SSC configuration - smart-underworld/seestar_alp GitHub Wiki

WORK IN PROGRESS

Written for version V2.3.4    2024-12-01

Overview

SSC configuration in controlled by the config.toml file in the \seestar_alp\device folder. This can be edited with any text editor.

When seestar_alp is installed e.g. by the RaspberryPi setup script then a default config.toml will be created - the user needs to edit this for their particular needs.

When seestar_alp is updated then the existing config.toml file will be retained so that user settings are not lost. However, if new configuration settings have been added by the developers in the default config file then the user will have to review and copy these settings to the config.tomlAny line beginning with a # will be treated as a comment and ignored.

If the config.toml is edited and saved then the seestar_alp service must be restarted for the changes to take effect. e.g. with the command
sudo systemctl restart seestar

Instead of editing the config.toml file directly many of the configuration settings can be modified from a webpage within SCC. This is generally the easier way to change settings.

Goto the Functions | SCC config page to make configuration edits from the website.

Press SAVE at the bottom of the page to write your settings to the config file. Many of the changes made from the webpage will take immediate effect without needing to restart the seestar service. The Networking section in particular, is one that will require a restart.   [TODO check which other edits would still need a restart]

The sections below describe the function of each part of the config file

Network

image

Controls the basic network settings used for Seestar communication and (optional) Stellarium communication

IP_address
Defaults to 127.0.0.1, for a RaspberryPi installation this should be 0.0.0.0

Port & IMG port
Seestar communication ports, do not change from 5555 and 7556

Stellarium Host & Stellarium Port
These control the connection to Stellarium if you want to read target RA/Dec coordinates from Stellarium - see separate Stellarium Wiki page. If Stellarium is running on the same machine as Seestar_alp then set this to localhost otherwise enter the IP address of the Stellarium machine.

Timeout
Timeout (in seconds) for all network connections. Note: This should never normally need to be changed unless suggested by developers during problem solving.

RTSP UDP
[TODO] confirm what this setting is

WebUI settings

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This controls the appearance and function of the SSC webpages.

UI port
The port which the webserver will listen, defaulted to 5432. This port must match what you put at the end of the URL to access the webpages

NOTE: Some users who also run with PostgreSQL report it also uses this port. A workaround is to change this config setting to another port (like 5430) and adjust the url in your browser accordingly, when accessing SSC

UI theme
Light or Dark theme. Can be overridden using the switch at the top of each webpage

Experimental
If enabled SSC will display additional pages/options which are currently under development and not fully released e.g. Live view is currently an experimental feature

Commands Confirm Dialog
If you prefer to confirm any command on the Commands page before it is sent then tick this option

Save star preview frames locally Save frames base dir
Features for Live view page

Loading gif You can select different gif file is desired for the Live view page

Server

Basic server settings [TODO] where is location setting actually used ? image

Device

[TODO] what is the purpose of this section ?
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Logging

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Controls the location and content of logs generated by seestar_alp

Log level
Controls how much log information is saved - leave at the default INFO unless you need to generate more diagnostic logging to help solve a problem

Log prefix
This allows you to choose the location of log files e.g. by setting to “logs/” the files will be written in the seestar_alp/logs folder

Seestar_initialization

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When a Seestar is connected and sent the initialization command a number of options will be set in the Seestar, this sections controls those commands.

Latitude & Longitude
Since the Seestar has no built in GPS it relies on the Seestar app or seestar_alp to set it’s location every time it is powered up. This lat/long setting needs to be set accurately for your location. For Western longitude or Southern latitude the number will be negative.
 TIP: Many phone apps will show you your location in the required decimal format e.g. Heavens-Above app 

Gain
Controls the gain of the Seestar camera (similar to ISO setting on a DSLR camera). Default is 80 and cannot be changed in the normal Seestar app.  Depending on your sky conditions you may find higher gains e.g. 110 give an image improvement.\

Exposure preview ms The duration of preview exposures in Live view.

Exposure stack ms
The duration (in msec) of each Seestar image exposure i.e. 10000 = 10 sec exposuresDither enabled The seestar normally dithers images to avoid hot/cold pixels affecting the image stacking results. Turning this off will avoid wasted time when the Seestar would have moved but will generally degrade stacked images.

Dither enabled Tick box to turn dithering on or off.

Dither length pixels
How many pixels the Seestar moves when dithering.

Dither frequency
How often dithering will happen e.g. 10 will mean a dither movement after 10 frames. The default setting when the Seestar boots is 5.

TIP: Increasing this number will generally result in more useful frames being stacked because the scope will take more subs before dithering 

Activate LP filter Whether to enable to Light Polution (narrowband) filter by default. Note: will often also be specified in individual imaging entries on a schedule.

Dew heater power
When the anti-dew heater is turned on this settings controls the power of the heater on a 0 to 100 scale.

Scope aim latitude & Scope aim longitude
These are NOT related to your geographical position, instead they determine where the Seestar arm will be pointed after the startup sequence command is issued.
For an Alt/Az mounted Seestar scope_aim_lat will be the altitude above the horizon and scope_aim_lon will be how many degrees (couter-clockwise) it will rotate relative to the starting position.
For an EQ mounted Seestar the coordinates refer to the Celestial Equator

Note: scope_aim_lon of 180 will face the scope to the reverse of where it is set when turned on.
scope_aim_lat of -90 is the arm closed position scope_aim_lat of 0 is the horizon which is the plane of the bottom of the seestar.
Maximum scope_aim_lat is +80 as the scope cannot point straight up in Alt/Az mode.  

Scope in EQ mode
Tick if your Seestar is EQ mounted instead of Alt/Az. If this is ticked then the correct commands will be sent to the Seestar to enable it to image below what it thinks is the horizon.

Seestars

This controls how many Seestars the software will connect to. Each device is given a name, ip_address and device number.  image

If you only have a single Seestar on your network then the ip_address can be given as seestar.local   If you have more than one Seestar then you must configure the IP address of each one once they have joined your network in station mode.

TIP: If you regularly change the number of Seestars you want to control e.g. using friends or club members devices then you will find it easier to manage if you configure the DHCP server on your network to always allocate the same IP address to each device. This will mean you do not have to edit the config.toml file for every session.

Optionally each Seestar may be given a different scope_aim_alt and scope_aim_lon - these override the default values in the seestar_initialisation section and allow each Seestar to point to a different part of the sky after startup.

Buttons allow you to add additional devices or select existing devices and delete them.

Entries for additional Seestars should be commented out in config.toml unless you plan to connect them otherwise you may find some delays in the webpages as Seestar_alp will keep trying to communicate with them. NOTE: After adding or deleting Seestar devices you MUST also click Save at the bottom of the page.

[seestars](/smart-underworld/seestar_alp/wiki/seestars)
name = "Seestar Alpha"
# ip_address should not have to be changed unless you have more than 1 seestar
ip_address = "seestar.local"
device_num = 1
# You can specify the following settings to override those found in the seestar_initialization section on a per-device level
#scope_aim_lat = 60 # start up latitude in degrees -90 to 80 (override default)
#scope_aim_lon = 20 # start up longitude in degrees 0 to 360 (override default)
#is_EQ_mode = false # can be used to override default

#[seestars](/smart-underworld/seestar_alp/wiki/seestars)
#name = "Seestar Beta"
#ip_address = "192.168.110.36"
#device_num = 2