Skipper's Mate Free Software - New Release Available

[pragmatist]

New release of Skipper's Mate free Open-Source software available now. Contains many bug fixes and enhancements. Now includes VPN, "self-healing" sensors, live GPS plots in the cloud, live camera viewing, adjust graph ranges (voltage, temp/humidity/dewpoint) including levels to initiate alert messages (SMS/email).

Removed need to register at the web site if you want the download - you just need to answer a simple question to prove that you're not a bot !

Download available https://skippersmate.co.uk/skippersmate/downloads.html.

Live feeds here from our boat https://skippersmate.co.uk/skippersmate/livefeeds.html.

If you've got any queries there's a forum or you can PM me here.

Penny

 

[nigelmercier]

Not terribly clear what platform this is for.

 

[GHA]

Looks Pi based.

 

[pragmatist]

Not terribly clear what platform this is for.

Nigel - details of the hardware can be found here - https://skippersmate.co.uk/skippersmate/technicalhow.html but in summary the Boat Control Unit is a Pi3 - the Sensor Control units are Arduino Uno - and the Relay Control Units are Pi2 or Pi3. We're waiting to evaluate a C.H.I.P. as a relay server and, possibly, a sensor server.

The system makes use of other Open Source projects - details are here - https://skippersmate.co.uk/skippersmate/software.html.

Cheers
Penny

 

[sarabande]

The system looks flexible and scaleable - which I like very much.


I know little about the on-going costs of the basic and middle systems; have you any indications please ? I assume that active interrogation by me will be an acceptable cost, but what sort of passive (automatic reporting) costs are likely in terms of GB of data and £ please ?

Finally, if a number of people get together in a mooring area, can you set up a "group" wifi say for a radius of 200m ? And would that be a) secure b) reliable c) cheaper ?


TIA

 

[pragmatist]

The system looks flexible and scaleable - which I like very much.


I know little about the on-going costs of the basic and middle systems; have you any indications please ? I assume that active interrogation by me will be an acceptable cost, but what sort of passive (automatic reporting) costs are likely in terms of GB of data and £ please ?

Finally, if a number of people get together in a mooring area, can you set up a "group" wifi say for a radius of 200m ? And would that be a) secure b) reliable c) cheaper ?


TIA

Bandwidth usage is very low - just been through our recent usage and the system is typically using less than 300Mb/month - that's for us viewing/remote visits to the boat as well as the data it sends to the cloud. Even though we've made our camera public we're still way way below a Gb per month.

The lowest data package you can get for 3G/4G seems to be 1Gb. We looked at a few examples and found that Three PayAsUGo would give you 3Gb valid for 3 months for £16 - so just over a fiver a month. Obviously contracts could be better value.

In terms of a mooring association or such like, yes "group" Wi-Fi is possible - plenty of yacht clubs have it indoors but not sure how many distribute across moorings. Though it is not particularly difficult to do. Obviously you would need a broadband supply (e.g. phone line & broadband) to the "club house", a Wi-Fi system and then distribute it via one or more antenna.

a) secure - between the boat and the Skipper's Mate cloud services - yes it is pretty secure - uses a secure mechanism (VPN) - no difference whether you're using Wi-Fi or 3G/4G from the boat

b) reliable - well that's down to 2 issues - firstly how good is your broadband supply to the club house, and how reliable is your supplier. Outdoor Wi-Fi - generally fairly reliable but the boat might need an external antenna, depending on how far from the club house she was.

c) could be cheaper, depending on numbers. Since most fixed-base broadband packages are huge and pretty cheap, using club outdoor Wi-Fi might end up being very cheap, especially since Skipper's Mate systems use less than half a Gb a month. (That doesn't include any teenagers streaming films when they're on the boat using the built-in Wi-Fi ! )

We would be happy to advise or provide a Wi-Fi system if any group/club were interested, having done this on the River Dart among other places in the past.