-
#1125 Reply
Posted by
skyjumper
on 02 Oct, 2018 21:05
-
Thanks! I see they charge $23 euro (about) to ship to the US via some insured / tracked method. Does anyone else sell these?
-
#1126 Reply
Posted by
GeoffreyF
on 02 Oct, 2018 22:36
-
I have noted that the 121GW goes "in stock" in lots of 32 units. These units are usually sold within a week. Just keep checking every couple of days and keep that credit card handy. Check on the site too because (if memory serves) they ship on Tuesday and Thursday (australia time). I got my meter in the Boston, MA, USA area about 5 days after shipping, which is pretty good. This was a few weeks ago and so this is a fairly up-to-date description of the process.
-
#1127 Reply
Posted by
skyjumper
on 03 Oct, 2018 04:52
-
I have noted that the 121GW goes "in stock" in lots of 32 units. These units are usually sold within a week. Just keep checking every couple of days and keep that credit card handy. Check on the site too because (if memory serves) they ship on Tuesday and Thursday (australia time). I got my meter in the Boston, MA, USA area about 5 days after shipping, which is pretty good. This was a few weeks ago and so this is a fairly up-to-date description of the process.
Yippie, they are back in stock! Order placed, thank you! Dave could use a US based distributor though...
-
#1128 Reply
Posted by
Yannik
on 03 Oct, 2018 16:34
-
Is it really impossible to have the backlight on by default? It's pretty annoying to turn it on by hand everytime you use the meter.
-
#1129 Reply
Posted by
TikhonovC
on 03 Oct, 2018 20:12
-
Yes,
I would like the multimeter to remember the last state of the backlight.
-
#1130 Reply
Posted by
Kim
on 05 Oct, 2018 14:39
-
While we're on the subject of the backlight, how about an option to light it up along with (or instead of) the beep in continuity test mode? It's a small feature that would make a big difference to people with hearing loss, or just for when you're trying to troubleshoot a dicky connection without annoying everyone else in the room.
(Received my 121GW last week, really liking it so far.)
-
#1131 Reply
Posted by
Brumby
on 06 Oct, 2018 02:14
-
That would be useful for people with hearing loss or just someone working in a very noisy environment.
Well, I don't have a 121GW yet, so I can't comment, but the BM235 flashes the backlight in continuity mode - and it does so whether the backlight is off or had been turned on. (Yes, I have a BM235).
If the 121GW doesn't have this feature, I would like to see it implemented. The option to switch off the beeper is one I would be guarded about. That is a setting I would want to have automatically reset at switching off so the next time I turn the meter on, I don't interpret silence as a lack of continuity.
-
#1132 Reply
Posted by
GeoffreyF
on 06 Oct, 2018 22:40
-
I think that actually there should be an option for the beep to transmit the readout and state in morse code. Blind people could then work with high voltages too. Anyway, that's the kind of thing Brumby would want.
-
#1133 Reply
Posted by
Brumby
on 07 Oct, 2018 02:33
-
I'm not advocating such stupidity, so don't dump this crap on me - OK? You are just being childish. Or is this another case of "I'm not a member of the club, so my opinion is offensive"?
This is not something I've dreamed up. It's already been implemented in other meters. If you want to properly consider the use case for backlight being used with continuity, then check out the discussion on this exact point with the BM235.
-
#1134 Reply
Posted by
dcac
on 07 Oct, 2018 12:34
-
That would be useful for people with hearing loss or just someone working in a very noisy environment.
Well, I don't have a 121GW yet, so I can't comment, but the BM235 flashes the backlight in continuity mode - and it does so whether the backlight is off or had been turned on. (Yes, I have a BM235).
If the 121GW doesn't have this feature, I would like to see it implemented. The option to switch off the beeper is one I would be guarded about. That is a setting I would want to have automatically reset at switching off so the next time I turn the meter on, I don't interpret silence as a lack of continuity.
You’re quite right it would be a useful feature and it would also be nice if it was made a configurable option in the setup. But UEi will probably be focusing on bugfixes for quite a while though - before implementing new features. But perhaps it is possible to hack/modify the firmware to achieve something like this.
-
#1135 Reply
Posted by
Visitor
on 07 Oct, 2018 17:22
-
Does anybody know if there will be an option to NOT store the last settings of the functions?
-
#1136 Reply
Posted by
Bratster
on 07 Oct, 2018 17:24
-
Does anybody know if there will be an option to NOT store the last settings of the functions?
That is sorely needed IMO.
Sent from my Fi Moto x4 using Tapatalk
-
#1137 Reply
Posted by
CDaniel
on 07 Oct, 2018 19:46
-
Many little features can be added , but there are some important ones not very good implemented .
For exemple capacitance measurement has low resolution , only 3 digits 1000 counts , so for 220nF you can't see anything extra . And very , very slow autoranging in comparison with other multimeters. HY3131 is capable for more performance
-
#1138 Reply
Posted by
Visitor
on 08 Oct, 2018 07:18
-
You are right.
The ultra slow autoaranging ist the second big mistake after the ugly battery holder.
Every 30$ China crap is at least 2 times faster.
