Hoeken's Anchor Alarm

[hoeken]

I just pushed v1.1 of my new plugin (hoekens-anchor-alarm). I spent a lot of time polishing the web app and hopefully making the UI easy to use. Its a fork of the signalk-anchoralarm-plugin, but with a ton of personalization. I figured some of my changes would be controversial, so I decided to just make a fork instead. Its good to have variety, right?

From the README:

I wanted a simple, web-only anchor alarm with my own personal UI style and some features that may be controversial (like automatic alarm cancelling if your engines are running). If you want to use an external app or API, you are probably better off using the old plugin.

Some of the changes I've made:

• Added historical tracks from the @signalk/tracks-plugin plugin.
  • I recommend setting this to a resolution of 1000ms and 86400 points to keep. This gives you high resolution data for the last 24 hours. If you've got plenty of memory, you might as well use it.
• Added a check to prevent anchor alarm from firing when propulsion.*.rpm is > 0
  • I always forget to turn the anchor alarm off and it always goes off when I'm leaving the anchorage.
  • If you're truly dragging and you have your motor(s) on, then you know about it and you don't need another annoyance when you're dealing with it.
• Lots and lots of UI improvements:
  • Added colors to the historical tracks. Green = new, fading to red = old.
  • Added a line to show distance and bearing to anchor.
  • Added wind speed / angle
  • Added plugin status
  • Changed UI to dragging anchor to set position instead of panning.
  • Removed distance to anchor from anchor radius UI
  • Added auto-guess when not anchored to speed up the anchor placement.
  • Increased the max zoom
  • Added other boats + their tracks
  • More responsive UI

Usage

This plugin is intended to be used through the web interface with a phone or computer browser. Simply point your Web Browser to http://[signalk-server-ip-address]:[port-number]/hoekens-anchor-alarm/ and you can set your anchor alarm.

The way I use this app is to anchor the boat first, then once I'm settled I will use the webapp to set the anchor alarm. This is where its good to have a high resolution on the tracks, as you can usually see exactly where you dropped the hook. Make sure to set your radius a bit bigger to avoid false alarms.

If you have engine data in SignalK (propulsion.*.rpm or propulsion.*.state) then you can enable the engine check functionality. Then, when you leave the anchorage under engine power, it will automatically end the anchor watch. Additionally, if you are dragging anchor and you start your engines to reposition, it will also disable the anchor alarm. When your anchor is dragging, it can sometimes be hectic. There's no reason to bombard you with alarms when you are aware of it and getting it sorted.

This app pairs well with some other software:

• Node-RED + Pushbullet for push notifications to your phone. Really great for when you're off the boat. Also works when you're on the boat to get an alarm on your phone.
• signalk-autostate - Simply by using the anchor app, the plugin can automatically determine the difference between moored and anchored. You can then use this to automate things like an anchor light.
• I highly recommend installing Tailscale on your devices. It makes it sooooo easy to access things SignalK and its both free and dead simple.
  

[rbagia]

I really like this Anchor Alarm because it tells me all information that i need. I have it running on my Cerbo GX and it works very well. After i reset my Cerbo i was able to get the anchor alarm running but i do not have the very nice colored track of my boat. I think i missed somethink but i checked it again and again without any luck. The Freeboard-SK Webapp have my boat track, but not my anchor alarm. I have the depth, the windspeed, the angle, the course and i have the plugin tracks installed and running...

Thanks, Rene

[bradharley]

Do you have the tracks plugin running?  Also, it does use storage, so make sure your GX didn’t run out of space. Brad Harley. — Sent from my iPhoneOn May 19, 2025, at 07:35, Rene B ***@***.***> wrote: I really like this Anchor Alarm because it tells me all information that i need. I have it running on my Cerbo GX and it works very well. After i reset my Cerbo i was able to get the anchor alarm running but i do not have the very nice colored track of my boat. I think i missed somethink but i checked it again and again without any luck. The Freeboard-SK Webapp have my boat track, but not my anchor alarm. I have the depth, the windspeed, the angle, the course and i have the plugin tracks installed and running... Thanks, Rene —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[rbagia]

Yes, I have a storage space, and also the tracks plugin running. Any other idea? Thanks, Rene Am 19. Mai 2025 14:52:48 WESZ schrieb bradharley ***@***.***>:

