Nightscout on the 640g - Step By Step into the Cloud

Many thanks for all the feedback on using the 640g on Nightscout. It's been great to hear those who are up and running successfully.  I've tried to respond to messages via FaceBook as soon as I can, but many thanks also for the patience of some who have requested fixes and workarounds for their particular system. I think everyone who's been in touch now has a system working at home which is really great to hear :-)

Nightscout on the 640g: all data automatically transferred from the pump, with no additional data entry

I'm working on a rewrite that should simplify the installation process [See here - this is the recommended install now!]. But as an interim "solution", here are more details of putting an installation together to run using a mobile phone and CareLink PC on the same local network (by the way, the overwhelming demand has been for this setup, working at home, particularly overnight, and in the classroom at school).

I've tried to distill the instructions down to the basics.
More detail can be found in the earlier posts on this blog.

The instructions that follow refer to a "SD card" installation. Of course, you don't need to use a SD card - for us this makes it easy to deploy and update with school etc, but you can change the paths quoted as you need to. You'll need at least a 1GB card. Plug in your SD card before proceeding. I'm assuming you're running Windows 10 (other versions will be very similar).

I've tested the instructions by reinstalling everything from scratch on a Windows 10 tablet, but it's still possible I've missed something - please do let me know: feel free to post a comment or question below, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Overview

• Plug in an SD Card (or decide on a suitable file location)
• Create some new folders
• Download a set of files
• Copy a handful of files and update them with your local parameters
• Setup your Nightscout site
• Install a handful of additional programs on your pc
• Tweak CareLink
• Test
• Enjoy!

Create Core Folders

Open File Explorer in Windows and double click on the SD Card (probably the D: or E: drive).

Click on the New Folder icon and type "AutoCSV" (without the quotes).
This is where we'll throw the data around before uploading to Nightscout

Click on the New Folder icon again and type "data" (without the quotes).
This is where we'll ask Firefox to download the CareLink CSV file initially.

Download the Github files

From your browser, go to my mmcsv640g repository and click Download Zip

Extract the zip file to your SD Card (creating a folder called "mmcsv-mmcsv640g" and subfolders)

Download Firefox (Portable)

I suggest download Firefox Portable from here, but you can go direct to SourceForge for a specific version (this is tested with v43.0.4).
Once downloaded, double click and unpack Firefox portable on your SD Card (creating a "FirefoxPortable" folder in most cases, but the exact location is not critical). You may wish to create a shortcut to the firefox.exe file on your desktop.
In Firefox, type "about:preferences" (without quotes) into the address bar. Change the Downloads, Save Files To: location to match that set above when you created the csv folder (e.g. D:\data)
Note: You can use your main (already installed) copy of Firefox instead if you wish

Download MiniMouseMacro 

Move the MiniMouseMacro executable file from here and copy it to the SD Card's root directory (e.g. D:\)

Download VirtualHere

If you plan to use Nightscout with your Bayer meter plugged into PC, for example a bedside PC overnight, you can ignore this section.

If you want the flexibility of being able to plug the Bayer meter into an Android phone (or a Raspberry Pi) and relay its signals back to a PC running CareLink you need to install VirtualHere.


Follow instructions on the VirtualHere website to download the VirtualHere Client for Windows and place it in the root directory of the SD card. Don't forget to select either the 32-bit (vhui32.exe) or 64-bit version (vhui64.exe) as required. Not sure which version you need? On Windows 10, go to the Settings app, click System, About and scroll to System type, where it will specify either 32 or 64-bit operating system.

If you want to use a mobile phone,  you need a USB On-The-Go (OTG) capable Android phone.
You'll need to find your microUSB port (invariably your charging port)

Then find a USB OTG cable to connect your Bayer meter to the mobile phone. Key words to look out for are Micro USB B/Male to USB A/Female OTG Cable.

Two (untested) examples of suitable cables are:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-tech-on-the-go-micro-usb-to-female-usb-n36qg
http://www.amazon.co.uk/aLLreLi-LIFETIME-WARRANTY-Motorola-Samsung/dp/B0064GZAIQ

Please note: in my experience, cables are manufactured with larger tolerances on connection dimensions than would be ideal: hence, my original Sony USB OTG cable fits securely, stays put; the one I bought on Amazon is a little loose (and so tends to work loose once Janki moves around).

You must, of course, also download and install the VirtualHere server for your Android Phone: you can find information here and the VirtualHere Server on the Play Store here.

