AugTool Documentation
Devices
Augtool is internet of things enabled. As long as the device you would like Augtool to connect to has a public IP address and port, and potentially a user name and password, we can connect, communicate and transact with it.
There are two methods for connecting to devices with Augtool.
Through the internet directly to the device - True internet of things.
Via Augtools IOT app which you install on the machine that will connect to the device.
The first method will be described now. Most of the settings for this method apply to method two. The only difference is that method two needs our Augtool IOT app installed on the machine and the Device settings needs to be pointed to the app and not the actual device.
The automatic weight collection weigh bridge functionality within Augtool requires a device to be setup within the system.
Method 1 (Tellnet through the internet):
Click create to add a device and simply fill out all the text boxes. If you want to use your device manually but still be able to select it for tracking purposes in the system then simply leave out the ip address and port and manually enter the weights in the weigh bridge ticket. The IP and Port of the device needs to be given to you by your IT person. This IP and Port needs to be an EXTERNAL IP address. When your browser connects to the device, it asks our server to connect directly to your device. Our server is outside of your IP range and hence needs to connect to an external IP address.
To set up your indicator, you first need the weigh bridge company to send or push weights via the network port (and any current port it sends it to) and you need your network company to connect a RJ45 (network cable) to the indicator and to the router. Then the IT service provider need to expose (make available) that port through the router to the outside world. We recommend using a port that is not common such as port 3002.
With this, you do not need the app in method 2. Augtool server communicates directly with your indicator. You need to plug your indicator directly into the network router for this.
Method 2 (Direct serial or network cable).
If your indicator does not have a Network port or if you are having trouble exposing your IP address and port you can use method 2. Method 2 also has a number of other benefits such as getting weights much quicker and displaying the live weight on the weigh bridge screen.
You will need to navigate to System >> Addons in Augtool and download and install the two frameworks and download the app.
When you have installed the frameworks and have run the app you will see the following screen:
This is the setting page of the app that will now connect directly to your indicator via the Serial cable or the RJ45 cable.
If you have used a serial cable (and selected the serial (RS232) type, you will need to fill our the setting to the right, in particular: Baud Rate, Handshake, Parity, Data Bits and Stop Bits. These setting can be found on your indicator under the settings (communications/com port) menu. If you cannot find the settings, you will need to give your weigh bridge company a call so that they can guide you on the indicator.
If you have used a network cable directly from the indicator into the router you can use the settings below. The IP address is the address of the local machine that is connected to the network that the indicator is also connected to.
If you have used the tellnet setting of method 2, in the device setting of Augtool, you only have to change the below settings.
Please note, if only one computer is connected to the indicator then you will only need to put the words "LocalHost" into the IP address of the Augtool Device and port 5000.
Multiple computers connecting to the indicator
If you want multiple computers connected to the Indicator then you will need to setup the Augtool IOT app on one of the computer with Tellnet or Serial and set that App HUB Port at the bottom of the app. You then run another Augtool IOT app on each computer (set it to Telnet SERVER - meaning connect via a server) with the servers IP address and Port you set in the HUB.
We recommend setting the connect on application startup and Start application on computer startup on. This will mean that whenever the computer starts, Augtool will be able to communicate with the device through the application.
After you have filled in your settings correctly, you can click on Test and then connect as below:
This screen will show you the exact string of information that your indicator is sending to the computer. This is the string that we need to understand so that we can identify stable weights out of the string. Should you not see the protocal in the previous screen for your indicator, please email us a sample string from this screen so that we can program a protocal for you.
Should you receive any scrambled text on this page, with strange icons then your settings on the previous page have not been setup correctly.
Once you can see your weights coming through in the test screen, you can then click Close and setup Augtool Device as follows:
This is the screen that needs to be open and connected to your device for Augtool to identify weights. Augtool then connects directly with this device on the computer and gets these weights that you will see here in Augtool.
If you want to use the app instead of direct tellnet, you will need to tell Augtool Device that it is not a tellnet connection but a Augtool IOT connection under the device setting.
Should you not see the weight on this screen but you do on the test screen then you need to contact Augative to assist you with your implementation.
Once you have done this and have put in the Local computers IP address into the device setting under IP address, you will be able to open a weigh bridge ticket and see the same green screen in the weigh bridge as below.
You can see above that the device name in Augtool does not match the device name in the Augtool IOT App. In this case it will give you a warning under the weight. Please ensure the weights are exactly the same.
Should you not see a weight in the green box on this screen but do see it in the app, please contact Augative to assist you with the implementation.
Other settings
Each device needs a source and target unit of measure. Should your device publish its units in Tons but your systems items are stored in Kilograms you would need to set the source to Tons and the target to Kilograms. For this you would need those two units of measure setup in your system.
We currently have a few weighbridge device protocols loaded and can simply add other protocols to understand the information that is sent from the device to us. Should protocol for your weigh bridge not be in the protocol list you will need to ask your weigh bridge supplier to send us a description of what "string" (character string) is sent from the indicator through the network cable to us. We will then add the protocol to the devices setup page so that our system can understand the characters sent to us. Please let your weigh bridge supplier know that we are looking for the Stable Weight figure of the indicator.
To test if your device is connected, connect to the device via a Telnet session using your phones mobile data or using your internet connection from outside of the network that your device is connected to. This will ensure that our server, that is not part of your private network can connect, from outside of your devices network, to it. The Tellnet session should then be established and you should see your indicators weights being pipped through the network to your Tellnet session in real time. The text you see on the screen of the Tellnet session is the text that we need to understand and read into Augtool.
After you are sure that your device is sending weights to the tellnet session, and your protocol is set on the device you can open the weigh ticket screen in a test company, not enter any details but simply click on the weight icon on a line item and see if the system pulls through a weight into the text box. Should this not work, then contact us.
The section at the bottom of the device has two important settings namely:
Requires start and end - This means that you cannot create a weigh ticket with only a start or an end weight (what some do for convenience). All weigh bridges require a truck to weigh a tare or empty weight and a loaded weight. The only time you would want to use a device without a start and end weight is when you are not weighing your product with a vehicle.
Max net weight - Some companies want to put a max weight block on any weigh ticket. This means that you cannot post or confirm a weigh ticket within the system if the truck is loaded with a net weight of more than this amount. Please note, the weight is linked to the target unit of measure set above.