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Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

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    Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

    Good day folks. The time has come for me to get my first clamp meter and I chose the fairly decently priced UT210E. I'm pleased with my overall experience with it so far - it's definitely more than enough for the light usage I'm putting it through. It's not my main meter (I have like 3), so I only wanted it for the clamp feature TBH. It's not my go-to for quick everyday measurements, though I don't see why it can't be.

    Anyway, I also read that they're pretty hackable to unlock or modify some features it doesn't come with out of the box, which is right up my alley.
    Some of you may know that I brought about this discussion in another post of mine, about measuring the current draw of power windows in my car, but didn't want to digress too far from the original topic, so I opened up a separate thread on this very topic. People have been kind enough to provide resources and even hex codes ready to go, which I might try out as I go (why not - there's some interesting stuff there), however the feature I've been interested in in a meter ever since I got my hands on one as teenager but never seem to get is a proper HOLD function. I want the meter to store the highest value it read and actively update it if I get a spike or surge for instance...you know what I mean. With every one I got so far, the HOLD button just freezes the display regardless of the value and this one is no exception. Some meters seem to get it right, but they're either very expensive or don't measure DC amps. The A and B models of this meter do have such feature for instance, but lack the DC current feature...I reckon it may be possible to implement it.

    I had a look at the datasheet for the chip inside, which is a DTM0660 and looking at the schematic on page 17, the MAX/MIN button is connected between pins 23 and 26. I doubt simply connecting them together is enough to activate the function....or is it ? I reckon the chip doesn't know what to do in that case, so would this require altering the EEPROM or something ? People talk more about unlocking more fancy features like IR communication or increasing the range, but for now I only care about small details like having a bloody MAX function Cheers guys. Thanks for the help.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by Per Hansson; 04-10-2018, 01:07 PM. Reason: Title fixed
    Wattevah...

    #2
    Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT201E

    first step is dump your eeprom.
    then i can talk you through the many options.

    btw, if you solder some thin wires in it you can try the missing buttons - it's a matrix.
    K5: hold/lamp int1, pt1.5/eeprom-sda
    K1: select(yellow) int1, pt3.5

    K6: max/min int1, pt3.7
    K2: range int0, pt3.7
    K3: rel/rs232 int0, pt1.5/eeprom-sda
    K4: Hz/duty int0, pt3.5

    int0:pin24
    int1:pin23
    pt1.5:pin19
    pt3.5:pin31
    pt3.7:pin26

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT201E

      I shall, though I'll replace the chip entirely like I always do when messing with EEPROMs so the original stays safe Probably overkill, but my buddy killed one before when he overheated it and a stubborn leg refused to let go of the PCB and broke off at the corner as if the package turned into rubber....
      Wattevah...

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT201E

        Do you know what meters have this chip in them ( DTM0660 )
        9 PC LCD Monitor
        6 LCD Flat Screen TV
        30 Desk Top Switching Power Supply
        10 Battery Charger Switching Power Supply for Power Tool
        6 18v Lithium Battery Power Boards for Tool Battery Packs
        1 XBox 360 Switching Power Supply and M Board
        25 Servo Drives 220/460 3 Phase
        6 De-soldering Station Switching Power Supply 1 Power Supply
        1 Dell Mother Board
        15 Computer Power Supply
        1 HP Printer Supply & Control Board * lighting finished it *


        These two repairs where found with a ESR meter...> Temp at 50*F then at 90*F the ESR reading more than 10%

        1 Over Head Crane Current Sensing Board ( VFD Failure Five Years Later )
        2 Hem Saw Computer Stack Board

        All of these had CAPs POOF
        All of the mosfet that are taken out by bad caps

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT201E

          there is a big list on the russian forum.
          i think it's kazus

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

            There is lots of info about hacking this on eevblog.

            https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testge...-uni-t-ut210e/
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            Comment


              #7
              Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT201E

              Ok, here's what I grabbed off the chip...hope it's all good

              UPDATE: just noticed the main IC is a DM1106EN....haven't looked up a datasheet yet.
              Attached Files
              Last edited by Dannyx; 04-10-2018, 05:42 AM.
              Wattevah...

