I had some time to experiment with my new MP730026 multimeter and was intrigued to know if I could get the BLE capability functioning. I wanted to be able to access the meter from the laptop, and the mobile phone! The MP730026 was interesting because it’s got very decent resolution (10uV / 0.1uA), a good mix of measurement modes, and is very low-cost (£33).
It actually looks pretty smart too!
The MP730026 certainly won’t replace higher-end meters, but I thought this would be a great choice for home lab use.
Interestingly, an excellent advantage of BLE was that it was also possible to add new functionality : ) I added timestamped logging, and the ability to display the range limit (like more expensive Fluke and Keysight Multimeters can). I guess I should add some statistics features to the app at some stage.
It's really easy to use, it is one-click with your mouse from this point forward. If you have a MP730026 multimeter, then all you need to do is hold down the Bluetooth button on it to activate BLE, and then click here to run the app. You'll see the display shown below. Click on the green "Meter Select" button and pick the detected meter from the pop-up. There is nothing more to do.
The app is entirely written in JavaScript/HTML, therefore it is feasible to run it on a variety of platforms. However, sadly iPhone might not work, because the app uses a Web Bluetooth API that Apple might not have approved. I’m not sure. It certainly did not work on my iPad (I have no iPhone to test with).
EDIT: There's a solution for Apple mobile devices! I tested with an iPad, it works well. It has also now been tested on an iPhone 13. The solution is, to download a BLE-enabled web browser called WEBBLE from the Apple store (it costs $1.99). Then, tap near the top of the app to bring up an address bar, and it acts like a normal web browser then. Here is what it looks like (the app is displaying Overload because the meter is in resistance mode with nothing connected to the probes):
Here is a screenshot from an iPhone 13:
I won’t write a lot, because the 1-minute video explains it all mostly, and saves reading effort too.
The web app source code is on GitHub. I relied heavily on the BLE data stream decoding analysis that was done by baldengineer . I just happened to use JavaScript instead of Python but the principle is the same. The decoding logic was slightly different for me, it may be because I have a more recent meter, or the UK/EU version may have a difference to the USA version. Please check each range makes sense before relying on the app! I’m not liable for any issues, the code is for free with no guarantee, and is intended for engineers, to evaluate themselves.
If your meter is of a different revision or localization, then please take a stab at modifying the code and then submit a code modification request once you're happy, and I'll accept it. I unfortunately cannot test with other meters, partially due to time, and partially due to only owning just the one device.
Thanks for reading!
