Amprobe DM-III -- Helpful tips for downloading data from PQ mode

[SecondGen]

Just wanted to share some hard lessons learned while working with the Amprobe DMIII power quality meter (pictured below):

If you are having trouble connecting to the meter with the optical to USB cable in Download Suite make sure that you have the correct USB driver installed (http://www.amprobe.com/amprobe/usen/service/software/) and that your port is configured to either COM2 or COM3. This is the most common problem when connecting.

Here is a detailed write-up on how to configure your com port: http://plugable.com/2011/07/04/how-t...r-on-windows-7. Mine always defaults to anything > COM60 for some reason so I always have to change it. In windows you can do this through the Device Manager. Once in device manager:
1.) Expand Ports (COM/LPT), right click on your optical to usb adapter and choose properties.
2.) Under the Port Settings tab click the Advanced button.
3.) Change the com port number in the drop down to COM2 or COM3.
4.) Click OK on all property windows and restart Download Suite (restart might not be necessary). All of this is in the users manual but it is a common issue among techs in the field.

If download from the meter wont complete or randomly stops try disconnecting the meter from the power system, if connected. Usually when I do a PQ analysis I like to download the meter before I remove it from the system to avoid having to hook it back up if there is a problem with the data. This seems to work fine with the DM-III on 208/120V systems but for some reason when I tried to download meters that were connected to 480V systems, the download would stop after a few percent completion with a download error. I get the message "session could not be downloaded". I cannot explain this. The fix for this was only found after trying many different port configurations and restarts, I finally decided to try it with the meter disconnected as a last resort.

This is what the meter looks like in case you have no idea what I am talking about:



Since I still have a few days to work with these meters, if I come across any other problems I will post them here. Feel free to add to the topic with your experience.

[SecondGen]

If your download will not start or gets interrupted, even with the unit disconnected from the power system, try cleaning the optical port on the unit itself. I had one unit that would not connect to my PC. After a couple tries I was able to connect and get the download to about 0.2% before it would hang up and eventually stop with an error. After inspecting the optical port on the DM-III itself I could see there were some smudges on the optical windows. My solution was simply to take a dry cotton swab (not sure if it's appropriate to use any chemicals) to the optical windows and give it a few twists to clear any obstructions. After cleaning the port, the download worked like a champ.

[Hendrix]

It seems you cant download any data while the machine is recording. This is unlike other recorders I have used. Often we do what is called 7/30 studies. This means we download data after 7 days so the engineer can begin his modeling with preliminary numbers. Then after 30 days a final report is issued and numbers tweaked slightly. If I have to stop the reading, then the data has a break and report issues...

I know I am being picky and this is a relatively cheap meter.

[SecondGen]

They are relatively cheap meters, I agree. Downloading was no problem with them connected to a 208/120 system but for some reason at 480/277 it just wouldn't go. They were not recording, just connected.