Make the most of clear skies.
The newly-designed Boltwood Cloud Sensor III is the must-have observing conditions monitoring device for astronomical observatories. The Boltwood Cloud Sensor III can you alert you to clear conditions, so you can start your observing session. It also helps protect against observatory equipment damage with warning of clouds, rain, winds, and other unsafe conditions – and can even trigger automatic observatory shutdown. Coupled with your favorite observatory control application software, the Boltwood Cloud Sensor III enables automated observation scheduling.
Boltwood Cloud Sensor III utilizes Wi-Fi technology for wireless conditions monitoring from up to five computers. It supports both ASCOM Alpaca interfaces and browser-based monitoring, providing compatibility with any operating system. Both network operation and Wi-Fi hotspot modes are available. For Windows users our Clarity III software is also available, providing extra setup and data logging features.
Optional Wired Version
The Boltwood Cloud Sensor III is also available with an optional wired interface version (BOLTWOOD-III-S), which has an RS-232 serial interface and also supports Wi-Fi operation. A 100′ (30 m) serial cable is included.
For situations where radio-quiet operation is required, a serial-only version is available (BOLTWOOD-III-SO). This version uses the same hardware but has the Wi-Fi transmitter permanently disabled. A 100′ (30 m) serial cable is included.
For serial interface operation, an ASCOM driver is available for operating the sensor under Microsoft Windows. The serial protocol is also documented in the user manual to facilitate custom software solutions. Note that this ASCOM driver is not compatible with Wi-Fi operation, which does not require a driver as it uses a direct Alpaca network connection to the sensor.
