PushOver & PushBullet notifications

Native push notifications from the DragonFly

For a long time, Lunatico has used and recommended PushBullet and PushOver as convenient ways to receive notifications from astronomy equipment. Support was first added to the SOLO, then extended so that scripts could issue push messages from almost any Lunatico product.

The DragonFly now includes native push notification support, meaning the controller itself sends the alert, with no PC software required. Even if the observatory computer is off or has crashed, the DragonFly can still send a push notification to your phone the moment something important happens.

PushOver vs PushBullet

Both services work well. The key difference is that PushOver supports high priority notifications: messages that bypass do-not-disturb settings and sound an alarm tone regardless of the phone's silent mode. This makes it the preferred option for critical observatory alerts, such as a roof opening in unsafe weather or a mount left unparked when the roof closes.

PushBullet is simpler to set up and works well for lower-priority status messages. You can use either service, or both.

Example use cases

• When the CloudWatcher signals unsafe weather, the DragonFly closes the roof and immediately sends a push alert to your phone.
• If the roof begins to open while the weather is still deemed unsafe, a high-priority PushOver notification wakes you immediately.
• If the roof closes while the mount is still unparked, an alert lets you intervene before any collision occurs.
• A sensor reading crosses a threshold—temperature, humidity, sky darkness—any Automata trigger can send a notification.

How to set it up

To enable push notifications on your DragonFly, contact Lunatico support with the following information:

• Your PushOver or PushBullet user token (found in your account settings on the respective service's website).
• The email address associated with your DragonFly's ZeroConf account, which is how Lunatico links your token to your device on the cloud server.

You will also need to enable ZeroConf in the DragonFly Configurator app (Settings → ZeroConf) if it is not already active. Once Lunatico has registered your token, push notifications will work automatically, with no further configuration needed on your end.

Advanced: sending pushes from a custom script

Need to trigger a push from a custom Automata condition the native feature doesn't cover? See sending a PushBullet notification from a VBScript sensor script for the manual, code-based approach.