EXTECH HD450 - 10K logging limit...

For those of you that own one of these light meters, have you figured out a way to overcome the 10K limit when using the data logging software? (short of stopping, saving and restarting which of course isn't always practical)

I typically record in 1 second increments which works out to 166 minutes max. For longer run times, I would need to bump the scale accordingly (2 seconds and up). The trade-off is a potential loss of detail captured (flickering, etc).

I've emailed ExTech sppt but they replied that there is no workaround nor do they anticipate updating the software.

I recall there was some open source software that could be used w/battery testers, any equivalent for light meters?

Cheers,
Tim

What kind of data exactly are you trying to record?

I have an HD450, but only used it for runtime graphs. If the lux is too high, I'll just move the light back a few feet or move it slightly off center of the sensor to decrease Lux.

Secondly, I don't know why you would want 1 second increments. That sounds extreme. I usually do 10 second increments or so and when the data is turned into a runtime graph, its enough data to make a pretty smooth line.

Thx for the reply, I should've clarified that the 10K limit meant data points and not the Lux measurement. I'm pretty demanding when it comes to the fidelity of data and its interpretation otherwise I'd just take everything at face value and accept whatever the mfg's tout.

When conducting a run time test, in addition to the duration I was want to know how the light is behaving and recording in 1 sec interval tells me that.

To paint a perfectly clear pic, here is smaple data extrapolated out to 1 min interval for runtime testing I did of an X-Flare Pro:

x = time in minutes | y = relative output

When looking at this, one may misinterpret the light as malfunctioning and ramping up and down slowly (check data from 72 min on).

Now let's look at the graph in 1 sec interval:

You can now clearly see that it's going into some kind of PWM mode once the battery runs down. Had I recorded in 10 sec interval, I would not have captured the data to this degree and given I don't sit there and monitor each run, it's very helpful to capture all the subtle changes that are going on when I'm not around.

I can't imagine it'd be that hard to update the software to break the 10K logging limit and I hope they'll amend that in future updates.

Cheers,
Tim

I see, I thought you were saying a 10K lux limit (I've never done datalooging that high so I just assumed thats what you were saying).

I've never seen a light behave like the one you posted. Thats EXTREMELY odd, and I'd be surprised to see this kind of behavior in many other lights.

I also honestly don't see a need to record so much of that nonsese PWM stuff going on there at the end of the runtime. Seems to be an obvious design flaw.

When I've done tests, I check on the light every 20-30 minutes and monitor its temperature.