Got my first real flashlight a couple of weeks ago (see http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=265389 
) and I now have at least half a dozen (Romisen RC-C6, Romisen N3, iTP A2, a couple of Ultrafire C3s etc.) so it seemed time to start accumulating some gadgets to compare and measure things 
I want to compare light output, battery discharge, etc. etc. all the usual stuff but being frugal (more $$$ on gadgets means less lights!
) I didn't want to splurge on expensive kit that I don't know if I'm going to use. I do want to log stats to my computer and draw charts if possible but all the decent meters seem to be expensive and require RS232->USB converters and the software doesn't look great to me.
I ordered a cheap LuxMeter and autoranging DMM from Sears ($30 each) with no chance of being able to hook them up directly to the computer. Even if a hack was possible they probably wouldn't be optically isolated or remotely safe (don't like hooking up modded electronics to my computers
).
So I have created a prototype application that reads LCD meter displays from real-time streaming webcam input :naughty: - therefore totally isolated from whatever the meters are hooked up to and it should be able to read any regular meter display and produce time series output that can be loaded into Excel or some other charting application.
My DMM hasn't arrived yet so I can only test with my LuxMeter but it seems pretty accurate at reading the display - and its early days yet with only two evenings development invested.
I'm just knocking this up for myself and I'll probably get bored before its fully finished, but If anyone is interested in helping test, hacking code, or just suggesting features let me know. Its Open Source based on the excellent OpenCV library and the C++ code is written on Windows using the freeware Dev C++ IDE :twothumbs.
-PG
) and I now have at least half a dozen (Romisen RC-C6, Romisen N3, iTP A2, a couple of Ultrafire C3s etc.) so it seemed time to start accumulating some gadgets to compare and measure things I want to compare light output, battery discharge, etc. etc. all the usual stuff but being frugal (more $$$ on gadgets means less lights!
) I didn't want to splurge on expensive kit that I don't know if I'm going to use. I do want to log stats to my computer and draw charts if possible but all the decent meters seem to be expensive and require RS232->USB converters and the software doesn't look great to me. I ordered a cheap LuxMeter and autoranging DMM from Sears ($30 each) with no chance of being able to hook them up directly to the computer. Even if a hack was possible they probably wouldn't be optically isolated or remotely safe (don't like hooking up modded electronics to my computers
).So I have created a prototype application that reads LCD meter displays from real-time streaming webcam input :naughty: - therefore totally isolated from whatever the meters are hooked up to and it should be able to read any regular meter display and produce time series output that can be loaded into Excel or some other charting application
.
My DMM hasn't arrived yet so I can only test with my LuxMeter but it seems pretty accurate at reading the display - and its early days yet with only two evenings development invested.
I'm just knocking this up for myself and I'll probably get bored before its fully finished, but If anyone is interested in helping test, hacking code, or just suggesting features let me know. Its Open Source based on the excellent OpenCV library and the C++ code is written on Windows using the freeware Dev C++ IDE :twothumbs.
-PG
