ASCOM Driver : Rain/water presence information unavailable

[SebBrz]

Hello team,

First I'd like to thank you for the great job done on the MySQM+ project and the ASCOM driver that works really well with NINA.
I'd like to suggest a little upgrade in the ASCOM Driver, by adding the rain presence information (0 dry, 1 rain) (not only the rainfall mm/h) to the driver so that this information can become usable in safety monitors and the safety reaction gets quicker in case of water presence detection.
I do not have a rainfall sensor but only a rain/water presence detector, and this sensor information is currently unavailable to Nina to be used.

Do you think it could be a useful upgrade to the driver ?

Kind regards and clear skies to you all !

Sebastien

[brownrb]

Hi Sebastien
What you are asking for is not supported in the ASCOM Weather Interface class.

The only rain property supported by ASCOM is (from the Developers guide) is the RainRate property. Below is the developers guide on this.*

*The units of this property are millimetres per hour. Client and driver authors can use the method ConvertUnits(Double, Units, Units) to convert these units to and from inches per hour.

This property can be interpreted as 0.0 = Dry any positive non-zero value = wet.

Rainfall intensity is classified according to the rate of precipitation:

Light rain — when the precipitation rate is < 2.5 mm (0.098 in) per hour
Moderate rain — when the precipitation rate is between 2.5 mm (0.098 in) - 7.6 mm (0.30 in) or 10 mm (0.39 in) per hour
Heavy rain — when the precipitation rate is > 7.6 mm (0.30 in) per hour, or between 10 mm (0.39 in) and 50 mm (2.0 in) per hour
Violent rain — when the precipitation rate is > 50 mm (2.0 in) per hour

mySQM+ supports the CSII file format for logging rain/no rain, which many users using that feature to hook into their observatory dome control.

Regards
Robert

[SebBrz]

Thank you for your prompt answer Robert, and this precise information I didn't know.
Since the ASCOM framework does not contain this type of information, but only a gauge information, I understand why it wasn't implemented.
However, would there be a way, in case one does not have a Rain Bucket Gauge, but a simple detection sensor, to override the RainRate property with the sensor status (like 0 for dry and 1 for wet) ?
I'll have a look at the CSII file format, but IMHO it looks like a workaround.

Best regards
Sebastien

[brownrb]

I think you will find that many astronomy clients suport the Boltwood or Cloud Sensor II format files. For quite some years, so it has been around longer. It was never designed as a workaround.

mySQM+ supports both formats and this was the reason why they are in the project.
maxim dl
https://cdn.diffractionlimited.com/help/maximdl/Weather_Tab.htm

It may be possible to create a safety ASCOM driver, so that in NINA you can then speficy an Action to be performed as a result of unsafe from the driver.

There are zero conflict issues and nothing would need to happen to any of the code. The satefy driver could just return safe when it is not raining and unsafe when it is raining.

And with the mySQM+ once can support more than 1 ASCOM driver .

Regards
Robert

[brownrb]

Hi Sebastien
I have created an ASCOM Safety Monitor that wil do what you want.

If you wish to test this, please send me an email at either gmail or yahoo.

regards
Robert

[SebBrz]

Hello Robert,
Sorry for this late answer, I've been a lot busy lately.
I tried the Boltwood safety monitor indeed, but I didn't find it corresponding to the need.
Since the only piece of code I could have my hand on was the Arduino code, I did a slight modification in it, so that in case you don't have a rain bucket, but only a rain sensor, the rain rate value goes from 0mm/h (dry) to 1mm/h (wet), and it works quite well.
Of course, the code also works when you have a rain bucket, but these values are overriden when you don't have one, with the rain (dry/wet) values :)
And then, the Safety Monitors react as expected, and quickly when it starts to rain.
If you want to, I can provide the little code change.
Completely off topic : I'm also testing Fresnel lenses on the MLX90614, in order to avoid corrosion on the sensor when exposed to moisture or rain (south Normandy can have a very wet weather). A little calibration is needed, but it seems to work very well !

Best regards
Sebastien

[brownrb]

The new ASCOM Safety monitor will do what you want.
I will upload tomorrow my time. Its late in the day for me.
regards
Robert