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ASTmobile – application for your phone

Higher performance and work comfort are not only given to you by a driver adapted to your needs, but it is also an application that so many have forgotten about. We are the first company to give you a powerful tool, completely free of charge. It’s called ASTmobile. It’s an application for your phone which will make working with the driver easy and fast. You will find your AST directly from the car, without opening the cabinet and you will see how it is set up. You can remotely read its time, attachment times, map location and much more data needed for immediate change or evaluation. The interface does not get in your way, it naturally guides you and gives you a sense of control over everything. Working with the controller gives you a new approach to the problem of proper lighting setting. It makes every task simply more interesting.

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ASTmobile – program operation mode

 

The ASTmobile application allows you to select two possible modes of operation:

  • Connect to driver – selecting this option will take you to the search panel for available ASTmidi drivers, and then will allow you to connect to the driver for an on-line configuration.
  • Creation of settings banks – when you select this option, it will take you to the panel that allows you to create ASTmidi driver settings banks.
    The central settings bank is a set of parameters defining the status of the controller’s work such as: correction mode, switching ranges, exceptions, photocell work mode, etc..

This panel allows you to mark the position “Remember my choice” so that during subsequent launches of the application this screen will be omitted, and the program will go to the previously selected option.

ASTmobile – available drivers

 

This screen lists all available AST mini drivers within the range of your phone. The range of an AST mini driver in open space is about 20 m. The search time for drivers can take up to 60 seconds, but of course, when the desired driver appears in the list, you can select this item and go to work with the driver.
If you connect to the selected driver for the first time using this phone, a message will be displayed asking you to pair the ASTmini driver with your phone.
In the lower part of the screen there is a “Search for devices” button, which, if pressed, will restart the process of searching for available drivers.
If the Bluetooth module is switched off, a message asking for permission to turn it on will be displayed.

 

 

START

 

The Start screen is one of the main application screens and contains the following parameters:

  • Driver name – selecting this item will launch a dialog box allowing you to edit the name and add such parameters as a SOU number, a street, a description, a PIN.
  • Current date and time of the driver – selecting this position will start a dialog window enabling synchronization of the date and time according to the phone settings.
  • Sunrise and sunset times for the driver position.
  • Time of last switch-offs and future switch-ons of the A and B outputs for current settings of the driver.
  • Operating time of the A and B outputs since the last zeroing – selecting these positions will result in starting the dialog window allowing you to zero the times.
  • Current position of the driver – selecting this position will start a dialog window allowing to enter the position of the driver, or to set the position according to the current GPS indications of the phone.

 

START part 2

 

  • Mode of operation – selecting this position will activate a dialog window that allows you to choose the mode with two options available:
    Calculated from the driver position – selecting this position will calculate switch-on and switch-off times for a current geographical position of the driver,
    According to the table – selecting this item will take switch-on and switch-off times from the table
    (The switching table can be defined and then sent to the controller by means of the ASTmobile application)
  • Day – selecting this item will activate a dialog window allowing to change the operation mode of the day, there are two options available:
    day from 12:00 to 12:00 – selecting this is recommended when the majority of activities related to switching intervals will take place at night. If this item is selected, the switching interval must not pass through 12 noon.
    day from 00:00 to 00:00 – selecting this is recommended when the majority of activities related to the switching periods will take place during the day. If this item is selected, the switching interval must not go through 00:00.
  • Factory settings – at the very bottom of the screen there is the “Restore factory settings” button. Pressing this button will display a dialog box confirming this operation, pressing the “Yes” button will restore factory settings, which is the equivalent of replacing all parameters of the driver.

 

Service switch-on

 

The service switch-on screen allows to set the operation mode of the A and B outputs, there are three possible modes of the output operation:

  • AUTO – selecting this position makes the output operate automatically according to the selected correction mode and the designated switching intervals from Monday to Friday.
    For factory settings of the AUTO mode the outputs will be activated at sunset and deactivated at sunrise with a possible 15-minute delay for switching on and off.
  • OFF – selecting this position will switch the output permanently off, it will not be subject to any control rule.
  • ON – a single pressing of this position will switch the output on for 1 minute (01:00 will be displayed and counted backwards), after that time the output will enter the AUTO mode, double pressing will switch the output on for 10 minutes, triple one – for 30 minutes, while pressing four times will switch the output on permanently – then it will not be subject to any control rule.

The service switching screen is dedicated for any staff dealing with lighting preservation/ maintenance, from this screen you can easily switch on/off the output, or switch on for a specified time, being sure that after a selected time the output will go into the automatic mode.

 

Banks

 

This screen contains a list of all saved banks. A bank is a set of parameters defining the rules of controlling the work of driver outputs and input. From this screen you can perform the following actions:

  • Save the current configuration of the driver (the driver which you are currently connected to) as the configuration bank, in order to do so press “Save the current configuration of the controller as a settings bank” button, this will start the dialog window in which you need to enter the name of the current configuration, and then press “Save”.
  • Save one of the selected banks for the controller – in order to do this, press the position you want to save for the controller, which will display the dialog window in which you should select “Save to the controller”, and then press the “Save” button. From this moment the current configuration of the controller will be replaced by the configuration from the selected bank.
  • Send one of the selected banks e.g. by e-mail or Bluetooth. Any sent settings bank can be received on another phone and then imported to the application.
    The functionality of sending banks is very useful when lighting maintenance is done by more than one person, or when you want to send to another person the current configuration of your ASTmidi.