Plug the On-The-Go cable, with Bayer connected, into your mobile phone (below left).
You should see the following message (below right) asking for confirmation that the device can access the USB device. Check the "Use by default" box and press OK.

 

This is how the server on your phone (below left) and the client on your PC (below right) should look with the Bayer USB meter plugged in to the Android phone's OTG micro-USB socket:

I'd recommend enabling "Auto Find Hubs" on the Client (right click on USB Hubs and follow instructions on installation and permissions to enable this option) and make sure your Windows Client can find your Android VirtualHere Server.

Create Local Copies

From the mmcsv-mmcsv640g folder, copy the following files to the root directory of the SD Card (e.g. D: or E:). Making a copy means that when you next update the mmcsv files from Github you still have your local settings retained.

mmcsv640g.mmmacro 
This defines the mouse click coordinates to initiate each upload - you might need to edit the x and/or y positions for your system. You can change these values and run the macro using the play button in MiniMouseMacro or just record your own mouse click macro from scratch using the record button. Save it as mmcsv640g.mmmacro.

config.sh
This contains default file locations and parameters, such as upload frequency, for use by the bash script. Assuming your SD Card is mounted as the D: drive it should read:
(NB Nightscout parameters explained later if you're new to Nightscout)
You need to check / update the parameters in bold below in the copy of this file
The "api_secret_hash" below is the SHA-1 Hash of your API-Secret string - to generate this, simply type in your API-Secret key into a converter, such as this one.

#! /bin/bash
# Initialising Carelink Automation
# Proof of concept ONLY - 640g csv to NightScout
#
# ****************************************************************************************
# USER SPECIFIC Working Directories - Please enter your details here
# ****************************************************************************************
# ExamplePath='/c/Data/Path' 
# NB NO SPACES anywhere here, unless you know what you're doing please - Welcome to Shell Scripting :-)
Mmcsv640gPath='/d/mmcsv-mmcsv640g' #Installation Directory for mmscv640g stack
CSVDataPath='/d/AutoCSV' # The directory you want to throw all the data around in
DownloadPath='/d/data' # Where your CSV file downloaded from CareLink will appear (select a directory that will only have one CSV file in it)
NodejsPath='/c/Program Files/nodejs' # Where Nodejs installed on your system
MousePath='/d' #Where MiniMouseMacro is installed
# ****************************************************************************************
# USER SPECIFIC Variables - Please enter your values here
# ****************************************************************************************
api_secret_hash='2ce212ef676099da17ec5aff64db0c83bf3f7b4f' # This is the SHA-1 Hash of your API-SECRET string
your_nightscout='https://yourwebsite.azurewebsites.net' #'https://something.azurewebsites.net'
gap_mins=10 # time between CSV uploads (roughly). Suggest between 5 and 10 minutes and always start higher


Selenium_Upload_Example.html
This contains an example Selenium IDE file that can be modified to use your particular CareLink details (see below)

Take a Breath

At this point your SD Card should contain the following structure (this includes optional TeamViewer setup file, which allows me to easily remotely access our CareLink PC)

There are a couple of things that need installing before we go further

Install Selenium IDE

Please download and install Selenium IDE from here. You'll need to restart Firefox after downloading. When you open Firefox, you should now have a Selenium IDE ("Se") button towards the top right of the Firefox window:

Once installed,
Click on Selenium IDE button, circled in red above.
Click File, Open, Select the modified Selenium_Upload_Example.html file from the SD Card's root directory (i.e. the copy you made earlier).
This file, please change YOURUSERNAME and YOURPASSWORD to your CareLink username and password (you can do this in any text editor or wait until Selenium IDE is installed
These only get used and sent to CareLink - they are not sent or stored elsewhere outside of this file.

Click File, Save Test Suite (I've called mine Upload_n-CSV1)

Then Click Recent Test Suites and select your file again (to reload it)

Click on the clock symbol (top right) and select Play Test Suites Periodically. Choose your repeat times to match the schedule (5 or 10 minutes probably) set in your config.sh file.

Install Git-Bash

Download Git SCM via https://git-for-windows.github.io/
Install, accepting all defaults until you get to select terminal emulator: Select
Use Windows' default Console Window

Complete the installation and close the installer.

Install nodejs

Download and install nodejs (select the latest stable version).


Before going further, as per my earlier post please start with carefully following the excellent and detailed instructions provided by Nightscout and also check CareLink is ready to go...

Setup Nightscout

To get your Nightscout website and associated database working please carefully follow all the instructions set out in the setup wiki hosted by Nightscout here.

