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Data acquisiton using EXCEL

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marcosfpmoreira

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Hello,

First of all, I apologize for my English.

I have a multimeter (digital multimeter Minipa ET-2800) which can be connected to a computer (desktop) using an interface RS-232. The cable is plugged into the printer port (serial). The multimeter provides readings at intervals of 2-4 seconds.

What I would like to do is send the data from the multimeter to Excel/VB so that, every 30 seconds, the average and standard deviation of the last data are calculated and showed to the user. How can I do this ? I have no experience with data acquisition.

A second question: In the case of a laptop to be used instead of a desktop computer, how would the data acquisition by Excel/VB be made ? The connection is of type RS-232/USB.

Thanks in advance.
 
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In my experience of such meters, they use a non-standard format, so you can't simply import it from the RS232 stream.

Doesn't the supplied software allow you to export the data?, you could then import it to a spreadsheet.

A laptop is no different, if if doesn't have RS232, then a USB/RS232 adaptor 'may' let it work, but it depends on the supplied software.
 
The first thing to do is download a simple freeware serial data logger program, that just records all incoming serial bytes into a file. Some people can use Hyperterminal to redord serial data to a file but I think hyperterminal is awful to use.

Then look at the file, if the serial output from the meter is ascii text with a line break or comma delimeter you can just name that file .txt and load that file straight into Excel.
 
A software was supplied, but I want to use the Excel because I need to calculate the average and standard deviation and, with these values, a condition of system will be reported to the user. The data acquisition must be on line (real time). The information will be reported along time (average and standard deviation in function of time).

I saw in the literature that the ".DLL" files must be used for this, but I don't know how to do this.

How can I know if the serial output is ASCII ?
 
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If it were me, using a Windows machine, I would write a little program in VB or VC to read the incoming data stream and send it to the Excel workbook.
 
I have seen Excel (new versions) read data in every 30 seconds, put the data into sheets then, send data out the serial port to start the next test. I can't make Excel do that.
 
I have not looked but......Agilent commonly uses Excel to record data from test equipment. They might have examples on the www.
 
"If it were me, using a Windows machine, I would write a little program in VB or VC to read the incoming data stream and send it to the Excel workbook."

Do you know how to do this ? Could you help me ?
 
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Mr RB said:
The first thing to do is download a simple freeware serial data logger program, that just records all incoming serial bytes into a file. Some people can use Hyperterminal to redord serial data to a file but I think hyperterminal is awful to use.

Then look at the file, if the serial output from the meter is ascii text with a line break or comma delimeter you can just name that file .txt and load that file straight into Excel.
Click to expand...

As I said, I have no experience in data acquisition. I'm hoping to get help in this forum because I believe that the participants know much more than me. Which freeware serial data logger program must I use ? Where Can I find this program ?
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
In my experience of such meters, they use a non-standard format, so you can't simply import it from the RS232 stream.

Doesn't the supplied software allow you to export the data?, you could then import it to a spreadsheet.

A laptop is no different, if if doesn't have RS232, then a USB/RS232 adaptor 'may' let it work, but it depends on the supplied software.
Click to expand...

I do not know if this is relevant information, but the software supplied with the multimeter can save data to a file type. "xls". Can this be an indication that the incoming data on the computer are in a pattern that can be understood by Excel / VB?
 
The ones I've messed with looked confusing at first, but were actually sending segment data. That is, they sent which LCD segments were turned on.
 
upand_at_them said:
The ones I've messed with looked confusing at first, but were actually sending segment data. That is, they sent which LCD segments were turned on.
Click to expand...

I presumed segment data (as one thought), but I could never figure it out :D

Nice to hear that someone else has succeeded with it.

I might try again one day - seeing as the existing software no longer works under Vista (in one case) and Win7 in the other.
 
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