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT201E

                I found something on that EEV thread which I'd like to try, which is changing the default settings from AC to DC. After a bit of struggling, not having worked with HEX too much in my life, I managed to identify what the guys were on about and I modified a copy of the original backup how I THOUGHT it should look. I only wanted to try defaulting to DC for the 2A range for now....I thought to start off small and see if I at least got it right.

                Unfortunately I had no 24c02 ICs on hand, so I tried a 256k one thinking it should still work if it's a larger capacity chip, but it didn't: when I turned it on, it displayed CAL and then random gibberish. Just to check, I soldered in the original unmodified chip and it worked, so it didn't like those extra blank bits apparently, which is different from some TVs where I've successfully done this trick before. I just got some blank 24C02s to play with, so I'll try it again tomorrow...I'm also thinking of coming up with some kind of a contraption to allow me to quickly remove and program the chips, since I WILL be doing this a lot and it's pretty cramped in there. It's right next to a crystal and just above the display, which I'm guessing won't like so many rounds of heat like that. What I'll do is chop the end of an USB extension bracket to get myself an 8 pin female connector, which I'll then solder to the pads on the board, then stick my programmer's clip in that. When I need to program, I simply swap the clip from the makeshift board connector to the programmer's connector...should work
                Wattevah...

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT201E

                  good, that's the newer 10,000 count one.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT201E

                    Originally posted by Dannyx View Post
                    Unfortunately I had no 24c02 ICs on hand, so I tried a 256k
                    bad move.

                    24c00 upto atleast 24c08 is 8bit, but at some point they switched to 16bit!

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                      I seem to be having no luck so far. I'm having trouble even copying the code from the original chip to the blank ones I got. I built my little test rig which you can see below: soldered some male headers to the board which allows me to connect my programmer's clip as discussed, so I can easily go back and forth without soldering and damaging the board. It works with the original IC (meter boots up and works perfectly), but when I try flashing another IC, I only get ---- on the display along with AUTO at the bottom and a clock in the top-right....what's going on ?

                      I tried two different ICs and they both do the same thing. I tried reading the original again, but there was no difference between the codes I obtained...I'm a bit nervous that if I reprogram the original I might not be able to get it going again. I doubt it's the freak wiring job causing the issue, since the original IC works...do these 24c02 ICs have versions or something ? *disappointed*

                      It could be because of two reasons: there's something wrong with these replacement ICs, or the code wasn't grabbed correctly in the first place, so I'm writing bogus code on them. I don't know what could've gone wrong....I tried it multiple times but received the same exact code and it's not the first time I've used the programmer...
                      Attached Files
                      Wattevah...

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                        you need to hold the chip in reset while reading or writing it so the data isnt corrupted by activity on the serial lines.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                          Doesn't the programmer do that by default ? Makes me wonder how I've done similar EEPROMs for TVs in the past, since I didn't do any extra step: clip it in, program it, solder it back in (try again if it didn't work)...
                          Wattevah...

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                            I made another discovery: the chips I got have a C at the end - 24c02c...I found a datasheet for them and some parameters are slightly different, like the frequency for instance. The original chip doesn't have a C at the end....don't know if that's it though...
                            Wattevah...

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                              you arent reading them at 400KHz so the speed dont matter

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                                I've had the project on hold for quite some time now because the shop's been really busy, but I really want to get it going because I need the meter. Right now its guts are all out with that adapter I made still hanging from it. Last time I messed with it, I was having trouble with the EEPROMs and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work with a different replacement IC. My thought was that it's not entirely identical and thus something's not quite lining up properly...I've never had this issue before with ICs in TVs. I just clip them in, program them and hope for the best.
                                Wattevah...

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                                  HA ! I managed to get it going using an EEPROM I ripped from a TV board. It's THIS thing...apparently there WERE some differences between the one I got new and these ones. I'll start messing with it soon. Right now I just quickly wrote the original code back to it just to test it.
                                  Wattevah...

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                                    Ok, I managed to rearrange my default startup settings and it seems to be working. Now on to adding that Max button. Looks good so far I'm not sure whether to solder the chip back in permanently or to continue to use the hookup I made provided further adjustments may be necessary for it to work
                                    Wattevah...

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                                      good progress.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Re: Hacking the Uni-T UT210E

                                        About time eh ?
                                        Wattevah...

                                        Comment

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