 

Output

 

The Output A and Output B screens are responsible for configuring the operation of the A and B outputs. The following parameters can be entered/modified from these screens:

  • USetting the correction mode – there are three possibilities:
    Summer-winter – select this item to correct the astronomical ON/OFF times independently of winter or summer time.
    Quarterly – select this item to correct the astronomical ON/OFF times independently of quarters I, II, III, IV.
    Monthly – select this item to correct the astronomical ON/OFF times independently of each month.
    For the ASTmidi factory settings, the corrections for switching on are +15 minutes, for switching off – 15 minutes.
  • Enter the switching periods from Monday to Sunday. For each day of the week, up to four switching ranges can be entered.
    The switching range is a parameter consisting of two times – switch-on and switch-off time, e.g. by entering T1 Start parameter: 14:00 and T1 Stop parameter : 18:00, the output will be switched on from 14 to 18.

For the ASTmidi factory settings (for the 12:00 to 12:00 day) switching periods from Monday to Sunday are set identically T1 start: Astro, T1 stop: Astro, which means that every day the lighting will be switched on at sunset + switch-on correction time, and switched off at sunrise + switch-off correction time. Depending on the selected mode of operation, the switch-on/off corrections may have a different value at certain times of the year.

 

Output part 2

 

For the ASTmidifactory settings (for the 00:00 to 00:00:00 day) the switching intervals from Monday to Sunday are set identically T1,T2,T3,T4 Start : 00:00:00:00 , T1,T2,T3,T4 Stop : 00:00:00:00, which means that the outputs will be permanently disabled.
Change of the day mode is available on the START screen.
day from 12:00 to 12:00 – selecting this item is recommended when the majority of activities connected with switching periods will take place at night. When selecting this item, the switching interval must not go through 12 noon.
day from 00:00 to 00:00 – selecting this item is recommended when the majority of activities connected with switching periods will take place during the day. When selecting this item, the switching interval must not go through 00:00.

Configuring the switching periods, e.g. for Monday below the intervals, there is a “Save to the following” button, using it will rewrite the configuration of intervals from Monday to the remaining days of the week. If the configuration of the B output is to be identical to the A output, at the very bottom of the A output configuration screen there is a “Move settings from A to B” button, using it will move the configuration of the A output to the B output. Similarly, the same action can be performed by moving the configuration of the B output to the A output.

 

Input

 

The Input 1 screen is responsible for configuration of the controller input mode. On this screen it is possible to change the operating mode, the input can operate in one of the three configurations below:

  • Photocell – selecting this position will make it possible to correct switching on/off the lighting, depending on the signal from the photocell.
  • Cascade – selecting this position will transmit the signal from the controller input to any selected controller outputs. Transmitting the signal may be delayed both for switching on and off. (In case of the cascade mode and connecting it to a specific output, this output is not subject to any control rules which have been entered on the output configuration screens).
  • None – selecting this item disables the possibility of any influence of the input on the output, i.e. the appearance of any signal at the input will in no way affect the status of the outputs.

Regardless of the selected input operation mode, each change of the input status is recorded in the controller. For example, if no mode is assigned to the input, it can be used as e.g. recording the opening/ closing of a lighting cabinet door.

 

Exceptions

 

You can perform the following actions on the exceptions screen:

  • Add a new exception – in order to add an exception, press the “Add exception” button, it will open a dialog window in which you should select the outputs that will be associated with the exception, the date of the exception occurrence, and you should enter the switching intervals and press the “Save” button.
  • Edit exception – in order to edit press the selected exception, it will open the dialog window in which you should select “Edit exception” and press the “Execute” button, it will open a dialog window identical to the one used for adding a new exception, then you should modify the parameters and press the “Save” button.
  • Delete exception – in order to delete an exception press the selected item to open the dialog window in which you should select “Delete exception” and confirm with the “Execute” button.

Up to 20 exceptions can be added to the ASTmidi. Exceptions which date of execution has already passed are marked on the list as “Exception overdue”. Such exceptions can be removed or edited, e.g. in order to become valid for the next year.

 

Reports

 

The Report screen contains a list of all recorded events. The ASTmini driver allows you to record up to 100 events, it records the following events:

  • switching on/off the A output
  • switching on/off the B output
  • switching on/off the C output
  • status change of input 1
  • power failure/return

Each recorded event has an exact date and time of occurrence.
At the top of the screen there are checkboxes that allow you to filter events.
Pressing any of the events will open a dialog box that allows you to send a report, e.g. by email.

 

Map

 

This screen contains ASTmidi located on the map, to which the user has connected by means of his phone.
The icon of the driver we are currently connected to is blue, the icons of other drivers are red. Pressing the selected icon of the driver will display information with the name of the driver and the number of the cabinet in which the driver is located, as long as the SOU number has been assigned to the driver.

The map with the location of drivers is a very good inventory tool for services dealing with lighting maintenance, e.g. in case of periodic lighting control under a selected cabinet with the driver we can check on the map which cabinets we have nearby to optimally organize the route.