under $20 USD GM1020 Digital Light Meter with USB data logging

EDC Gear for Flashlight Carriers USB Power Devices
1

Hey folks i found this item it seems legit. The quality is unknown but its cheap and it has data USB logging. Apparently it can use the USB as a power source while data logging sounds like a handy feature.

Here is the deal i know nothing about these light meters so maybe some one can chime in?

http://www.benetechco.com/en/products/digital-lux-meter-gm1020.html

This Ebay dealer has it for $29 Aussie dollars so its not to bad.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/High-Quailty-GM1020-Digital-Light-Meter-LCD-Lux-Luminometer-Photometer-Tester-/381460507949

Digital Lux Meter GM1020

*Measurable Objects: Illuminance and temperature ,illuminance

difference,naximum and minimum.

Illuminance and temperature,imtegrating illuminance and

integrating time,and average integrating illuminance

*Photoelectric element: Silicon diode

*Thermal Probe: NTC Thermistor

*Illuminance Measuring Range:

Total measuring range: 0~200000Lux

*Lux into four ranges:

x1 0~199.9Lux

x10 200~1999.9Lux

x100 2000~19999.9Lux

x1000 20000~199999.9Lux

*Temperature measuring range: 0~40℃

*Temperature accuracy:±1.0℃

*Illuminance accuracy:

±3%rdg(below 10000Lux)

±4%rdg(above 10000Lux)

Units of illuminance and temperature:

Four combinations of units are available.lux/℃ lux/℉ FC/℃ FC/℉

LCD Display up date frequency:Twice per second

Operating Temperature/humidity:0~40℃ 10~90%RH

Storage temperature/humidity:–20~50℃ 10~90%RH

Power supply: Two AAA batteries

Battery life:10 hours(continuous operation with a USB connection)

Auto shutdown: You can set an auto shutdown timer through LuxLAB

I think the supplied software would be horrible and hard to use.

2

Agreed about the software. It also says on the disc that it’s for win xp/vista. Not sure how well it would run on newer OS. Seems like a neat idea in theory in though if you wanted to do some run time tests without having to babysit it.

3

You can run some apps as an older version of windows if that helps. When you right click on a program with windows 8 and up it has a compatibility tab. Even if it just powers from the USB but saves the data the machine it helps i guess.

4

I bought one… I’ll report once I get it. Hopefully not a $20 paperweight.

Got mine of us eBay

5

The GM1020 sample I have seems to be quite accurate with LEDs. At least compared to my spectrophotometer. But as always with these Chinese wonders YMMV.

6

Nice find EDSG!

I’ve got an Extech that is data logging but can’t run the software because I need the OSX version, not Windows.

And on that note, if the bundled software turns out to be junk you might try running the Extech software and see if it would work with this meter. I have absolutely no idea if the protocol is the same, but might be worth a shot. The software and cable are around $70 so I wouldn’t suggest buying it, but you might have a fellow flashlight enthusiast in the states that would be willing to send you a copy of the Extech software to try :wink:

-Michael

7

Got mine today. Just gotta figure out how to run this bad boy. Instructions are sparse!

8

Update.

Installed very easy. Had to update driver for Windows 10, but was super easy to do.

There is a hefty .PDF instruction book on the CD.

Its 2am so I only played for a few min.

Looks like you can export data to .xls for making charts. You can record to device, or record live on your computer via USB.

Software is very rudimentary. It shows a graph, but you can’t export or modify it.

I’m still messing with it, but I will update you more tomorrow. I need to log some data and see how it looks in spreadsheet.

My initial impression is that this is going to be a very good entry level meter. The software is pretty much just a way to record live or import the data to your computer

9

Cool mate thanks I will buy one soon.

10

Bought an UNI-T UT382 recently and their software doesn't support newer Windows. I'm thinking of giving this meter a chance.

11

Just a heads up that I haven’t been able to get this meter to work on any of my Windows 10 machines. Even with the newer drivers downloaded from Profilic.

12

I just made my order... :FACEPALM:

13

I would be expecting the drivers to be bad like when i programmed my Baofeng radios so many driver issues

14

Is the usb to serial device showing up in your devices?

My first install attempt It didn’t work and I went into my devices and the usb to serial wasn’t there.

Used the driver app to “uninstall completely” then tried again and it worked. Had to restart windows for the software to pick it up and connect.

Also it looks like the last driver update was 2 months ago

15

Here’s what mine does.

Tried everything with the newest driver and having the meter on when plugging in etc.

16

That’s exactly what mine did.

Use the driver again. Do the complete uninstall. Restart comp. Install driver again. Then restart comp again before you try.

Very important to restart comp before and aftrr

17

Where did you d/l the latest drivers from

18

No amount of uninstalling or restarting helps mine.

19

Nice find! I will follow this thread and order one if it will have positive feedback from you guys.

20

Has anyone tried using the Python script linked in the CPF thread?

-Michael