SparkFun Electronics Commentsurn:uuid:214d0e4e-f1b1-d287-ce26-ac5b4c9f82492024-03-28T23:01:17-06:00SparkFun Electronicshydronics on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)hydronicsurn:uuid:1fc60a6f-41a9-63b9-af2b-45163b0fc42f2018-08-07T18:53:40-06:00<p>will this diode tester light up an LED?<p>I have one meter that can do this but haven't found another in years... at my $70 price point..</p><p>"A digital multimeter with a Diode Test function can be used to test LEDs of various colors if the DMM applies a sufficient voltage potential at the meter leads to overcome the forward voltage requirement of the LED. The Diode Test function typically applies 2 mA of current to the diode under test. This current along with enough voltage to overcome the forward bias requirement is usually enough to illuminate most LEDs."</p><p>Most DMM are around 1.5V and fall short of the 2.5-3V you really want. The literature for this multimeter under diode testing says, "Forward DC current is about 1.0mA, and backward voltage is about 3.0V." The term backward voltage is confusing... is this forward voltage? Will this light up an LED? thank you, thomas</p></p>
dbvanhorn on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)dbvanhornurn:uuid:22099866-f9be-d261-3cdd-620fa3678e5e2018-03-09T18:17:38-07:00<p>I just bought one today, and having NO luck getting it to connect with my PC.
Start gives me "open device failed".
There's a dropdown for "unit" in the top center, but it is blank.<p>No idea what's going on, but I bought it specifically to put a meter on a projector for classes.
Hopefully someone from SF will chime in here, otherwise I will have to get something different.</p><p>SOLVED!! Despite the instructions above, the software which is linked on this page is NOT the software that comes on the little orange CD with the meter. My laptop has no CD drive so I used the download link. BOTH versions of the software on the disk work with my meter. You have to manually try comports, but it does work.</p><p>Otherwise the meter looks fine, but the ONLY reason I bought it isn't working. :(</p></p>
Customer #107599 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #107599urn:uuid:f1bc67c4-3e59-f61c-0c47-129c91825c3c2017-06-26T18:43:16-06:00<p>Yes</p>
Customer #107599 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #107599urn:uuid:5d37c1dd-fc35-85d5-298b-b6c1a5a5daf62017-06-26T18:42:57-06:00<p>It's an integrated USB<->Serial adapter. You can use sigrok.</p>
Customer #107599 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #107599urn:uuid:298bd9fb-fec4-0b03-be7a-7e654d281e8d2017-06-26T18:41:47-06:00<p>Not quite. It turns out Victor_protocol is a scrambled version of FS9922. This device speaks straight FS9922, and can be interfaced with SigRok via driver-type uni-t-ut61c-ser</p>
Customer #107599 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #107599urn:uuid:df6fd7c9-e482-5916-928b-0d914311d9ff2017-06-26T18:40:55-06:00<p>It has an integrated USB<->Serial adapter</p>
Customer #107599 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #107599urn:uuid:ce6bf3d9-2f0f-a119-5acb-69e33ba8837e2017-06-26T18:40:31-06:00<blockquote>
<p>Wake me when the USB connectivity works on Linux or a Mac. I’d buy it instantly if I could interface data logging scripts to it.</p>
<p>Wake up DBC! Sigrok appears to support it as driver-type uni-t-ut61c-ser</p></blockquote>
Customer #680432 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #680432urn:uuid:2b182c54-5f29-9d29-1376-497a1a8ad9572016-12-25T23:31:52-07:00<p>I just got this as a gift, and can't get the windows software to work. Must admit it's a bit annoying. However, it's still a nice multimeter.</p>
bobdabiulder on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)bobdabiulderurn:uuid:e0a903d0-4fcb-8c4a-01c3-af31f04ad5862016-09-11T07:33:48-06:00<p>Does this have min/max function?</p>
Customer #483902 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #483902urn:uuid:4ae623ff-58dc-2956-0576-803f48965aee2015-07-24T14:02:38-06:00<p>I noticed also that if you can't get it to work with the vbscript from windows 7 when you first connect (it just hangs), then run this command. (assuming COM8)<p>powershell "$port=new-Object System.IO.Ports.SerialPort COM8,2400,None,8,one; $port.Open();$port.Close();"</p><p>It will connect to COM8 and then disconnect. For some reason that clears up the com port and is open and ready for talking to the vbscript.</p></p>
Customer #483902 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #483902urn:uuid:0e28dcbb-1ae8-0f4a-5c21-25f5dbc376662015-07-23T22:21:22-06:00<p>Here is a python script to use it on mac osx and run from command line:<p>Name it "ser.py"</p><hr><p>import serial</p><p>ser=serial.Serial('/dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART', 2400, timeout=1)</p><p>print ser.readline()</p><hr><p>You'll need to install pip and pyserial most likely:</p><p>sudo easy_install pip</p><p>sudo pip install pyserial</p><p>Then run:</p><p>python ser.py</p><p>You'll get data like this:</p><p>+0000 4?</p><p>See my other answer above about the explanation of the digits.</p></p>
Customer #483902 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #483902urn:uuid:6280d49d-c884-bfe7-7801-8ab08d7297932015-07-23T21:47:17-06:00<p>If you want to use windows, here is a vbscript to get the data from the unit: (baud rate is 2400, and com port is whatever it is on your machine, maybe COM3, who knows.. check device manager and change that part of the script..)
