Getting Started #

Welcome to the VidiMax National Weather Service integration. This guide will walk you through setting up automated weather alerts for your displays and devices. The NWS API is already built into your VidiMax system, so all you’ll need to do is create tasks that tell the system when and how to respond to weather events.

What You’ll Be Doing

You’ll create tasks that monitor specific counties for specific weather alerts. When an alert comes through, the task triggers your displays to show a weather slate and activates any devices like bells or tone generators that you’ve connected. Let’s get started.

Preliminary Tasks #

This guide assumes that your VidiMax server and client devices have already been installed and configured. It also assumes that any supporting Linortek devices, such as the Netbell-2 bell controller and Netbell-NTG tone generator, have already been properly set up and integrated into your network.

For detailed installation and configuration instructions for these devices, please refer to their respective user manuals before proceeding with this guide.

Preliminary checklist:

• Vidimax Server connected to the LAN
• Vidimax clients are connected to the same LAN or to the self-hosted LAN provided by the Vidimax Server
• Exisiting Linortek devices are online and operating on the same network segment as the Vidimax Server
  • Accessory device IP addresses are documented
  • Target Relays are identified, examples below
    • Netbell-2 relay controlling bells
    • Netbell-NTG relay linked to a specific sound
    • Netbell-K series relay controlling AIO bell.
• Custom HTML document created to display the weather alert (optional)

Step 1: Creating an Alert Slate #

Open your VidiMax server interface by entering its IP address in the address bar of the browser and navigate to the Slates tab

You’re now looking at all the slate templates that exist on your device. Add a new slate by clicking on the “Add Template” button.

You should now be prompted with the slate creation screen. The toolbar to the Left allows you to name the slate, set its notification type, edit the view using HTML, enable and enable a Timeout view.

For NWS purpose configure as follows:

• Template Name: Desired name
• Notification Type: Alert
• Html Editor Mode: On if uploading your own HTML webpage
• Enable Timeout: Select if you want the slate to disappear from displays after a set amount of time
• Priority: Desired priority level, Lower values will display over higher values
• Content Vertical Position: Center
• Background color: Desire background color if using the slate editor

Instructions for using the Slate editor:

The Alert notification allows for a single line message with the ability to bold, italicize, underline, change font size, and change font color.

Click the textbox, enter your desired message, and click the save icon in the top right toolbar.

Instructions for uploading custom HTML webpages:

Open the desired HTML file in a text editor or IDE and copy the entirety of its text. Paste that text into the HTML Code Editor, click refresh preview to ensure the webpage will display properly. Click the save icon in the top right toolbar.

Note: Ensure all CSS and JS are embedded in the HTML document.

Step 2: Create Your Weather Alert Task #

Open your VidiMax server interface and navigate to the Tasks tab. You’ll be prompted with all automated tasks on your Vidimax server. Create a new task by clicking “Add Task” in the top right of the screen.

You are now viewing the Task Builder, where you configure which weather events Vidimax should monitor and define the actions that should occur when those events are detected.

Within the Task Builder:

• Events are the conditions or alerts that trigger a task
  • Example: Tornado Warning, Severe Thunderstorm Warning, or Flash Flood Warning
• Actions are the responses executed when an event is triggered
  • Example: Displaying an emergency notification, activating a relay, triggering bells or tones

By combining events and actions, Vidimax can automatically respond to weather alerts and deliver real-time emergency notifications across your connected systems.

Name Your Task

Give your task a descriptive name. Something like ‘Thunderstorm Warning – Main Campus’ or ‘Tornado Alert – All Buildings’. This helps you manage multiple tasks later.

You can also write a brief description using the “Description” text box.

Create a Weather Event

An event element is prepopulated, click it to expand it. Click the event type dropdown and select Weather Alert

Selecting your State:

In the “State Code” textbox search and select your state.

Selecting your Local and Neighboring Counties:

Once you’ve selected your state, you can select the target counties. You may select as many counties as you’d which gives you the ability to select your own and neighboring counties.  

Example: State: North Carolina (NC), County: Forsyth, Guilford, Davidson

Selecting Alert Types to Trigger the Vidimax System:

Now choose which weather alert type should trigger this task. The dropdown menu shows all available National Weather Service alert types.

Common alert types:

• Thunderstorm Warning
• Tornado Warning
• Flash Flood Warning
• Winter Weather Advisory
• Severe Weather Watch

Pick the one that matters most to your organization. You can create separate tasks for different alert types.

The Severity Drop Down selects minimum Severity level provided by the NWS to trigger the task.

The severity attribute ranges from Unknown to Extreme, below are Severity field descriptors, select the minimal severity you’d like to target.

Configuring Actions

Actions are the responses executed when an event is triggered. They define what VidiMax should do once the specified conditions are met.

