In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to connect MQTT Explorer to your Nimbus808 IoT Dashboard for real-time monitoring and data visualization without the need for any hardware. We’ll walk through each step of the setup process, from configuring your broker settings to verifying live MQTT messages. Whether you’re testing a new IoT project or managing an existing Nimbus808 project, this guide will help you quickly establish a reliable connection and start exploring your data with ease.
Nimbus808 Broker Configuration
Navigate to the ‘Data Source’ page and click ‘Servers’ and click ‘Security Settings’ in Nimbus808.
Refer to the Nimbus808 Documentation for a step by step of the Server setup.
In Security Settings, enable ‘Device Credential Check’ and enter a Username and Password. If you prefer not to enter credentials in MQTT Explorer, you can leave this option as disabled.
MQTT Explorer Configuration
Install MQTT Explorer, open it, and add a new connection.
Enter a Connection Name (ex: “Nimbus808 Project”).
Enable Validate certificate
Protocol is mqtt://
Fill in the Host and Port from your Nimbus808 MQTT Broker Status information (Copy over the URL and TCP Port).
Enter your Username and Password if you enabled Device Credential Check in Nimbus808.
Optional: enable TLS/SSL if your Nimbus808 is configured for secure connections.
Click Connect to start monitoring MQTT topics and messages from Nimbus808 in real-time.
Live Simulation
Start by simulating a toggle from MQTT Explorer.
Similar to turning a digital output on and off, this will simulate an emergency stop botton.
In Nimbus808, go to Data Source – Tags – Edit
Grab the topic and Data Path here.
Paste it into your MQTT Explorer Topic.
If you are familiar with JSON format, type this script
{
“emergency stop”: true
}
In the Nimbus808 project, go to view runtime.
Then click publish in MQTT Explorer, and it’ll turn the emergency stop toggle switch on in Nimbus808.
When you publish it in MQTT Explorer, it sends a message to the broker under a topic like:
Emergency_Stop_On_Off – True if its on
and then type false to turn it off.
That confirms the toggle data is being published correctly to the broker.
Let’s test the meter readings such as voltage.
You’re going to do the same thing, grab the topic and data path from Nimbus808, paste it into the topic and script in MQTT Explorer.
Here is the JSON script:
{
“test voltage”: 12
}
Click Publish
Try changing the value from 12 to 24.
As the simulated readings change in MQTT Explorer, you’ll see the values update in real time in Nimbus808 as well.
Let’s recap what we’ve done:
- Connected MQTT Explorer to Nimbus808 using the broker URL and port number
- Simulated a toggle and meter by sending the data from MQTT Explorer to Nimbus808
- We also verified each message in MQTT Explorer and each result in Nimbus808
and we did it all without any physical hardware!
Next Steps
From here, you can explore more features in Nimbus808 like adding tags, projects, testing alarm conditions, or integrating additional devices.
Learn more about Nimbus808 and explore subscription options to start building your Iot dashboard.