Low cost ($200) multimeter that can record data - either with a cable or SD card - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2016, 06:30:36 pm
content: HiWhat are some options for recording (non-propriety) onto a PC (Windows) (maybe CSV) with a multimeter?This one says "optionally" with cable and software but I do not know how much the cable and software costs:https://www.amazon.com/Greenlee-DM-830A-Digital-Multimeter-1000/dp/B003TO5YUU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_469_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=41jZ7xbP5wL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR174%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=09A5YJT7CAYXTRW1N3XYSo what are some of the low cost meters to get this ability? I know "low cost" is a relative term, especially to the Tesla owners, so how about around $200 ?I assume the low cost ones will be SD card, which is ok. Dave said that his new meter will have an SD. Does this mean it will record readings at certain intervals on it? (since no mention I assume no)What would be the "normal" lowest voltage I could expect to record (using the leads and without shielding) in a normal environment? Any problems with 5 mv?One more dumb question - in the spreadsheet - does "PC" mean it can record to a PC or just a firmware upgrade ?It is very hard and sometimes impossible for me to read the sheet because of the colors and I do not have Excel.TIA

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2016, 08:25:17 pm
content: You were advised before to get the Excel viewer:Quote: I cannot afford ExcelMS Excel viewer is a free download:https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10PC on the spreadsheet means it can record to PC. Often, on high-end meters, communication is bidirectional, making software upgrade possible.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2016, 08:30:37 pm
content: Quote from: Wytnucls on July 06, 2016, 08:25:17 pmOpen Office is free and does almost the same job as excel.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2016, 08:34:12 pm
content: Quote from: ez24 on July 06, 2016, 06:30:36 pmUNI-T UT61E will do it for about $50. Cable and shipping included.http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=UNI-T+UT61E

author: MosherIV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2016, 08:36:38 pm
content: HiOne of the cheap meters that has a PC link is the UT61e, though it is not recommended for working with high voltages.There are some medium to expensive meters that can log to internal memory, eg ut71d I think.QuoteAnything the multimeter can measure will be sent down the link. The pc link software will have to do the log to file.I would be interrested to find out if there are any DMM that have log to sd card as well.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2016, 08:53:44 pm
content: Quote from: MosherIV on July 06, 2016, 08:36:38 pmIf your meter has RS232 then get an Arduino with SD card adapter.

author: billfernandez
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 12:41:34 am
content: The Mooshimeter is kind of an odd duck, but it does do datalogging to an internal micro SD card and only costs about $120.https://moosh.im

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 03:44:21 am
content: Quote from: ez24 on July 06, 2016, 06:30:36 pmYes, that's the whole idea, interval data logging.

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 04:03:50 am
content: The interface kits for Greenlee meters is pretty pricey ($75-100 and up).AmazonDigi-KeyPerhaps the Brymen ones would work?

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 05:45:32 am
content: Quote from: Fungus on July 06, 2016, 08:34:12 pmOH BOY How did I miss this one? I almost ordered thishttps://www.amazon.com/Signstek-UT61E-Digital-Multimeters-Multitester/dp/B00Y0C4G9U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467868733&sr=8-1&keywords=UNI-T+UT61EBUT none of my computers have a RS-232 (serial port). So will would there be any problems with something like thishttps://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Serial-RS-232-Converter-CB-DB9P/dp/B00IDSM6BW/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467869403&sr=1-5&keywords=rs232+to+usbthanks everyone

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 06:13:36 am
content: I vaguely recall some people having issues and others not, depending on the converter used. Uni-T has a USB version, sold separately, for around $15-20. Kind of odd."Hey, we include the PC interface for free! Oh, yeah, well, uh, it requires an obsolete serial port. But no worries, you canbuythe USB version from us."It's still cost-effective, nonetheless.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 06:40:14 am
content: Quote from: ez24 on July 07, 2016, 05:45:32 amI can't comment on an individual Chinese-brand cable but that's the general idea, yes.

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 06:45:43 am
content: Quote from: bitseeker on July 07, 2016, 06:13:36 amGotta find a way to get rid of the stockpiles of serial adapters nobody wants anymore...

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 06:46:12 am
content: Quote from: bitseeker on July 07, 2016, 06:13:36 amThe UT71 series comes with the RS232 USB interface cable included. The meters can record at ten samples per second in LoRes mode, instead of one on the UT61E.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 06:58:04 am
content: My UT61E came with serial cable, and I think pretty much all UT61E multimeters come with serial cable. There's plenty of serial to usb adapter boards and most of them work with the multimeter, it uses a very simple format, the data is not encrypted in any way, it's easy.The communication protocol (data format) is very well explained in the chipset datasheet which is also available, you can just read the bits and convert that to the information you want.So if you want you can get a tiny microcontroller with uart / rs232 built in (pretty much anything from around $0.50 and up) or add a rs232 to spi/i2c chip to shove data into the microcontroller and pair it with an eeprom memory or feram or some other kind of memory and you can log days' worth of data.The only negative of UT61E is that it has only two updates a second, newer multimeters update more often.

author: MosherIV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 07:03:22 am
content: HiQuoteThe UT61e is very popular with the hobbiests and they have been moddifying it.I seem to remember some have modified the data cable.In any case, it should fairly easy to a add an infra red receiver to a usb rs232 adapter.http://blog.avrnoob.com/2014/03/uni-t-ut61e-rs232-serial-interface.html

author: ProBang2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 07:23:05 am
content: Quote from: Wytnucls on July 07, 2016, 06:46:12 amThe UT61E delievers two samples per second. Except this, you are right.

