Data Logger

[connect21]

I am looking for a cheap data logger that I have two uses for, at the moment. Preferably, it would be the same system for both application, so I am looking for something that is flexible. I want to use it to collect information on a car's engine and the other application would be to measure temperature around the house. A can make the interface to connect the transducers. So what I really need is something that has preferably 12 to 16 analog channels and that can connect to a USB or serial port. I would also need the software that goes with it.

Thanks

[Chris Smith]

An "I pod" with different analog senders to the input should store a lot of info in the form of a WAV or compressed file?

[connect21]

Hello Mr. Smith

I don't know the first thing about I pods other than they play music, I don't even have a sound card on my computer.

[Chris Smith]

Start here?

http://www.macminute.com/2004/04/08/datalogger

www.wiu.edu/TecheNews/mobilelearning.htm

[Tommy volts]

Chris,

Is there a non-Apple near equivalent to the Ipod? Does the Ipaq do the same stuff or am I way off? I still use my old m125 Palm Pilot so I am way behind the times on all that stuff.

[Chris Smith]

Tommy

There are many different things you can use. The reason I pod is popular is the size, and the vast storage space it contains. [and its digital]

It is just a recorder, and you can even use a tape deck as long as you have your analog sensors producing a analog sound like a scale on a piano.

Or better yet, A to D converted and stored.

The types of systems out there are floppy disks, USB memory sticks, Reel to Reel, tape decks, and just about any storage device.

The trick is the input device.

Like a microphone, you can unplug one type and use another. You can go from a heat sensor to a seismic sensor and then a light meter.

Any sampling and sensing can be converted to a signal scale, and then the I Pod, possibly your palm pilot if it has a port, or any other storage device will record and store it.

The main advantage of the I-pod is data logging through sound, and its already out there.

Sound cards on computers have been doing this for decades, so much is available already.

If your palm pilot can store music WAV files, then my guess is you can do it.

You may need a sound interface built into your sensors to generate the “sample” sound into a WAV file, then into storage. I would say it is possible with a little extra work.

Possibly a Mini cassette recorder might work as an interface or the complete device?

Remember Radio shack computers kept their operating systems on a tape deck for reloading and start up of their TRS computers back in the 80s.

<small>[ December 08, 2005, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: Chris Smith ]</small>

[Tommy volts]

My 13 year old son has an MP3 player/recorder. Its about the size of a Bic lighter but has has a built-in microphone for voice recording. Can an MP3 player/recorder like that be used?

[Chris Smith]

I believe so.

[philba]

Maybe I'm just being cranky, but all this talk of using portable music players for data logging seems like so much pounding of square pegs into round holes. Maybe it would work for 2 channels but 12-16??? This also assumes that the record circuitry doesn't do any filtering (which I'd bet they do).

Since you want a 12-16 channel logger, I'd start there. google for data loggers. What you will find is that there are inxepensive loggers up to about 6 channels. Getting beyond that, the price goes up fast.

There are number of companies that make data logging HW and SW for palm and similar devices. That seems much more likely. Google has lots of hits - try this outfit http://www.vernier.com/

[jimandy]

I'm with you on this Philba. And for multichannel logging, digital is the way to go. However, the MP3 players (and I-Pods) do make nice small volume data storage devices with easy USB connectivity and Mac and PC OS compatibility..

Connect21 needs to keep in mind that recording the data is only half the problem. Viewing (and printing) must be considered to design a complete system.

[Chris Smith]

The data logger consists of several pieces. How many channels you input has nothing to do with the storage device, [time sharing or domain does that] and as you can see from the article below, 150 hours of video space is more than enough to store almost any amount of data logged channels or inputs or time.


The Apple iPod known for its ability to entertain America’’s youth with music, photos, and video is not just for fun and games! iPod’’s are taking over classrooms nationwide from Duke, Stanford, and GC&SU to Chapin School’’s Class 8. Apple’’s iPod in the Classroom website reports that the iPod is a portable learning tool that allows anywhere, anytime access to speeches, audio books, and lectures. Just recently, the iPod’’s teaching potential has grown with the release of the iPod video that is capable of storing up to 15,000 songs, 25,000 photos or 150 hours of video. It’’s ability to store calendars, contacts, check world time, and record time with the built-in stopwatch, paired with the ever-increasing number of free educational podcasts on scientific topics, make the iPod a new and exciting tool for the science classroom. Read on for more ideas about how to incorporate the use of the iPod into your science curriculum. Even if you do not have an iPod, many of the ideas mentioned here can also be carried out using handheld, laptop, or desktop computers.

[jwax]

http://www.dataharvest.com/Products/eas ... oltage.htm
You'd spend tons of time to learn and build a multiplexing scheme to log 16 channels on an Ipod. Spend an hour researching that pseudo-hack, if nobody's done it yet, go commercial.

[Chris Smith]

The input side for your sensors and 16 channels should be a commercial board, [unless you only want one or two channels] the ipod is merely the data storage unit for its output.

Because the iPod is so universal, many professionals already chose them as the best storage device bar none, especially for the price and byte storage capacity.

[connect21]

I did check on Google but there where so many that I didn't know where to start so I thought that somebody on the list might have played with something like that.
There is a data logger advertised in the November issue or Nuts and Volts that is very interresting, it can send the data througt RF, but it has just a few channels and they are all dedicated.

Thanks