List: standalone runtime graph maker/ lux loggers (for flashlight reviewers)

I’ve added a short post with a bit of information about what I ended up doing. It works great for me, and I’ll keep working on it to clean it up if there’s interest.

Very interesting!
I still have a raspberry pi catching dust on the shelf…

Nice!

If there is a nice read up on how to set it all up, that would be great!

No write up yet, it’s still pretty alpha. But if you can figure out how to get a Pi up and running you can work this out too!

Not really for me ;) I don't think I will dive that deep :) But for other members.

I’ve been meaning to post the details on my lumen tube build for some time, finally got a first-pass done.

https://github.com/gchart/luxmeter

That readout is snazzy

Thanks bmengineer! It’s pretty basic but it’s great having immediate visual feedback. It also displays the IP address at start up (despite using a reserved IP) and diagnostics in case any sensors aren’t detected.

Cool stuff gchart! Thank you for sharing!

I just pushed a big update to my Lux Logger project.

Same hardware:

  • an ESP8266
  • a small OLED screen
  • TSL2591 lux sensor
  • MLX90614 IR-based temperature sensor

Instead of using an app or a batch script to log the readings, the ESP8266 itself is hosting a webpage that you pull up. That way you can use your phone, a tablet, or a computer to perform tests. And instead of polling data at set intervals, this keeps an open socket connection that quickly pushes new data any time there’s a sufficient change in the data. Oh, and I added a real-time graph.

Fascinating stuff! You Rock Gchart!

Strange that there aren’t more manufacturers which incorporate this, and still work with relative ancient technology which are way overpriced
I actually built your specific project and it works amazing !
And the best part of it is that the parts are dirt cheap! (ok, it lacks a nice housing etc, but even that can be arranged for a few dollars more)

Some pics of my result here

Awesome! Glad you got it up and going. It’s one thing for me to put one together (as I debug and such). It’s entirely better to see someone else successfully replicate it.

This is a great post, so I’m dredging it up to see if there are any new logging light meters (or better apps) out there.

I find myself getting closer to choosing the light I will use in certain scenarios and want to be able to do long tests (instead of using the lights for a long time and guessing which is better).

I haven’t heard of anything else new lately, but if you run across anything, please share! Or if you decide to put something together based on my project, let me know if you have any questions.

Added the Triplett LT68 to the list

https://www.files.triplett.com/datasheet/lt68.pdf

This seems to be very similar to the Extech HD450

Is this project doable for people like me with zero knowledge on electronics? I am afraid of screwing it up during the assembling process…

It’s difficult to say… largely depends on your technical prowess, not so much electronics. Have you ever messed with anything Arduino based or the like?

I have no experience tinkering with Arduino related stuff. :frowning:

I think I ordered the wrong board??

All of those decent light meters aren’t available in New Zealand, so I’m not sure what to purchase at this stage.