Also for the drivers, you can get them from here for Windows 7 64 bit (the CD included doesnt have the win7 64 support): https://www.silabs.com/Support%20Documents/Software/CP210x_VCP_Windows.zip<p>Save it as "ser.vbs"</p><hr><p>ForReading=1</p><p>Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")</p><p>Set comObj = fso.OpenTextFile("COM5:2400,N,8,1", ForReading)</p><p>if not comObj.AtEndOfStream then</p><p>Wscript.Echo comObj.ReadLine</p><p>end if</p><p>comObj.Close</p><hr><p>Then execute that from windows command line like this:</p><p>cscript /nologo ser.vbs</p><p>You'll get values like: -0271 41</p><p>The "-0271 41" result implies: -027.1 mV. The 41 refers to the digits shown and where the decimal place goes -- 4 digits and the 1 it looks like refers to mV. If the 1 is not shown, then it means volts.</p><p>For example:</p><p>"+0151 1", means 0.151 volts</p><p>"+0151 2", means 01.51 volts</p><p>"+0151 4", means 015.1 volts</p><p>"+0151 0", means 0151 volts</p><p>Explanation: 0 (no decimal), 1 (3 decimals), 2 (2 decimals), and 4 (1 decimal).</p></p>
Customer #693354 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #693354urn:uuid:5d7ac4f3-4afc-7f0f-3424-9f9de6dc711e2015-06-20T13:44:08-06:00<p>Have the Mac users succeeded using this Multimeter? Member #686974, have you gotten any "sensible data out of it" yet?</p>
Customer #686974 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #686974urn:uuid:553539ab-81d9-afca-4e47-825c13c679bf2015-06-12T07:22:10-06:00<p>On my mac it showed up as a cp2102 and if I install the usb serial driver from Silabs if shows up as a serial port is this a new version of the device? I was expecting a HID device. I will let you know if I can get sensible data out of it.</p>
Customer #685389 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #685389urn:uuid:513a0ef8-f995-efaf-1aa9-958325842e252015-05-24T08:29:17-06:00<p>If it is not OS agnostic, the so-called "USB" port is useless to me. E-mail me when it is a "real" USB port. Otherwise I think it would be a valuable instrument.</p>
Customer #149561 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #149561urn:uuid:95ac7723-0dba-9558-f0f5-43b69ef8b0242015-05-10T12:33:23-06:00<p>Is there a MAC driver available yet?</p>
greggler on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)gregglerurn:uuid:47f1363b-f748-96cf-bd77-4a1fa7b992912015-05-10T09:30:20-06:00<p>could anyone confirm if this information and linux solution for the victor70c also applies to this meter?<p>https://github.com/mvneves/victor70c
http://sigrok.org/wiki/Victor_protocol</p><p>thanks</p></p>
BradLevy on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)BradLevyurn:uuid:77f670dc-b1be-f643-2cfd-8cb41715b7c02015-05-02T19:21:48-06:00<p>I'd also like to know:
Are the AC measurements RMS?
and
Is the USB electrically isolated? If not, you could run into problems quickly measuring circuits connected to an AC line.<p>-Brad</p></p>
dbc on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)dbcurn:uuid:b7f2a982-19fd-e7e1-fe65-3fab27267ec32015-05-01T16:14:30-06:00<p>When I saw it had a USB port, I thought: "Must Buy". Then I see it has some strange driver. Well, often these devices that are not badged "USB" use an FTDI chip or one of the other USB-to-serial converters, and then squat on some random VID/PID so that they don't have to pay the USB consortium to use the logo.<p>So... I download the .rar file. And..... I find a Windows self-extracting .exe. So far in 2015, I have not had to boot Windows, and this isn't enough to motivate me. Maybe someone that buys one of these units can look at how it enumerates itself on the USB bus, and maybe try a CDCACM driver on it by associating the VID/PID. Or maybe some Windows user can poke around the same way.</p><p>In any case, the temperature probe is nice in a meter in this price range. I had to pay out for a pretty spiffy Fluke in order to get a temperature probe.</p><p>Wake me when the USB connectivity works on Linux or a Mac. I'd buy it instantly if I could interface data logging scripts to it.</p></p>
Customer #371067 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #371067urn:uuid:cc255f38-7627-9f4c-511d-85b10b2937e02015-05-01T13:06:27-06:00<p>Could someone verify the DC and AC current ranges, the above is not quite the same as the USER MANUAL, thank you</p>
bk0y on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)bk0yurn:uuid:eec89652-54c4-7874-ef18-a375627ac33a2015-05-01T12:29:12-06:00<p>The google machine gave the following link as the first result when searching for "Victor 70C": <a href="http://www.china-victor.com/english/en/product_data.aspx?ClassID=168&ID=121" rel="nofollow">link</a> Note the very stylish color scheme on the Chinese version...</p>
Customer #562416 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #562416urn:uuid:513d2d5d-745d-0c0c-6313-cb939b4161222015-05-01T11:02:26-06:00<p>232? Really?</p>
Customer #39181 on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)Customer #39181urn:uuid:32534d20-0f7f-40f6-893d-67fba094de922015-05-01T10:31:35-06:00<p>What is the resolution? Reading the manual, I get the impression that this is 3 3/4 digits. Is that correct?</p>
John Morris on TOL-12967 - USB Digital Multimeter - Auto-Ranging (RS232 Output)John Morrisurn:uuid:596663e9-54ad-7096-e5f9-712958018fd62015-05-01T10:24:06-06:00<p>Really? It clearly has an rs232 interface internally and a USB converter bolted on to cope with the current lack of serial ports on modern PCs but in 2015 a new product with closed USB drivers? Really?<p>In 2015 it should be mandatory for a new design to not only have a standard USB interface but to have a published format for the data on the wire.</p><p>And since you are supposed to be selling to people who tinker, how about expose the TTL serial interface on a header to allow it to interface to a microcontroller or your existing USB to TTL Serial interfaces?</p></p>