Watchdog Plugin

[AedanC]

In the windows version you set a waypoint where the anchor is, name it something like “20 m”, right click on it and “Enable anchor alarm”. OpenCpn will then alarm if you move more than 20 m from the waypoint. I’m not sure how you do this on a Mac but presumably there is some way.

[rgleason]

Here is an updated Beta v2.4.6 with version numbers that correspond properly.


https://github.com/rgleason/watchdog...ses/tag/v2.4.6

[sygibson]

@rgleason - thank you !



I just got back from a 9 day trip chartering a power catamaran in the San Juan Islands. I used OpenCPN pretty heavily for route planning and investigating navigation hazards on the route since it's VASTLY easier to use than the P.O.S. Raymarine and shitty vector charts that were provided on the boat.


Unfortunately, I was unable to get my (miserable) Garmin handheld GPS to output data to my Mac OSX laptop, so I didn't have valid GPS data.



I did just now install the Watchdog plugin you built, and tested several of the alerts and features on my MacOSX (Mojave 10.14.6). So far, it seems like things work pretty well.



The interface for the watchdog system is ... ahem ... pretty basic ... but it functions fine so far.


Caveat ... I have not tested with live GPS input and triggering an alert. I was able to trigger alerts by manually setting boat position, and an alert boundary that violated the rule.


My father, who has been captaining commercial vessels (he's an Unlimited certified captain) for 50 years, was pretty impressed with the features and quality of the OpenCPN software. He mostly uses Furuno navigation systems and C-Map charts as his primary comparison.


OpenCPN is easily 10x better than the Raymarine crap that was on the boat.

[Warby12]

Hi, first I want to say I love the watchdog plugin!

I am running a raspberry pi with Openplotter version 0.17.1 which says it is the latest stable version. I have just upgraded OpenCPN using the Rasby pi software app to version 5.0.0. I have also run Openplotter "Upgrade plugins" which says all up to date. The plugin itself says Version 2.4.0

Watchdog was working before the Opencpn upgrade. Now it works perfectly, it just doesn't fire an alarm, even a message box.

Using the "test" button fires the alarm. I am setting it off by changing the latitude to move the circle away from the boat. This always worked. Also have tried setting a very small radius of 5 metres and letting the boat drift out.

Can anyone suggest anything?


Cheers Stephen

[rgleason]

Originally Posted by Warby12

Hi, first I want to say I love the watchdog plugin!

I am running a raspberry pi with Openplotter version 0.17.1 which says it is the latest stable version. I have just upgraded OpenCPN using the Rasby pi software app to version 5.0.0. I have also run Openplotter "Upgrade plugins" which says all up to date. The plugin itself says Version 2.4.0

Watchdog was working before the Opencpn upgrade. Now it works perfectly, it just doesn't fire an alarm, even a message box.

Using the "test" button fires the alarm. I am setting it off by changing the latitude to move the circle away from the boat. This always worked. Also have tried setting a very small radius of 5 metres and letting the boat drift out.

Can anyone suggest anything?


Cheers Stephen

Stephen, can you ask about this with OpenPlotter? If it is definitely something wrong with watchdog we will try to fix it, but watchdog was repackaged for OpenPlotter. Perhaps they can help with this too. What version of the plugin is being used?

[rgleason]

Originally Posted by sygibson

@rgleason - thank you !

I just got back from a 9 day trip chartering a power catamaran in the San Juan Islands. I used OpenCPN pretty heavily for route planning and investigating navigation hazards on the route since it's VASTLY easier to use than the P.O.S. Raymarine and shitty vector charts that were provided on the boat.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get my (miserable) Garmin handheld GPS to output data to my Mac OSX laptop, so I didn't have valid GPS data.

I did just now install the Watchdog plugin you built, and tested several of the alerts and features on my MacOSX (Mojave 10.14.6). So far, it seems like things work pretty well.


The interface for the watchdog system is ... ahem ... pretty basic ... but it functions fine so far.