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 07:45:28 am
content: It is possible to log from 2 meters at the same time via USB with 71B and 71D models (version 3.0 software Win10 compatible):

author: guenthert
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 10:20:55 pm
content: Quote from: billfernandez on July 07, 2016, 12:41:34 amYou might want to have a close look at the specification to determine, whether it suits your purpose. Also keep in mind, that the developers had only operation via smart phone (one with reliably working BTLE stack, i.o.w. an iPhone) in mind. While it can log its data to a SD card, you need a smart phone in order to instruct the mooshimeter to do so. Support for BT LE in Linux and Windows is still poor, so that would be a bit of work.Are you looking for a portable solution? If not, there are plenty of bench DMM on eBay. The older ones can be had for a reasonable price. Those might offer connectivity to a PC (or "calculator") only via GPIB, if you get lucky you might find a not quite so old one, which (also) offers RS232. There are of course plenty of data logging tools out there too, they used to be quite expensive, but older, still perfectly working, gear can be had for less than the limit you stated.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2016, 02:53:25 am
content: Quote from: guenthert on July 07, 2016, 10:20:55 pmThanks everyone. After reading the responses, I have come to the conclusion that I do not want serial or GPIB. I have several Android tablets and I do not mind getting one for a special application. I have some good $50 tablets. So a $120 mooshy with a $50 tablet stays in my budgetIt gets good reviews (but not many)https://www.amazon.com/Mooshim-DMM-BLE-2x01A-Mooshimeter-Wireless-Multimeter/dp/B011W4L7JALooking at the end of this page I see these:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013FBA2UI/ref=pd_cp_0_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=H8EA0QCDXW1FBBJ8YBEYhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SGKR9FA/ref=pd_cp_0_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2CPVVW16CG16VR5J6Y3Yhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010Y71G1K/ref=pd_cp_0_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XTD5MXZBZMTG7JKWFJ4FSo a lot to go over

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2016, 05:04:38 pm
content: That's a neat combo. Looking forward to your review once you've had some quality time with it.

author: MadTux
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2016, 08:57:01 pm
content: RS-232 is quite slow in most DMMs I have. => few readings per second.If you get an USB to GPIB cable ($50), you can pretty much use any old HP/Agilent/keithley DMM and get much faster readings (up to ~300/s with HP 3455/3456A and ~2000 with Keithley 2000/s and derivates)

author: stj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2016, 10:22:37 pm
content: i dont know why nobody has asked the 2 important questions yet.1: what type of signal needs to be logged?2: what is the minimum sample rate / captures per second?

author: Maxlor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2016, 10:28:13 pm
content: The cheapest multimeter with connectivity I'm aware of is this one, it costs $35-$40:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digitek-DT-4000ZC-TekPower-TP4000ZC-Data-Logging-Multimeter-with-Temperature-/200912705694?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item2ec754989eIt comes with a USB cable and is supported by sigrok. It's not as hip as a mooshimeter and tablet, of course

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2016, 01:32:11 am
content: Quote from: Maxlor on July 08, 2016, 10:28:13 pmHah ! How could I not buy thishttps://www.amazon.com/Tekpower-TP4000ZC-Interfaced-Multimeter-Computer/dp/B000OPDFLM?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_tWoops that was RS-232 here is USBhttps://www.amazon.com/Mastech-MS8268-Digital-Manual-Multimeter/dp/B00SGKR9FA/ref=dp_ob_title_defLook at the link - this is also a Mastech MS8268Bluetooth and USB !Found this one at the bottom of the pagehttps://www.amazon.com/OWON-multimeter-measurement-Bluetooth-recording/dp/B01C3IQDE8/ref=pd_cp_328_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8APQQW6NP6NYEDNKJ7PRThe OWON is in the lead, wonder if it is LoBTHANKS

author: retiredcaps
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2016, 02:39:45 am
content: Reviewed by Martin ...Yes, I brought it to his attention, but I get no $$ or have any financial affiliation with amazon, ebay, Franky or Martin. I also mention the battery life belowhttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/modifying-a-multimeter-to-take-external-power-instead-of-battery/msg639170/#msg639170

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2016, 02:56:26 am
content: If you just want to see inside, this'll jump ahead:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXzAD74C5As&feature=youtu.be&t=17m57s

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2016, 03:59:06 am
content: I have both the Tekpower and the Mooshimeter. They're really different tools. Both very good in their own way.The Tekpower is an excellent value IMO. Good accuracy and features for the price (-just not mains voltage safe). The included software is pretty crude.QtDMM is much much better and works well with it - though it is Linux or OSX only. I've had it running on an old Raspberry Pi for a cheap, low power logging solution.It looks like Sigrock supports it now so perhaps that is a Window's solution..For the price, you really can't go wrong with the Tekpower.