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| Community Bench Meter |
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| charliex:
ARM GCC is a lot better now, since ARM paid for it to be fixed/upgraded since it was absymal. How about a PSOC ? While i agree you don't need much of a uC to run it as is, it'll allow more room for growth. If its C then the differences aren't as difficult to overcome. |
| Thermal Runaway:
--- Quote from: GeekGirl on January 30, 2010, 01:48:20 pm --- I think that we need to cull the list and not make this project a tool for every situation. I am not sure, but I am sure that in the next few days I will make a list and description of every idea so we can work out what we REALLY want in this product. --- End quote --- I agree. Most of the things mentioned would be really cool to have on a meter actually, but it's probably better to get a decent system working first then worry about cool extras at a later time. That's what new versions are for. Someone else mentioned handheld. I have to agree - I'd prefer a handheld project meter as well. Mainly for selfish reasons, in that I already own a really cool and accurate Agilent bench meter which in all fairness would really take some beating. I guess there are some extra features that could be added to it, but the features it *does* have are pretty much perfect. Handheld... well I have quite a nice Fluke meter but... I dunno I think it could be improved quite easily. I don't think any one manufacturer has totally nailed the handheld market yet. With regard to compilers, if it is decided that the PIC route is the way to go, then I would recommend the BOOST C compiler. It's not the *best* compiler in my opinion (that award goes to Hi-tech PICC), but it's certainly the best bang for buck. Even the professional version is well within most people's budgets. I used to use Hi-Tech but found that it was priced outside of my range for my hobbyist stuff. So I've recently moved to BoostC. Brian |
| jahonen:
BTW, This looks attractive for a DMM, a 24-bit ADC with ARM7 µC (however no personal experience on this chip): http://www.analog.com/en/analog-microcontrollers/analog-microcontrollers/aduc7060/products/product.html Like NXP ARM7's, this one too has an integrated boot loader, so programming can be done just with level-translated RS232, even without any software pre-programmed. Nice thing about sigma-delta ADCs is that by setting the modulator rate correctly, you can get a very good rejection of 50 and 60 Hz mains-borne noise. Good for DC- and rectified AC-like (like measuring output of that true RMS converter) measurements. I agree that feature list needs to be prioritized to "must have", "nice to have" and "not needed" features. Otherwise this will not lead to anything :) Feature creep is very much poison to the product development, especially on the HW side, where a seemingly small change can cause a major re-design. Regards, Janne |
| EEVblog:
--- Quote from: Mastro Gippo on January 30, 2010, 12:58:41 pm ---http://www.polycase.com/item/vm-36boot.html this looks nice and cheap. I would like a handheld multimeter, not a bench one... --- End quote --- For a bench meter, you could do worse than this one: http://www.polycase.com/category/zn-series.html A stackable bench instrument case. Dave. |
| EEVblog:
--- Quote from: Brian Hoskins on January 30, 2010, 05:19:55 pm ---With regard to compilers, if it is decided that the PIC route is the way to go, then I would recommend the BOOST C compiler. It's not the *best* compiler in my opinion (that award goes to Hi-tech PICC), but it's certainly the best bang for buck. Even the professional version is well within most people's budgets. I used to use Hi-Tech but found that it was priced outside of my range for my hobbyist stuff. So I've recently moved to BoostC. --- End quote --- If you went PIC then you'd need a good reason the stray from the free Microchip C compiler. Sure it's one of the most inefficient on the market, but hey, it's free (optimizations crippled only) and available to everyone. You almost certainly wouldn't need a top quality compiler for this project (with the huge Flash sizes available these days), just something that works. But everyone can fight over processors choice until the cows come home, that's why I'd be looking at Arduino actually. It's fast enough, all tools are free, and adds a more "community" feel to the project I think. But it's not the best choice if you want ultra-low optimized power consumption. But that might actually be a reasonable trade-off. Dave. |
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