-
#1139 Reply
Posted by
Seppy
on 09 Oct, 2018 00:07
-
Nope, doesn't do ESR, you would need an LCR meter.
-
#1140 Reply
Posted by
CDaniel
on 09 Oct, 2018 18:36
-
We don't want ESR , but could we get in near future a rework of the capacitance measurement ?
1 . More resolution , 3digits 1000counts for lower ranges is too low , even the entry level meters in these days have 4000-6000 counts for capacitance . The chipset HY3131 is for sure more capable .
2 . Bargraph if possible
3 . Improved autorange speed
4 . I don't think the firmware has the feature "discharge capacitors" implemented . Anyway when you connect ( by mistake ) a charged capacitor the display should show "discharge" or something while performing this.
Maybe someone could add more to this list
-
#1141 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 10 Oct, 2018 02:15
-
Many little features can be added , but there are some important ones not very good implemented .
For exemple capacitance measurement has low resolution , only 3 digits 1000 counts , so for 220nF you can't see anything extra . And very , very slow autoranging in comparison with other multimeters. HY3131 is capable for more performance
We'll add it to the list to be looked at.
-
#1142 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 10 Oct, 2018 02:21
-
The backcover om my 121gw is a very tight fit and would never fall off by it self - so I just don’t tighten the two screws at all if I’m doing any logging.
I don't understand the fuss over the SD card access. It is the way it is for compliance reasons.
If anyone is using the data logger function so often that the access is a problem then I suggest you get a real data logger with convenient data access and/or transfer.
The SD card was designed for firmware updates that could also be used as a data logger at a pinch if needed. You wouldn't buy this meter to replace a "data logger", that's not it's job.
-
#1143 Reply
Posted by
dcac
on 10 Oct, 2018 09:50
-
Logging to a SD card is a very nice feature on the 121gw, and even if getting access to the card - does not take that much time - I can understand people leaving the backcover off completely if they know they soon going to pull that card anyway. And still with the backcover off - pulling and mounting the card in the holder is a bit fiddly so sooner or later you probably end up breaking the holder as there’s no guides or anything to protect it.
All this could be solved with a function to dump the log file over the Bluetooth interface, you’d think that shouldn’t be too hard to implement, I mean there’s already a function to view and step through the log on the meter.
-
#1144 Reply
Posted by
chronos42
on 10 Oct, 2018 16:00
-
Hi,
I agree, access to the SD card filesystem (readonly is sufficient) via bluetooth would solve all these discussions. That should be possible with this ARM processor that is build in the meter.
-
#1145 Reply
Posted by
chronos42
on 10 Oct, 2018 19:13
-
Hi,
This is indeed slow, but I assume the logging data transfer is synchronised with the ADC sampling and would be faster with a datatransfer from the SD card?
-
#1146 Reply
Posted by
Seppy
on 15 Oct, 2018 00:15
-
Hi,
This is indeed slow, but I assume the logging data transfer is synchronised with the ADC sampling and would be faster with a datatransfer from the SD card?
Well, I'm not so sure. They write to the SD card much faster than they send the data over BLE. They have even slowed down the BLE transfers compared with the early firmware versions. I assume they were trying to improve reliability by going from ASCII to binary, reducing the payload and then slowing it down but I'm not sure. The meter can certainly update faster than 2Hz so I don't believe it would speed up if they were doing a data transfer.
Again, I am not suggesting it could not be done only that from what I see, it appears throttled like Barbie's Mustang and not Grind Hard Plumbing's version.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCivi_f1nniBzEOfKhRoN12Q
Your speculation is accurate for the most part.
We might be able to improve BLE speed now that we have reduced the packet size. But, we have some outstanding issues that will take precedence so it could be a while before this change occurs (if its possible).
-
#1147 Reply
Posted by
nealz
on 16 Oct, 2018 02:16
-
Does anyone know where I can get a magnetic hanger for the 121GW meter? I say some posts on the forum that mentioned compatible with Klein hangers but I found a few different styles/models.
If you know of a confirmed compatible hanger please let me know.
Thanks
Neal
-
#1148 Reply
Posted by
Seppy
on 16 Oct, 2018 06:21
-
There is a fair bit of overhead sending that one byte packet.
There were other motivating factors also which included differences in implementation for BLE on different platforms. Some platforms have a longer buffer than others and it needed to come in one packet.
The number of platforms this device supports was also a factor in the reduction of the packet size.
-
#1149 Reply
Posted by
FrankBuss
on 16 Oct, 2018 06:49
-
The max payload for a GATT Characteristic, which can be sent in one physical BLE packet, is 20 bytes. Once I implemented the
nRF UART protocol on a Silabs Blue Gecko, with a length of 20 for the TX and RX characteristics, and with a stress test I never lost a packet from the device to the PC (running a Python script with bluepy). So I assume it is good to have a packet size of 20 bytes or less, but wouldn't make sense to limit it to a smaller size. Each physical packet has a CRC checksum (additional bytes, not part of the payload) and a packet is either received fully or not received at all.
I guess there can be problems, if you set the length of a GATT Characteristic to more than 20 bytes, because then the underlying BLE implementation has to split it in multiple physical packets.