By the end of the setup process, you should have the following up and running

• Mongo DB, with a unique DB name, user and password set
• Github to fork the main Nightscout CGM Remote Monitor
• Azure website account and website setup, including:
• Linked to Github fork of CGM Remote Monitor
• Correct connection strings, which must include the following names:
• mongo
• mongo_collection
• API_SECRET
• enable [for the plugins]

You do need to setup Care Portal to allow additional pump data, such as basal rates and bolus events, to reach Nightscout. I have my enable connection string set to "enable careportal basal rawbg iob cage bwp"
No need to enter the Dexcom settings.
No need to enable the Medtronic Connect plugin

Setup CareLink

Getting CareLink all set essentially means making sure everything works manually and is set to mg/dL*

*From version  0.75 onward, there's no need to change units in CareLink.

Follow Medtronic's instructions precisely when first attempting a pump upload.

Install Java if prompted and complete any system confirmation requests to enableMake sure you can manually upload data from the pump to CareLink.
Make sure you can manually select a CSV Report and download it.

Setup CSV-Nightscout link

Open a bash terminal window: 

Start, All Apps, Git Bash

Change to the directory where you've downloaded mmcsv640g, e.g. by typing:
cd /d/mmcsv-mmcsv640g

(NB forward slash and drive letter d/...... to get things going in the bash shell)

Once you're sure you're in the correct directory, type:
npm install

If you get an error along the lines of can't find npm or nodejs, type: 

export PATH=$PATH:'/c/Program Files/nodejs'

You might get a couple of lines of grumbling / advisories, but you shouldn't get a stream of warnings or errors.

Click!

Start Firefox and manually login and go to the Upload page.

Manually start the Mini Mouse Macro application you downloaded earlier

Record a simple macro to record you clicking the Finish button on that page. 

Save the macro as mmcsv640g(.mmmacro) in the same directory as the application (e.g. /d)

(There's an example macro in the repo, which performs two clicks, covering the location of the button on three different windows systems I've tested this on so you might find you don't have to make any changes to that one)

Automate - Check List for each Restart
Aim: Pump - CareLink - CSV - Nightscout without having to do anything

Start Firefox and maximise or set the window size and location to match that used for the mouse click macro.

Log into CareLink manually each time you restart (e.g. every few days) and check you can upload pump data and download a CSV file.

Click on the Selenium IDE icon.

File, Recent Test Suites, click on yours...

Ensure Periodic running is 'on' (look for the highlighted clock symbol)

Open a Git Bash window and type:

cd "/d/mmcsv-mmcsv640g"

./mmcsv640g.sh "/d" 

where /d is the root directory of the sd card, where you popped the updated config.sh file.

The script is now running in coordination with the Selenium Suite file you saved and scheduled earlier. If you need to stop it at any time you can click and close the Git Shell window or (nicer) press Ctrl-C. To restart after Ctrl-C, press the up arrow to bring back the text and press Enter.

If you want to automate some of the startup process, copy the StartNS.sh file to your install directory (e.g. "D:/") and double click on it to launch VirtualHere, Firefox and the mmcsv640g script. You may need to edit this simple file to use, for example 64-bit VirtualHere or a different directory.

If you want to visualise Nightscout on the same device, you need to use a different browser (MS Edge, Chrome) and position it to one side of the Firefox window:

Finally, as the system relies on a simulated 'click' on the screen, please don't open any windows that will sit over the Finish button and don't lock the screen during use. You may need to change your Power Settings to ensure the screen stays on when you close your laptop lid for example.

Please Be Careful

The same level limitation of use and caution apply as per my previous posts regarding Nightscout:

All information, thought, and code described here is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Use of code from Github is without warranty or support of any kind.

Each element of the system can fail at any time rendering the system unusable. There is no password protected privacy or security provided by these tools; all data you upload can be available for anyone on the Internet to read if they have your specific URL to view your data. 

Do not use any of this information or code to make medical decisions.

Connecting and using the Bayer meter via your mobile phone / any other unsupported device may damage your phone and/or the Bayer meter!

Although you are just replicating a conventional pump upload and report download from CareLink, automating this process may breach your User Agreement with Medtronic for the use of their CareLink site.

Finally, every time you upload to CareLink your CareLink DB (and CSV file if you use that elsewhere) becomes bloated by ~180 lines of summary information: that quickly mounts up. The long term impact of that on your CareLink data is unknown.

Update: If you've landed here looking for Nightscout on your 600-series pump, thanks for stopping by :) The simplest way to get your pump on to Nightscout is to use the 600-series Android Uploader. Enjoy!