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The question of safety monitoring can be confusing as imaging software can deal with the issue in two ways:
If weather information is supplied to the software then there is often an option to define the parameters for safe operation within the software itself. This may conflict with limits defined within the CloudWatcher.
Increasingly developers are adding support for a simple 'switch' that allows an external product such as the CloudWatcher to decide on the parameters and send a single safe / unsafe command to the imaging software using the ASCOM Safety Switch standard.
The CloudWatcher can be used in either of the above scenarios and how you choose to configure the system is a matter of personal choice and the capabilities of your software package.
If you use the ASCOM Safety Switch approach, then it is important to note that the responsibility for dealing with the unsafe condition lies with your imaging software. Normally, the minimum actions would be to park the mount and close the roof. Some packages go beyond this and will attempt to restart a session if the weather improves and the switch reports safe.
You may now be asking why the CloudWatcher offers the opportunity to launch a script when the weather becomes unsafe / safe? The reason is in order to support users whose imaging software does not provide protection features. A script can stop the imaging software, park the mount and close the observatory roof in order to protect your equipment. In theory, you could also restart the session if the weather improves, although this is somewhat harder to achieve in practice.
If your software supports observatory safety protection features then we recommend that you use these rather than relying on the CloudWatcher scripts. If you would like further peace of mind then you may care to install the 'Lunatico Last Line Of Defence' software package which, in addition to monitoring the weather, will secure the observatory in the case your imaging software crashes or the internet connection is lost.
Consult your software's doumentation for details of how to configure the safety driver.
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