Caveat ... I have not tested with live GPS input and triggering an alert. I was able to trigger alerts by manually setting boat position, and an alert boundary that violated the rule.


My father, who has been captaining commercial vessels (he's an Unlimited certified captain) for 50 years, was pretty impressed with the features and quality of the OpenCPN software. He mostly uses Furuno navigation systems and C-Map charts as his primary comparison.

OpenCPN is easily 10x better than the Raymarine crap that was on the boat.

Very good to hear.
OpenCPN has good days and bad days, but it is very useful software.


There may be some issues with Watchdog, that are being reported right now and we will be working through those as it becomes clearer and when Sean has time.

Suggest you look at the manual about Getting Started and installing GPS, I think there is one paragraph in there about MacOS and GPS install.
Once you get the gps running things get better. That garmin may be fine, depends on if it can be put into nmea0183 mode in the setup.
Even my very very old Garmin 48 had to be set to that for OpenCPN connections to work, then I had to wire the output wires properly.
Nmea out ----> Nmea in
Nmea in Nothing.
Ground ---- Ground
and tieing into serial, but you should look in the GPS manual for this.


I ended up getting a gps puck with USB connector , then another one when I upgraded to Win10. (An inexpensive USB Hub actually acts like a multplexer in some ways for AIS, GPS, Instruments)

and then wired the old mouse up to my VHF/DSC radio adding a 12vdc to 5vdc converter to provide power, so that my radio would have dedicated position info.

[Warby12]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Stephen, can you ask about this with OpenPlotter? If it is definitely something wrong with watchdog we will try to fix it, but watchdog was repackaged for OpenPlotter. Perhaps they can help with this too. What version of the plugin is being used?

No worries, I will do so now and that doesn't work I believe one can directly install OpenCPN from raspberry Pi these days so I will do a fresh install of the OS



Thanks

[crayiii]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

The depth alarm remains unimplemented until I have a depth sounder opencpn can use. If has a depth sounder they can use and test, they could implement the alarm and submit a pull request.

What will it take to get you set up with a depth sounder? I'm willing to help fund one.

[AedanC]

Originally Posted by crayiii

What will it take to get you set up with a depth sounder? I'm willing to help fund one.

I'll help with that, please let me know if a whip-around is being organised because I can't always get to this forum regularly.

[rgleason]

Aedan,
What is a whiparound? No it is not.

Have you subscribed to this thread? If not do so.

[AedanC]

Hi Rick,

A whip-around is not anything sinister, it’s an expression used when a group of people put money into a collection for a particular cause, in this case to buy a depth sounder for Sean.

I can’t understand the rest of your post, could you explain it please?

Aedan

[rgleason]

Well if someone could create a whiparound using sean's paypal account (see sean's about in his plugins for contributions)
I would certainly contribute!

To subscribe to the thread just assures emails re the thread.

[seandepagnier]

A depth sounder is certainly welcome as is code to improve watchdog. I could do much more with a sounder like making your own charts too. The problem is, the ones with data output which can go to a computer seem to be very overpriced.

I was building my own from $8 ultrasonic cleaning transducers last year. I have to switch 40khz through a transformer to get 150 volts from 12 volts to drive them, then amplify the return with 1000x to sample the millivolts from the return ping, which did work but I never bothered with time of flight as I have been very busy with other projects.

[crayiii]

Don't you just need to grab depth from the NMEA stream?

[rgleason]

I think we should all pitch in to get Sean a depth sounder, or at the very least find a suitable system that has been removed from a boat... b&g, raymarine, etc that outputs nmea 0183 or can be converted. Sean what types/ manfacturer's would be best for your programming?
How about Airmar P79?
https://www.google.com/search?q=airm...=firefox-b-1-m

Ebay for $44? https://www.ebay.com/itm/AIRMAR-P79-...kAAOSwzRlaR9PS

Has no display but we have Opencpn.