…

Do you have the tracks plugin running?  Also, it does use storage, so make sure your GX didn’t run out of space. Brad Harley. — Sent from my iPhoneOn May 19, 2025, at 07:35, Rene B ***@***.***> wrote: I really like this Anchor Alarm because it tells me all information that i need. I have it running on my Cerbo GX and it works very well. After i reset my Cerbo i was able to get the anchor alarm running but i do not have the very nice colored track of my boat. I think i missed somethink but i checked it again and again without any luck. The Freeboard-SK Webapp have my boat track, but not my anchor alarm. I have the depth, the windspeed, the angle, the course and i have the plugin tracks installed and running... Thanks, Rene —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***> -- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: #146 (comment) You are receiving this because you commented. Message ID: ***@***.***>

[hoeken]

Hmmm. Is there no track displayed at all? If you restart, it will take time for the new track to accumulate. Also possibly the GPS position is not updating. If you go into the SignalK data browser you can search for navigation.position and verify it is updating.

…

---- Zach Smith

On Mon, May 19, 2025, 05:52 Rene B ***@***.***> wrote: Yes, I have a storage space, and also the tracks plugin running. Any other idea? Thanks, Rene Am 19. Mai 2025 14:52:48 WESZ schrieb bradharley ***@***.***>: >Do you have the tracks plugin running? Also, it does use storage, so make sure your GX didn’t run out of space. Brad Harley. — Sent from my iPhoneOn May 19, 2025, at 07:35, Rene B ***@***.***> wrote: >I really like this Anchor Alarm because it tells me all information that i need. I have it running on my Cerbo GX and it works very well. After i reset my Cerbo i was able to get the anchor alarm running but i do not have the very nice colored track of my boat. I think i missed somethink but i checked it again and again without any luck. The Freeboard-SK Webapp have my boat track, but not my anchor alarm. I have the depth, the windspeed, the angle, the course and i have the plugin tracks installed and running... >Thanks, Rene > >—Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***> > >-- >Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: > #146 (comment) >You are receiving this because you commented. > >Message ID: ***@***.***> — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#146 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABEHSVMI4UJU5FDXYTTNDD27HVZ7AVCNFSM6AAAAABQBYKTSGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTGMJZGUYDSNA> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[Ribodo]

I am obviously doing something wrong. Running on RPi5 on SSD with openplotter signal k. Track app installed and direct USB gps installed and seen by the anchor app.

App configured in signal k and all the mandatory boxes are ticked.

I am just seeing a map with status comment "loading". Nothing else.

[Peter-Petrik]

With the 1.3.2 update, new icons and more exact GPS location on boats was introduced. This has made it much harder to click/tap on the boat icons to obtain name and distance. Often requires multiple clicks/taps to get just the right spot.

Related, I would suggest making it a configuration option to always display boat names and distances on the map.

[hoeken]

Can you upgrade to the latest plug in version? I added a path checker you can see in the plug in configuration. If that doesn't fix it, can you open the plugin web app and then open the developer tools to see if there are any errors. Copy or screenshot that here and I can debug it.

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---- Zach Smith

On Sat, Aug 16, 2025, 10:03 PM Ribodo ***@***.***> wrote: I am obviously doing something wrong. Running on RPi5 on SSD with openplotter signal k. Track app installed and direct USB gps installed and seen by the anchor app. App configured in signal k and all the mandatory boxes are ticked. I am just seeing a map with status comment "loading". Nothing else. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#146 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABEHSULF7CSH3OOYX4IVCT3N36XVAVCNFSM6AAAAABQBYKTSGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTIMJSGUYDMOA> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[hoeken]

That's a great suggestion. I'll give it a try and if it looks nice I will probably make it the default and remove the bubbles completely. Luckily my boat is in a marina rn so I can test it in a high density environment.

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---- Zach Smith

On Sat, Aug 16, 2025, 10:11 PM Peter Petrik ***@***.***> wrote: With the 1.3.2 update, new icons and more exact GPS location on boats was introduced. This has made it much harder to click/tap on the boat icons to obtain name and distance. Often requires multiple clicks/taps to get just the right spot. Related, I would suggest making it a configuration option to always display boat names and distances on the map. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#146 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABEHSXRWQCP3IWJIGPCB3D3N37VXAVCNFSM6AAAAABQBYKTSGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTIMJSGUYDQNY> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[Peter-Petrik]

It would also be great to have a setting that allows for default selection of the map display. I prefer OpenStreetMap, but the newer plugin versions default to Satellite.