Powertech MS-6170 power meter and MS-6174 data logger - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: doobs
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 13, 2019, 01:37:02 pm
content: The subject items were bought in-store from Jaycar (Australia) though they have on-line product pages here:https://www.jaycar.com.au/digital-dc-power-meter-with-internal-shunt/p/MS6170andhttps://www.jaycar.com.au/usb-data-adaptor-for-dc-power-meters/p/MS6174They are marked as no longer in stock on the website, but a few still exist in the stores.They also bear a striking similarity to the Manson DPM-3332https://www.manson.com.hk/product/dpm-3332/and associated Manson data adapter DPA-3051http://www.manson.com.hk/products/detail/231(broken link).The power meterThis thing has an internal shunt for measuring current, as well as voltage and power. It is rated for 5 -60VDC and up to 20 amps (30A peak) and it powers itself off of the supply lines its monitoring. As well as sampling and displaying the voltage current and power every second or so, it saves and records samples every 30-180 seconds - ideally intended for monitoring solar panel output, IIUC. It has a micro USB output port.The data adaptorThe data adaptor functions as an interface between the power meter and a PC USB port. It came with two micro USB to USB cables, an auxiliary power cable and a mini CD containing a manual, a Windows driver to convert a USB port to a virtual COM port, and a Java program to read and write to the COM port to display the current and logged data from the power meter. Unfortunately the data adaptor only has one micro USB output port and a 2.5mm stereo phone jack for input.For my purpose, I wanted to poll the power consumption of a device, second by second using a Raspberry Pi, so had a few issues to sort out.It turned out that the micro USB output from the power meter was directly compatible with the 2.5mm stereo input socket on the data adaptor. All it required was to cut the larger USB plug off one end of the cable and attach it to a 2.5mm plug. The USB wiring is as follows:WirePurposeColor2.5mm1VBUSredN/C2D-whitetip3D+greenring4GNDblacksleeveDrain wireshieldN/CN/C = not connected.I believe the Windows USB to virtual COM port driver is from Silicon Labs:https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers.Under Windows7 there is a programProcess Explorer(from Sysinternals) where the USB device shows up as\device\silabser0and gets mapped to the COM3 port. An equivalent Linux driver is the module cp210x which has been included in the kernel source since the 3.x kernel series. Running the commandsudo modprobe cp210xloads the driver and creates the serial device/dev/ttyUSB0.POWERTECH Data Adaptor: MS 6174 V1.3This Java program simply connects to the virtual COM port and periodically retrieves the latest power settings or one or all of selective long term data logs from the power meter. I was hoping I could just intercept the commands sent on the COM3 or USB port using wireshark or something, but I couldn't figure it out easily. Instead, by connecting an oscilloscope to the data pins of the 2.5mm plug I was able to decode the bit pattern of just two ASCII commands coming from the java software:Code:GVCW\rwhich, as you might guess, Gets the latest Voltage Current and Watts. The second command wasCode:GDAT0000\rwhich retrieves all of the logged data. Data in and out are carriage return ("\r" or ASCII 13) terminated.With that info it is possible to communicate with the power meter directly via the Putty terminal emulator.The Putty serial port connection settings areCode:Port: COM3Baud: 9600databits: 8stopbit: 1parity: NoneFlow control: None (or RTS/CTS???)and in the Putty terminal settings, ensure "Implicit LF in every CR" is checked on.The same port settings also seem to work under Linux on the Raspberry Pi.Given that these items are now "out of stock", I don't expect that this info will be terribly useful to anyone

author: doobs
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 30, 2020, 09:55:18 am
content: By popular demandThe internals of the data adapter are as attached.The chip is a Silabs CP2102 DCLOTE 1217+Enjoy

author: Mattsplatt
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 30, 2020, 10:17:42 am
content: Legend! :-)Thank you.

author: PTR_1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2020, 10:58:49 pm
content: The DPM-3332 from Manson has a built in USB portAltronics still stock the Manson DPM-3232 which was what the original one you posted about was.Altronics sell Manson stuff without rebranding it. Jaycar sell Manson stuff but rebrand ithttps://www.altronics.com.au/p/n2080-manson-digital-dc-power-meter/

author: doobs
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 31, 2020, 08:08:52 am
content: Hah! That's funny. The Jaycar power meter I got also had a micro USB port, but I was misled to believe I needed the Data Adapter to recover any data. Presumably I could've just plugged it straight into a PC USB port and queried it directly with the right driver and software?? They don't tell you that on the box and they don't supply a driver or software for it either!Matt was showing me a possible equivalent adapterhttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/32972263168.html1/30th the price of the Altronics version, but maybe it isn't needed at all?Quote from: PTR_1275 on January 30, 2020, 10:58:49 pm

author: Mattsplatt
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 31, 2020, 10:41:05 pm
content: I have the older MS6170 from Jaycar, with a 2.5mm TRS socket for a data connection. Hence my interest in the data adaptor.Neither Powertech or Manson's docco seems to make it clear whether the USB version negates the need for the data adaptor. You'd hope a thing that looks like a USB port is actually a USB port. :-)

author: Jbates58
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2022, 12:10:18 am
content: So super gravedigger.But I have the ms6170 meter, and it has what looks to be a 3pin jst style connector, and the 2.5mm try on the unit itself.Is the trs just a direct serial, and I can hack a usb cable onto it and it will work? Or do I need the databox unit to get the data out of it? I'm not clear on this from reading the thread.CheersJason