First startup and configuration of the new AquaShield device

This is a short guide how to start-up and connect your AquaShield device to your local WIFI network and our AquaShield Cloud (my.aquashieldcontrol.com). There are basically two methods both of them will require a little handcraft, but don’t be scared we are sure you can do that especially with this guidance bellow. For both metods you will need a cable (lan cable) connection to your home router to the AquaShield unit.

As you probably know by now, that the brain of our control unit is a Raspberry Pi. To let it connect to your WIFI you need to set up your WIFI network username and password, after that you can do everything with your AquaShield unit trough the WIFI network. The first method is probably easier if you are not familiar with IP addresses and routers admin settings, but you need a bit more dis assembly of the cover of the AquaShield unit.

So let’s start your journey to grow awesome plants and beautiful and/or very tasty fishes 🙂

Method 1 – via cloud connection

In this method you will reach your AquaShield unit via our cloud server for the first time to set up the WIFI connection. For this you need to connect a LAN cable your AquaShield unit (Raspberry Pi mounted as normal). The LAN connector is only accessible if you remove the side panel of the Control Module (CM).

What you will need:

• LAN cable

1. Connect the LAN cable to the Control Module (CM).

• make sure that the unit power is OFF
• remove the cover from the CM module (fixed by 4 screws)

• check that no LED-s are fleshing on the board to make sure the power is off
• remove the side panel of the CM module (held by two screws)
• connect the Raspberry Pi on the CM with a LAN cable to your home router

2. Restart the unit

• econnect to power supply
• check if LAN connector green and yellow LEDs are blinking (to indicate active connection)

3. Register your account in AquaShield cloud

• https://my.aquashieldcontrol.com/login
• Register a new user

4. “Initialise” new device 

After successful registration or log in you will see any “non initialized”, but active device in your local network. (you will see devices that are connected to the same home router as your laptop does)

Click “Initialise” and if the initialization is successful the device should go to under “My devices” and you should see the following:

• local IP address – the IP address that your home router allocated to the device via the cable(LAN) connection

5. Set up WIFI connection in local mode

• either click on your device “Local IP” or type in in the browser address line
• go to “Connection settings” page ( please note that this page is not available on the my.aquashieldcontrol.com surface only via the local IP address)

Here you can choose the WIFI network you want to use and enter the password for that network. You can choose from the networks in the drop down list and it will automatically fill the SSID filed. (TIP – if no item in the drop down list refresh the page). After you typed your password click “I’m done, save settings” button.

Once the connection status indicate successful connection you can just click to the name of the WIFI network and it will navigate you to the AquaShield dashboard via the WIFI IP address.

Please note that in this moment your Raspberry has two different local IP addresses. (one with the cable connection and one with the WIFI connection) In the future you will use the WIFI connection so please remember your WIFI IP address, this is one way you can reach your unit in the future. 

Any time you can check the local IP address of your AquaShield, if you go to https://my.aquashieldcontrol.com/  and go to the Devices page.

6. Disconnect LAN cable, restart AquaShield unit and remount the cover of the CM

7. Double check https://my.aquashieldcontrol.com/ if the device is still online

Method 2 – via local connection

In this method you will remove the Raspberry Pi from the AquaShield, set up separately and insert it back. This method requires you to fetch the IP address that your home router allocates to the Raspberry PI.

What you will need:

• LAN cable
• USB C type cable (the symmetrical one) with 5V supply (phone charger)
• access to your home router (username and password)

1. Remove the Raspberry from the Control Module (CM).

• make sure that the unit power is OFF
• remove the cover from the CM module (fixed by 4 screws)

• check that no LED-s are fleshing on the board to make sure the power is off
• remove the Raspberry Pi (green board) gently. It is held by the pins (GPIO) on the bottom of the board, no additional screws or pins.

2. Connect the Raspberry PI to your home router by a LAN cable

• connect the Raspberry PI LAN port to the router’s LAN port (be careful not to exchange the WAN connection to this cable)
• power the Raspberry PI with the 5V USB C type power supply

Both of the connections are unique shaped you can’t plug tem to a wrong place.

• check if the red power LED, the green SD card access LED and the YELLOW/ GREEN LAN port LEDs are flashing

3. Get the local IP address of the Raspberry PI

If you reach this point you already GREAT, but bear with me because this is probably the most geeky procedure that you will need to do with your AquaShield.

You need to enter to your home router dashboard and check the local IP address of your Rasberry PI. The way of entering to the home router dashboard either described in the router manual or you need to figure out your “default gateway”. The default gateway is the IP address of your router and basically the same as the IP address of your device, but the last group of digit is 1. (ex.: if your IP address is 192.168.0.101 the default gateway is 192.168.0.1). To find out your default gateway please Google “How to find my default gateway” here I describe for Windows 7 / 8 / 10.

• Access your Command Prompt by clicking on Start and then searching for “cmd“ 
• After opening the Command Prompt, type ipconfig and hit the Enter key.
• You will see your default gateway listed next to Default Gateway (if you use WIFI connection look for “Wireless Lan adapter”)

Now type this IP address to a browser. The router admin page should come in and probably it will ask for username and password. The factory default user and pass you can find in the router’s user manual, but usually it is admin/admin or user/admin. From here all the router are a bit different. But generally you need to look for the DHCP / Client list.

4. Set up your AquaShield device for your home WIFI network

Hooray, you are about to see the AquaShield dashboard in the first time. You need enter the local IP address into your browser, that you just found out. If you see the dashboard go to the hamburger menu on the top right corner, open it up and look for the “Connection settings”

Here you can choose the WIFI network you want to use and enter the password for that network. You can choose from the networks in the drop down list and it will automatically fill the SSID filed. (TIP – if no item in the drop down list refresh the page). After you typed your password click “I’m done, save settings” button. Then at the Cloud connection settings the second line will indicate the connection status of your unit.

Once the connection status indicate successful connection you can just click to the name of the WIFI network and it will navigate you to the AquaShield dashboard via the WIFI IP address.

Please note that in this moment your Raspberry has two different local IP addresses. (one with the cable connection and one with the WIFI connection) In the future you will use the WIFI connection so please remember your WIFI IP address, this is one way you can reach your unit in the future. You can find the WIFI IP address in the address line of your browser after you clicked the WIFI network name at the Cloud Connection Settings. 

5. Put back your Raspberry into the AquaShield CM module

It is important to shut down the unit all the time if possible before remove the power from the unit. Top right hamburger menu and Shutdown.

• Unplug the power supply and the LAN cable.
• Mount back the Raspberry PI on the top of the CM. Pins are facing down. You can fit only one orientation, but please make sure that the pins are all aligned with the connector. It is very easy to slide a bit sideways. Check if all the pins are going into a hole.
• Connect 12V power to your AquaShield CM and check if the red and green LED lights are blinking on the Raspberry PI module.
• Mount the cover back

Great you are ready to connect your unit to the cloud or use it in local mode if you wish. (although we don’t recommend this).

6. Register your account in AquaShield cloud

• https://my.aquashieldcontrol.com/login
• Register a new user

7. “Initialise” new device 

After successful registration or log in you will see any “non initialized”, but active device in your local network. (you will see devices that are connected to the same home router as your laptop does)

Click “Initialise” and if the initialization is successful the device should go to under “My devices” and you should see the following:

• local IP address – the IP address that your home router allocated to the device