Actions allow you to:

• Send emergency slates or notifications to connected displays
• Trigger tones or audio announcements through your tone generator
• Activate relays connected to bells, strobes, sirens, or other external devices
• Signal or control any equipment wired to supported relay outputs

By combining events with actions, VidiMax can automatically deliver coordinated visual and audible alerts across your entire system.

An action field should already be present by default. To configure additional responses, click Add Action to create additional action fields. Multiple actions can be assigned to a single event, allowing VidiMax to trigger several devices or notifications simultaneously.

Sending Slates to Displays:

Expand an action field and configure as follows.

• Action Type : Slate
• Slate : enter the name of the slate you created
• Target Display: Select all the displays to alert

Activating Your Tone Generator:

Before configuring, identify the relay linked to the desired sound on your NTG. To do so access the web interface of the NTG by entering its IP address into the address bar of a browser.

Once accessed go to the Task Page. Audio file names are can be found in the Data C column P<audio_file_name>OGG. Once identified, in the same row look at data A. You should see #+ where # is the relay to be activated to play that sound.

Now that the relay is identified configure the Action on Vidimax as follows:

• Action Type: Relay
• Device: Select the NTG, If multiple devices exist identify the NTG by its hostname or IP
• Relay : Relay previously identified on the NTG
• State : ON

Activating Netbell and KODA/Fargo I/O Controllers Relays:

Before configuring actions, identify which relays should be activated by the alert event.

On the Netbell-2, determine which relay your bells are connected to by inspecting the controller terminals labeled EXT 1 and EXT 2.

• If the bells are wired to EXT 1, configure VidiMax to trigger Relay 1
• If the bells are wired to EXT 2, configure VidiMax to trigger Relay 2

The same process applies to KODA and Fargo I/O controllers. Identify the output terminals connected to your target device, then configure the corresponding relay within VidiMax.

Save and Activate

You’re done configuring! By default, you task is configured to be in use.  Click the ‘Save Task’ button at the bottom right of the form.

 If you ever need to temporarily disable a task without deleting it:

1. Locate the target task in the task list
2. Click the Edit button
3. Uncheck the Task Enabled checkbox
4. Save the task changes

This allows you to quickly re-enable the task later without having to recreate the configuration.

Example: Complete Setup #

Here’s what a typical thunderstorm warning task looks like when it’s all put together:

Task Name: Thunderstorm Warning – Campus Wide

State: North Carolina

County: Forsyth, Guilford, Forsyth

Alert Type: Severe Thunderstorm Warning

Weather Slate: Storm Warning (orange background with ‘STORM WARNING’ text)

Displays: All VidiMax clients

Bells: Outdoor bells, 30 seconds

Tone Generators: ‘Storm Warning’ message.

What happens: When the National Weather Service issues a severe thunderstorm warning for Forsyth County, all campus displays immediately show the storm warning slate, outdoor bells ring for 30 seconds, and tone generators play the warning message.

Creating More Tasks #

Most organizations create multiple tasks for different weather scenarios. Here’s a typical setup:

Task 1: Thunderstorm Warnings

Moderate response – displays, outdoor bells, tone generators

Task 2: Tornado Warnings

Maximum response – all displays, all bells, all tone generators, activate strobe light relays

Task 3: Winter Weather Advisories

Display-only – show informational slate but don’t activate audio devices

Task 4: Flash Flood Warnings

Targeted response – specific displays near flood-prone areas, no bells

Each task is independent. Set them up one at a time, test them individually, then you’re good to go.

Managing Your Tasks #

All your tasks appear in the task list on the Tasks dashboard. From here you can:

• Edit a task by clicking on it
  • Enable or disable automated task
  • Edit/Add triggering logic
  • Edit response to the event
• Delete tasks you don’t need anymore

What Happens During a Real Alert #

When the National Weather Service issues an alert for one of your monitored counties:

1. Your VidiMax server detects it within 1-5 minutes
2. The system checks which tasks match the alert type and county
3. Those tasks trigger immediately
4. Your displays switch to the weather slate
5. Bells and tone generators activate as configured

Quick Troubleshooting #

Task Isn’t Triggering

Check that:

• The task’s enable checkbox is checked.
• You selected the right state and county
• The alert type matches what the NWS issued

Displays Not Showing the Slate

Make sure:

• The displays are selected in the task
• The displays are online (check the client status page)

Devices Not Activating

Verify:

• The devices are checked in your task configuration
• The devices are online (check the device status page)

You’re All Set #

That’s the complete setup process. Create a task, pick your location and alert type, choose what happens, save it, test it, and you’re done. The system handles everything else automatically.

Your VidiMax system is now monitoring the National Weather Service and ready to alert your organization when severe weather threatens your area.