GW Instek equipment OK, Supplied software stinks!

[lmester]

I recently purchased some used GW Instek equipment. It came from the ITT bankruptcy. The quality of the equipment is fairly good. The supplied software is really crappy.

I purchased a GDM-8251A multimeter, GPD3303S power supply, and a GSP-810 spectrum analyzer.


The software for the GPD-3303S power supply fails with an error and won't even talk to the power supply. I used a terminal emulator  to connect to it and had no problems.

The GDM8251A multimeter software will connect to the meter.  Data logging does not allow a full path for the destination file. Also, the file name will always append a time stamp. I don't see any way to select the destination directory for the log file. I can't find any way to change this behavior. Also, some intermittent comm problems. This software is buggy and just not ready for release.

For the GSP-810 spectrum analyzer. The software fails asking for a license code. Not a big problem for me since the price was really low. I'd be really pissed off if I'd paid the full price for this instrument and then got held up for some more $$ to use the data capture software with it.

I know that Instek is not top of the line equipment. It's also not way down in the cheap Chinese junk category. A little bit of software testing would make their products look much better.

Also, I've found a hardware problem with the GPD3303S power supply. When it's fixed voltage output recovers from a short, the output has a large overshoot. It might destroy voltage sensitive circuits.

FYI, I'm testing the software on a Windows 7 64 bit computer.

Finally, What do you think about GW Instek equipment and software? Does the software suck for you? Maybe it's just some strange problem with my PC.

[tpowell1830]

According to the software instructions for the GDM8251A multimeter software, the file is saved in the folder where the software is installed. See page 21.

http://eeshop.unl.edu/pdf/GDM-8200A_software.pdf

I also found the manual if needed.

http://eeshop.unl.edu/pdf/GDM-8255AEE1_manual.pdf

Sounds like they are OK equipment with the same typical config issues as other mid priced stuff.

[nctnico]

The PC software for all test equipment sucks no matter which brand it is. The software is provided as some kind of courtesy but since it is not a source of revenue don't expect miracles. If you need good software to control an instrument either buy a package or write it yourself.

[lmester]

The PC software for all test equipment sucks no matter which brand it is. The software is provided as some kind of courtesy but since it is not a source of revenue don't expect miracles. If you need good software to control an instrument either buy a package or write it yourself.

That makes sense. There's no money in it. It's probably best just to consider the supplied software as a demo of the instrument's remote control. Not as fully functional usable software.

I've already written software for some HP equipment. I'll be doing the same for the Instek equipment. When I write it myself it does exactly what I want. There's also a 100% guarantee that It'll run on my PC   

[alm]

The PC software for all test equipment sucks no matter which brand it is. The software is provided as some kind of courtesy but since it is not a source of revenue don't expect miracles. If you need good software to control an instrument either buy a package or write it yourself.

I disagree. You could apply the same argument to manuals or customer service. Yet there are clearly manufacturers making better manuals and having better service.

For the PC-based instruments the software is obviously important to many customers. Software for some logic analyzers (e.g. Saleae) is not terrible. Same applies I imagine to Picoscope.

Windows software for some Tektronix and Agilent logic analyzers is the same as runs on the stand-alone scopes, so is quite usable in my opinion. I did not have issues with the Tek and Agilent software for AWGs either (ArbExpress, IntuiLink). Apart from the limits in the free version and range of supported instruments, BenchVue seems to get decent reviews. Tektronix used to publish a version of NI SignalExpress for free that worked with their instruments. Was decent, though with limited features.

The software I have seen from Rigol, however, ranged from barely usable to terrible. I have not used any GW-Instek software, so I can't comment about that.

Writing your own software is almost always an option, except for manufacturers that do not publish the proper documentation. I am not aware of too many commercial packages that out of the box could do data logging with these kinds of instruments. There is LabView, of course, but that is just another programming environment to develop your own software in.

[Sirswift76]

Will this MM's Frequency counter work as well as some of the basic standalone Frequency Counters on the market?

[usagi]

Also, I've found a hardware problem with the GPD3303S power supply. When it's fixed voltage output recovers from a short, the output has a large overshoot. It might destroy voltage sensitive circuits.

the overshoot problem is known. you have the later "non-gapped" design gpd-3303s which has the bug.

Finally, What do you think about GW Instek equipment and software? Does the software suck for you? Maybe it's just some strange problem with my PC.

as you stated, decent hardware. awful software. par for the course for the entire test equipment industry unfortunately.

[tablatronix]

Yeah the software is aweful but at least it has serial scpi like commands. I have told support about the 3303s issue they are good at responding but suck at followups.
The software performs its initial handshake idn gets the info from the ps but then just shoots out a non stop stream of crlfs and says waiting for response or something. Useless, there is no response for that, no command sent just newlines. I think the software is not compatible with later firmware or just bugged. Better off writing your own or making a plugin for something compatible.

I have not played with the 8251 software yet.

Let me know if you want details , maybe it will work if you can get that first part to stop using a serial redirector.

[Sirswift76]

Just spoke with tech at GwInstek about GPD-3303S; he is sending me instructions and firmware upgrade to fix issues.

[tablatronix]

I am running the latest and they sent me 3 versions of software about 3 months ago. Let me know what you find i had no luck, maybe mine is too old to perform some firmware operation/function

[tablatronix]

I just reinstalled the software on a new vm, and it works fine now, not sure if they updated it or not, but I had no luck in the past. Maybe its a driver issue.

I did notice if you are manually terminal to it, Mine expects an LF (putty ctrl+j) for newlines. Which makes no sense.