SETUP & SUPPORT

Five minutes to first light.

You need the camera plugged into your PoE switch or injector, a phone or computer on the same network, and the card that came in the box. It has your camera's name, its network address (MAC) and your temporary password. Give the camera a minute after plugging it in before you try to connect.

QUICK START
  1. 1

    Open the camera's page

    In your browser, go to http://sv01-0001.local, using the camera name from your card in place of sv01-0001. Log in as admin with the temporary password from the card.

    Page won't load? See Connection problems below. Some routers don't handle .local names, and the camera's IP address works just as well.

  2. 2

    Find your latitude and longitude

    Right-click your location in Google Maps. The popup shows two numbers, for example 44.6143, -69.5789. The first is latitude, the second is longitude.

  3. 3

    Enter your location and time zone

    In Settings, enter latitude and longitude with a compass letter instead of a minus sign: 44.6143N and 69.5789W. A negative latitude is S, a negative longitude is W (all of the Americas). Pick your time zone and save. The camera uses these to know when night starts and ends.

  4. 4

    Change your password

    Open Change Password in the menu, enter the temporary password from your card, then your new one. Use at least 12 characters. If you ever lose it, see Login problems below.

  5. 5

    Check it's working

    Live View shows the latest frame and Images shows saved frames. At night each frame can take up to a minute, so the live view updates slowly and may look dark at first. That's normal. Each morning the camera also makes a time-lapse of the night.

FOCUS

Sharpening the stars

Full Units ship focused. Shipping and the dome can shift focus slightly, so on your first clear night it's worth checking the stars and touching it up from your phone.

  1. Start the focus page (one command over SSH, see SSH below): python3 ~/focus_web.py. Image capture pauses while it runs.
  2. On your phone, open http://sv01-0001.local:8000 (your camera's name) and log in with your camera password.
  3. Press Autofocus, or step the focus by hand with the buttons while you watch the stars and the sharpness score. Higher is sharper.
  4. When you're happy, stop the focus page (Ctrl+C). Capture starts again by itself.
TROUBLESHOOTING

Connection problems

The camera's .local address doesn't load+

.local names need a feature (mDNS) that some routers and older Windows PCs don't support. Use the camera's IP address instead:

  1. Open your router's admin page, usually http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1
  2. Find the device with your camera's name or the MAC address from your card, and note its IP (for example 192.168.1.47)
  3. Open that IP in your browser

So the address never changes, set a DHCP reservation (sometimes called a static IP) in your router for that MAC address.

The camera doesn't show up on my network+
  1. Check the network cable is seated firmly at both ends
  2. The port light on your switch or injector should be lit or blinking
  3. Make sure the switch or injector supplies PoE+ (802.3at). Plain PoE can't power the camera.
  4. Unplug the cable, plug it back in, and wait two minutes

Still nothing? Try another cable or another port.

Using the camera away from home (no Wi-Fi)+

When the camera can't find a Wi-Fi network it knows, it starts its own. Join the Wi-Fi network named on your card (it starts with SkyVault-) using the password on the card, then open http://10.42.0.1. It still needs PoE power, for example an injector on a portable power station.

Image problems

Live view is black or very dark+

At night: usually normal. Exposures are long and the live view updates slowly. Check the Images page: new frames should keep arriving.

During the day, or if nothing new has arrived for an hour: open Settings and click Save without changing anything. That restarts capture. If it's still stuck, unplug the camera for ten seconds and plug it back in.

Bright moon, few stars+

Normal. A bright moon lights up the whole sky and hides faint stars, and the camera shortens its exposures to match. The full star field comes back on moonless nights.

Stars look soft or blurry+

Refocus with the focus page (see Focus above). Also check the outside of the dome for dew, dust or dried rain spots, and wipe it gently with a soft cloth.

Colors look off (blue, green or pink tint)+

Adjust White Balance in Settings.

Fog or droplets on the dome+

The dew heater runs automatically all night. Droplets on the outside can still form on very damp, clear nights; they clear as the night goes on. Fog on the inside means moisture got into the housing:

  1. Take the camera down and unscrew the cartridge from the bottom
  2. Leave both parts in a warm, dry room for a day
  3. Check the vent at the bottom isn't blocked, then reassemble

If it keeps happening, email us and we'll send a desiccant pack.

Login problems

Forgot your password+

Reset it over SSH (see below), then run:

bash ~/reset_password.sh

Follow the prompts to set a new password for the camera's page.

Lost both passwords (web page and SSH)+

Reset them with the camera's SD card. You need the camera in hand:

  1. Unplug the camera and unscrew the cartridge from the bottom of the housing
  2. Take the microSD card out of the computer board and put it in any computer
  3. On the card (it shows up as a drive named bootfs), create an empty file named reset-passwords.txt
  4. Put the card back, reassemble, and plug the camera in. Wait two minutes.
  5. Unplug it again and put the card back in your computer. Open NEW-PASSWORDS.txt: it has your new SSH and web passwords. Write them down, then delete that file.
"Invalid credentials" but the password is right+

Passwords are case-sensitive, so check Caps Lock. If it still fails, use the reset above.

Software

Camera stops capturing+

Click Save in Settings, or unplug the camera for ten seconds. If it keeps happening, check that the storage isn't full: the System page shows free space. Older images can be deleted automatically; the setting for how many days to keep is in Settings.

Camera time is wrong+

Check the time zone in Settings. The camera sets its clock from the internet, so right after power-up with no internet it may be off until it connects.

Updating the software+

Please email us before updating. Your camera runs a version of AllSky set up with fixes for its camera sensor, and a standard update can undo them. We'll send you the right steps for your unit.

REFERENCE

SSH

SSH lets you type commands on the camera from your computer. On Windows, open Command Prompt; on a Mac, open Terminal. Then type the command below, and answer yes the first time.

Addresscamera name + .local, or its IP
LoginSSH user and password on your card
Commandssh <user>@sv01-0001.local