Hello,
I made a simple arduino interface to BK Precision e-load. I own a 8510, hopefully it will work for the complete 85xx serie (8500, 8502, 8510, 8512, 8514, 8518, 8520, 8522, 8524 & 8526)
It simply outputs the display values (voltage in mV, current in 0.1mA, power in mW) in plain ascii. (cf. Arduino source in bk85xx.zip)
You can log data on a PC with a Hyperterminal-like software (e.g.
https://sites.google.com/site/terminalbpp/) and save the data to a .csv file.
cf. the Terminalbpp and excel attached screen captures).
I just made it in a couple of hours, it hasn't been very well tested, so take it as-is.
The default sample time is about 1000ms. You might want to change the delay() value in the loop function but below about 200ms it think it will be too fast for the 9600 baud uart interface (see logic analyzer screen captures to have an idea of time response).
The time is displayed in ms with a 32 bit interger, so you cannot log more than 49 days... but I don't think a software will run this long on a PC without a problem...
To interface the BK e-load, I use a software uart on pins D7(Rx) and D8 (Tx), it can be moved on any available pins on the Arduino board (except D0 an D1 used for the uart-to-USB interface).
I didn't bother verify the checksum in each received frame, but if somebody minds to do it, I would be happy to have the code.
Also, it would be nice to have a command interpreter to set the e-load parameters, but, hey, it is easier to do it on the instrument itself.
Please tell me if this has been useful.
Manu