Announcement

Collapse

Forum Rules *ALL NEW MEMBERS, PLEASE READ!! UPDATED!!*

First and foremost, Welcome to the Badcaps Capacitor Search Engine & Forums!

New members that have activated their accounts have limited access to certain features of the site until established. Members with zero posts have no access to the private messaging system. Also, members with zero posts may not edit certain profile attributes, such as signatures. New members also may not create new threads. However, new members with zero posts have full access to all technical information contained on this forum, and that also includes attachments (images and files that other members have uploaded), and new members that have activated their accounts are free to post replies to existing threads. If you wish to create a new thread, the fix is simple! All you need is ONE post to be able to have full unrestricted access, and that can be simply posting an introduction of yourself or say hello in THIS THREAD. This may seem a little strange, but it helps keep spam and abuse curved. Please note, that it may take up to one hour from your first post for the limits to be removed. If you make a post and don't immediately see the restrictions gone, be patient. The promotion system updates every hour.

Please complete your profile after making your first post, with your name, locale, and other info. It's nice to know members on a first name basis, and know where they're from. Makes for a much friendlier environment!

Posting rules for this forum will be STRICTLY enforced by myself as the owner/administrator, and my moderator crew.

Badcaps.net IS A BUSINESS!!! If you are a servicer, service center, or vendor of any kind in the computer/capacitor industry, you are NOT permitted to advertise, link, promote, or plug your business on this forum in ANY way! NO EXCEPTIONS!! This includes asking for "donations" in exchange for BIOS passwords or tech advice for anything! If I see you doing that, your post will be edited or deleted, and you warned. If it happens again, you will be banned. The only exceptions are the references to the companies quoted in the FAQ which the administration have added for the convenience of those around the world who have difficulty to source caps for their repair.

This also includes using this forum's private message system to solicit business. Members, if you receive a PM from anyone offering repair services or components, please alert me immediately! Myself or any of my moderators, will never private message a user soliciting business, for Badcaps.net, or any other servicer/vendor. If you PM me about repairing your device, I will reply and take care of you, however, I will not message you first.

------------------------------------

Posting rules:

This forum was created to be a technical support forum primarily for the do-it-yourselfers who choose to repair their own boards. Any and all technical questions are welcome!

1) Please use the SEARCH feature!! Your question may have been answered in another thread! Please search first and see if it has!

2) When posting a technical question, be as detailed as possible in your thread. The more information we have about your specific problem, the better we can answer your question.

3) Please use COMPLETE sentences, punctuation, and grammar! Nobody is perfect, hence, a spelling error on occasion is no biggie. However, posts/threads that are unreadable will be deleted. This includes any and all forms of 'ebonics', leet, chatroom jargon, and 'text message' shorthand and slang. This forum is not a chatroom/text message, please use full words and complete sentences.

4) Keep discussion on topic!! DO NOT HIJACK THREADS! It's easy to do (I've done it myself a few times...) Lets try to keep it down to a minimal!! If you have something really off topic, that's what the lounge is for!

5) Keep things civil! There will be no tolerance for flaming, bashing, hateful remarks, racial remarks, adult material of ANY kind, and so on.

6) THE LOUNGE RULES! The lounge is a place for off topic chit-chat! If you post something that might be considered questionable or something you don't want kids to see, or something you can't view at work/school, etc, please label that thread *NWS* or NOT WORK SAFE in the thread title as a warning. The Lounge is NOT moderated, anything is welcome... Feel free to post rants, jokes, cars, hot women (remember the NWS warning in the title), or just about anything within reason. It's an open forum! Please refrain from participating in political topics if you have thin skin, they can get heated sometimes!! Remember that we have members here from all over the world, with many different views and cultures. Political debates can turn really ugly, and really fast, and if they degrade to personal attacks and useless banter/bashing, moderator action will ensue. I want this forum to be a safe haven for technical discussions from all walks of life, so lets keep off topic discussions civil and friendly.

