Generic Serial Multimeter Software - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: RJSC
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 06:44:21 pm
content: I've hacked a serial output connection to my multimeter (don't worry, it's optically isolated).Then, looking for software for it to work on windows I've found QtDMM, which looks very nice, but it's available only for Linux ans MacOS X.I've not found anything similar (with decent functionality and looks) for windows.Do you know some generic multimeter software for windows like QtDMM?Or is anyone interested in trying to compile QtDMM for windows?It's open source and uses the Qt framework, which is available for windows.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 06:50:09 pm
content: I've been mulling over a little hobby project to build something like this. I wrote a little Windows app that does capture of one or more meters to a log file from a command line interface. I was going to make a UI for it using .NET and WPF in part to learn the technology, but it's on the back burner right now.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 07:26:37 pm
content: Quote from: RJSC on January 23, 2012, 06:44:21 pmI don't know of a generic one, but there is one for all sorts of UNI-T multimeters and one Tonghui meterhttp://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/hs_freeware/UNI-T/dmm.zip.Since UNI-T seems to change their protocols more often than others change their underwear, and the software supports the different protocols, and it supports a Tonghui protocol, too, the code might be generic enough to be adapted to other meters.The interesting thing is, the software doesn't need all that junk like .NET. The resulting binary is approx. 38K, and that includes a graphic display, plus a few K for a DLL and the Tonghui plugin. And (optionally) 30K for a special seven-segment digits font.QuoteI once had a look at the QtDMM source code because I intended to extend it for a meter I have. However, I wasn't too happy with the code. It was one of those kinds of source code where C++ was used but object-oriented principles were applied poorly. I decided against using QtDMM and instead wrote a simple command-line tool to read data from the meter and to convert the data into CSV files.BTW, IIRC the UNI-T DMM source code is also not very clean, but I never studied that code in detail. I am not too interested in Windows software.

author: RJSC
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 07:47:13 pm
content: Thanks!I guess DMM.exe is fine for me.My multimeter is a Vichy VC99 and it works perfectly with the UT61X settings (UT61B C and D all seem to use the same protocol).So, it will work with any multimeter based on the FS9922-DMM4 IC.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2012, 07:59:22 pm
content: Quote from: RJSC on January 23, 2012, 07:47:13 pmMaybe the author of the software is interested in that information.

author: RJSC
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2012, 01:05:33 am
content: Quote from: BoredAtWork on January 23, 2012, 07:59:22 pmI've sent an e-mail to the author. I hope he doesn't delete it!He has a very strict policy regarding e-mail communication as you can see here:http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/email.htmlI have never seen anyone with such a strict e-mail policy until today!

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2012, 09:34:24 am
content: Quote from: RJSC on January 25, 2012, 01:05:33 amLOL! Although half of it are the classic rules that were known by "everyone" before the commercial world, Outlook and idiots thinking that e-mail is like texting, took over e-mail. He even got soft on some old rules. 10-line footer? Hell, everything longer than four lines was considered impolite and spam in the old dayshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_block#E-mail_and_Usenet.

author: RJSC
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2012, 11:23:40 am
content: I don't use a footer, I spell check, but I can't have HTML to link an url or picture becaus it wastes a few bytes?C'mon! I don't think he's using a mail server with a 10 mb hard-drive from the 70's...

author: ejeffrey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 25, 2012, 03:11:40 pm
content: Quote from: RJSC on January 25, 2012, 11:23:40 amHTML is not necessary to include URLs. Every mail reader that supports URLs supports properly formated text URLs. However, in a plain text URL email you cannot hide the contents of URL -- this is a feature not a bug. I don't click on tinyurl links either. Including them is a waste of my time. URLs to images shouldn't be loaded by default on a non-defective mail client, and I would never load external image URLs from a not-well-known sender -- therefore it is just an annoyance, and a waste of my time. Inline (attached) images are OK, as long as they are small, and he does not prohibit them.This guy's list of requirements is just common courtesy for emailing any stranger. Perhaps his "I will delete your email unread if it fails to follow these requirements" is a bit extreme, but his requests are entirely reasonable. Obviously if it is someone you have an existing relationship with, feel free to email them animated gifs of dancing monkeys or whatever.