 10:37 AM |
| | Ahh, thanks! | |
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MarkSharp1126
Copepod
Posts:8
| | 03/03/2007 10:14 AM |
| | This is great. Can't wait to get my new tank setup and get this running. I've got the ACJr, but will have to get aquanotes. Anything else I need to get in order to make this work? | | | |
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dougchambers
Copepod
Posts:4
| | 03/03/2007 10:33 AM |
| Mark,
A couple of things for you to look at.
1. Did you order the ACJr with the serial port option?
2. Are you planning to run the webserver via AquaNotes? If so, what OS are you running?
The ACJr by itself does not have a built-in webserver like the AC3 and AC3Pro. That means you need to be running a PC in the background to host the webserver application. The kicker is that AquaNotes will not webhost with WinXP Home. You need to be running WinXP Pro or Win2000.
-Doug | | | |
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slallen
ReefChat Staff
Moray
Posts:301
Flower Mound, TX
| | 03/03/2007 11:31 AM |
| Mark,
Doug is correct in his response. BUT, where there is a will there is a way.  The main important part is that the ACJr has the serial port. I can tell you that Scott has this working with Aquanotes on another users system. | |
Click my stats for a graphed history.
Come Chat with Us! | |
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MarkSharp1126
Copepod
Posts:8
| | 03/03/2007 2:29 PM |
| Yes, I've got the serial port on my ACJr. I've also got Window XP Home, but plan on getting a cheap, used laptop to hook up to the ACJr. Guessing, though, that whatever I do get, will have Windows XP Home as well. Keep in mind that I'm a computer idiot. So I guess the first thing to do is get Aquanotes and load that onto the laptop. Then I can connect the serial port from the ACJr to the laptop, correct? Can Aquanotes be downloaded from the internet, or do I have to order it from a retailer? At this point just making sure of what I need to get, in order to make it work. I'm still about a month or so away from actually finishing the tank and hooking everything up. | | | |
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Ashlar
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:144
| | 03/03/2007 3:13 PM |
| There is a free version of AquaNotes that can be downloaded from neptune's site. I've never used it, personally. If it plugs into IIS like the full version, I'd think tank status would be included.
IIS isn't installed with XP Home, so you'd want XP Pro or 2k as Doug mentioned. | |
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Aquadude
Copepod
Posts:18
| | 03/05/2007 7:49 AM |
| | The free version does not contain the webserver portion. So if you planned on using the laptop as the interface for your controller to the internet you will need the full version of Aquanotes. | |
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Glenn
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:141
Keller, Texas
| | 03/11/2007 3:15 PM |
| | Scott, you rock, now to get my sig the way I really want it. | |
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Serk
Chromis
Posts:55
Rowlett, TX
| | 03/11/2007 6:14 PM |
| Posted By Glenn on 03/11/2007 3:15 PM
now to get my sig the way I really want it.
What, functional?  | |
Brian
150G Oceanic RR up since 9/2000
2x10G display refuguims
55G display refuguim
20G Anemone tank
2x50g Anemone Prop System
---Never ask a geek "Why?", just nod your head and slowly back away...
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Glenn
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:141
Keller, Texas
| | 03/11/2007 8:02 PM |
| | Just learned that you can only use stats that are on the status page of the AC3 | |
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Ashlar
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:144
| | 03/12/2007 4:45 PM |
| | Glenn, I highlighted the appropriate sentence in the original post so that hipefully, nobody else will have to learn that the hard way. | |
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Glenn
ReefChat Staff
Goby
Posts:141
Keller, Texas
| | 03/12/2007 10:32 PM |
| | Also just learned that even when you add something as a timer function in ac3, only when you add programing code does it add it to the status page. | |
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slallen
ReefChat Staff
Moray
Posts:301
Flower Mound, TX
| | 03/14/2007 4:01 AM |
| | Correct in order for it to show on the status page and ne programmable it must be decalred in the top of your program. This tells tells the controller what outlet the item is plugged into. | |
Click my stats for a graphed history.
Come Chat with Us! | |
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