7) Spamming and spammers will NOT be tolerated or accepted in any way, shape, or form! Spam bots are instantly and permanently banned, and their threads deleted! The mod crew is really quick to zap spammers, we typically pop them before they even get to post. This also includes regular members as well. be courteous and not post spam. This includes links to off-site information that's not relevant to the thread at hand. Do not plug other websites, forums, or businesses in your signatures. You may do so in a thread if the off-site link you're posting is relevant to the topic, but otherwise, don't do it. If you see a thread which clearly a spam bot posting that we have not removed yet, DO NOT click any links in it!! Simply click the 'report bad post' button, and it'll be taken care of, usually within minutes.

8) Account removals & closures: Since no personal information is given in the creation of your Badcaps.net Forum account, requests to remove and/or delete accounts will be declined. Any requests for removal of threads & posts you created will also be declined. The reason is the missing posts can/will leave threads incomplete and fragmented. For the threads to be of help to others later on, information can't and won't be missing. However, if you inadvertently posted personal identifiable information in a post (such as an email address, real name, or phone number), please contact a staff member. In those cases, the post may be edited or removed, at the staff members discretion.

That's about it for the rules, the setup here is pretty loose. However, if you're caught violating any of the rules above, here's what will happen:

First offense: Warning by me or a moderator
Second offense: Banning for 1 day
Third offense: Banning for 3 days
Fourth offense: Banned permanently.

If you do something really dumb, or are just a troll, I will skip the warning and the temporary banning, and ban you permanently!

The rules are pretty cut and dry... However, if you have any questions about this policy, feel free to contact me.
See more
See less

Alternatives to Power-Z?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Alternatives to Power-Z?

    Hello everyone!

    I am looking for an alternative to the Power-Z USB power meter, like the model KM001. Are there no alternatives to this? Other than other models from the same company? This is a very popular meter that repair pros use.

    I have a very simple and inexpensive USB power meter. I think it costed around 20 - 30 USD. I'm looking to upgrade it to one that has the logging and graphing functions like the one I mentioned above. Something in the same price range of 80 - 100 USD. Any suggestions?

    I actually have a DC power supply that has a USB port and Modbus support, so I can control it from the computer by a COM port over USB, and I can get the power graphing function this way. But it comes with a crappy software that makes it difficult to use. Would it be possible to buy a compatible third party software? Using the DC power supply would be ideal for logging and graphing voltage and current, because you're not locked in to USB voltage and current levels.

    Thanks in advance!

    #2
    Re: Alternatives to Power-Z?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDNLUoQW53w
    ??

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Alternatives to Power-Z?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOlhibDUJgs
      ??

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Alternatives to Power-Z?

        I thought the suggested Fnirsi FNB58 was too expensive and it's PC software is not very good. It also seems to have too many functions, when all I need is a solid graphing function. So I ordered the Ruideng TC66C. I first found it here: https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/05...-data-logging/

        I have received it and it seems like a good quality product, it's easy to use, not too many buttons and it does not have one million functions and twenty modes like this weird looking oscilloscope on that Fnirsi device. I have not tested the PC software yet, I will do that next.

        I wonder, is there no cheap power meter similar to these USB meters that can simply measure current, voltage and power directly from the battery terminal? Without all these USB related things like PD, QC 2.0, QC 3.0, BlaBla 4.0, and so on? Just plain and simple Ohm's law on a graph? That's all I really want.
        Last edited by R7027; 01-28-2023, 06:02 PM.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Alternatives to Power-Z?

          you cant get current without a shunt in series with the power,
          and you cant get logging on cheap devices.
          i have a meter that shows voltage and current for about €2 but it has no interface - just a display

          you could make something with an arduino and a module with something like an INA226 on it
          Attached Files

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Alternatives to Power-Z?

            The idea of building something of my own sounds very tempting. I do have an Arduino Uno I could probably use for this. I will explore this later. Thanks for sharing! But what kind of device can do logging and graphing, that's not a USB meter? Something from makers of professional devices like Siglent or Rigol I presume.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Alternatives to Power-Z?

              i know the rigol psu's can graph and log - but those cost serious money, psu's are more expensive than scopes.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Alternatives to Power-Z?

                Power Z has no cheap alternative as far as I know.

                Comment

                Working...
                X