I received this light meter at the weekend after a long wait.
Out the box the DT-1309 is a solid unit and the update speed and hold, min and max features are good.
Connecting the DT-1309 to a PC is where it all falls apart.
The DT-1309 will work for a little while, and work well updating 9 times a second. But then randomly it causes my Windows 7 64bit desktop PC crash into a blue screen of death (BSOD) with a 'general error' - very useful.
When testing the software on my laptop (Win7 32bit) there is no BSOD, but the update frequency is appalling, once every 2 seconds the logging software registers changes in measured light. No good at all.
After a few hours of messing with the drivers, changing the COM ports and lowering the update speed of the UART drivers I'm coming to the end of the road with it. I quickly have come to realise that the software and possibly the drivers are a POS.
I read on candlepoweredforums.ru that this light meter is plagued with problems when connecting to a PC, sadly I read this after I clicked the purchase button. Translating the page shows that the poster on CPF.ru has used COM port data capture software to get the hex values. It looks messy.
Has anyone else got this light meter? It seems the design of the DT-1309 is some what of a generic one, as it looks like the design is used under different company badges.
I can't seem to find any new/updated software for it, all of which leaves me slightly screwed when using the logging feature (the most important feature to me!)
This is not a cheap light meter. I paid £59 (~$90) for it. As it stands I really cannot recommend this light meter at all.
you could try it on an xp machine, but it sounds like the core problem is 2 second updates, which might be a restriction in the hardware, not the driver.
can you return it?
thanks for posting. I've held off on a light meter so that I can save for one that logs to PC...
Actually CEM multimeters look like Extech ones, but not 1:1. Reminds me of the Germany company Voltcraft which re brands everything from Uni-T in China .
I haven't tried an XP machine but will try tomorrow. The thing is the driver CD does ship with Win7 drivers for both x86 and x64 CPUs.
On my Win7 i5 workstation the slow update problem does not occur, the logging software is able to capture properly, it's just the BSOD which puts a dampener on it all.
The review from the poster is quite detailed and after translating you can see that this light meter is far from perfect for logging data. The poster describes how the software when logging sometimes captures 6 data points a second, and then sometimes it will capture 9 a second. Which is ridiculous as it will be such a headache making a runtime chart from data which is not being captured consistently. However, in the brief time that I have seen this light meter working correctly I haven't observed the above problem.
After some research it appears Extech is a huge re-brander.
I can't say if CEM light meters are rebranded by Extech but I suspect they are. For example one EXtech rep admits that they rebrand/work with Brymen from Taiwan.
Hey.Trancersteve: UnfortunatelyIalsobought thislight meter. I alsoI have problemsconnecting to aPC.But in mycase, thepcdoes not detectanynew deviceconnected. Inthe device managerthere isnonew virtualport. Thedriversare alreadyinstalled andI installedthe latest version.Of course, notdetecta device,neverinstall avirtualCOMport. SinceI amclaimingthe seller,butIhave notbeen able to solvethe problem. Could youtell methe stepsyou have done,so thatthe PCwillrecognize it? thanks Alexander
I'm afraid I am still having problems with this light meter. Now, a different type of problem is occurring. The connection to the PC will break for some odd reason and the meter will stop sending data to the software. When this happens the software will display a 'No Connection' message. I have a feeling that my laptop isn't up to the job (AMD Fusion E250) of logging at this speed, 5 measurements a second, as trying it on my desktop I can't seem to replicate the 'No Connection' problem.
The steps I took to get here were to uninstall the drivers - Do this by plugging in the light meter to the PC, go to Device Manager, find CP210x in the COMs and Ports drop down, click uninstall drivers.
Download the latest USB to UART drivers at: http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx
Click on the link to 'VCP Driver Kit' for WinX
That's about it. You should see the virtual port in COMs and Ports in device manager. I take it you have tried different USB sockets on your PC?
I have to say again, for £59 ($90) I am not happy with this light meter. I DON'T expect to jump through hoops and putting up with this shit on such an expensive meter, if this meter was 1/4 or 1/2 of the price I wouldn't be complaining!
As a stand alone light meter is works. But good luck with the software. It is buggy and the hardware to software interface is terribly implemented. I haven't even been able to conduct a single runtime test with the meter without something going wrong! Leaving me to charge the test cells up again and try all over again to conduct the runtime test. For this kind of money it is appalling.
I wish I would of spent the money on another (cool white) SC600 Zebralight instead!
Did you check that device manager says the usb host controller itself is 'enhanced'. The hardware must be...but you never know, windows might have used a screwed up driver...
you could also try capturing the traffic - although w/ windows that's kind of a pita...
Hey. UnfortunatelyI can not findtheway that thepcrecognizesnew hardware. I triedon allusbports.Thislight meteris very verybad!!.Not at allrecommended. thanks Alexander
