logging current over a 24 hour minimum period

[supermotolew]

Morning all !

New here first post im a newbie in electronics but mechanical engineer by trade .

I have a application where I need to log the mA draw over say at least a 24 hour period as frequently as possible. Would a logging multi meter suffice enough memory ? Can I get a pc version I could get to save to a flash directly ?

Thanks in advance for your help !

 

[GPG]

EG:

http://www.yoctopuce.com/EN/product...019t-vPVUfeSTmjIhFbMQ5RRw2ldsd_lQgxoCjuTw_wcB
What range? There are others.

 

[supermotolew]

Thanks GPG do you have one ? is there any windows gui for it ?

 

[GPG]

Never seen one. Looks like it comes with SW for a number of platforms. Enquire at site.

 

[hevans1944]

Morning all !

New here first post im a newbie in electronics but mechanical engineer by trade .

I have a application where I need to log the mA draw over say at least a 24 hour period as frequently as possible. Would a logging multi meter suffice enough memory ? Can I get a pc version I could get to save to a flash directly ?

Thanks in advance for your help !

Welcome to Electronics Point!

Do you have a budget? What interval do you want to record current readings? "As frequently as possible" is not a specification. Specify samples per second, or samples per minute, or samples per hour, or samples per fortnight. Specify the rate at which you want to acquire samples. What is the required resolution of each sample? Is it one mA, or some fraction of one mA, or tens of mA? What is the required accuracy of each measurement? Is the accuracy specified as a percentage of full scale or as a percentage of reading? What is the smallest reading to be acquired? What is the largest reading to be acquired? If recording is "at least a 24 hour period" what happens after 24 hours?

A logging multimeter may suffice if it has enough memory and takes samples quickly enough. Most logging multimeters will interface to a PC, although it may not be as "easy" as plug-and-play. Do you have a particular logging multimeter you are considering? What is the most you want to spend? How soon do you need it to be available and operational? Is time of the essence? Do you have purchase authority or must a "solution" be passed up the "chain of command" for approval?

Looking forward to your answers to these questions.

Hop

 

[supermotolew]

Thanks Hop . no problem
I would say budget is £200 I would like to log 1 second intervals max over 24 hours. If I can log longer or faster great . but those are my minimum requirements . Could probably work within a few milliamps I expect the draw to vary from 10mA to 450mA .

hopefully this helps a little more .
if it boils down to it I prefer bench meters over hand units and I always have a pc on my workbench too .

 

[hevans1944]

Here is a bench type multimeter with 4-1/2 digits resolution, 4000 mA DC current range, RS-232 computer interface, free software, and a $200 price tag. Not saying this satisfies all your requirements, but it does measure up to 4000 mA with 1 mA resolution at one second intervals. You can download the software from the website to see if it meets your requirements, or write your own simple data-logging program for the ASCII-based RS-232 interface. I would imagine you will also need to purchase an RS-232 to USB converter, since most modern computers have done away with serial communication ports.

You can find other multimeters with a computer data connection on this Google page.

Hop