Some folks revently asked about the Omega engineering UV1000, (Universal voice) module.
We bought one and I can give a partial report. Unfortunagely the didn't include the special programming cable so i can't yet report on there software that lets you change spoken scalings and units. this is essentially a programmable talking volt/current/temperature meter for $239/00 It can operate from 2 AA cells, lithium AA's included or an external power supply, also included. The box is about 1 by 3 by 5 inches and has the speaker rite where it belongs, on the back! On the front are 3 holes for test leads, common, current and voltage, and a connector for the thermocouple with 2 flat pins. the top edge contains 2 switches, on/off and continuous/command talk. and 3 jacks, power, earphone, and RS232 for the cable they left out. As shipped the unit measures 0-10 volts D.C. and 4-20Ma current, a common range used in industrial instrumentation as well as reading the included thermocouple. When you set up there software you can program different input ranges to produce your desired output readings and appropriate units. for example if you had it hooked to a pressure guage which measured 0-100PSI and produced 0-5 volts output, you could program it to read 100 pounds when the voltage reading was 5 volts. I'll report more on the software when I get the calbe. Unfortunately this device is anything but universal, it has no means of reading digital data, even if there were a standard for transmitting such data which there really isn't them's the fundamentals, I'd stick to our old favorite chinese talking meter from MPJA for $43.00, if you really need temperature measurements you can get temperature probes for similar meters. On the subject of instrumentation standards, I think our best bet is that more and more devices are being "network enabled" so that at least minimal tcp/ip and ppp standards are used and probably many such devices use web type interfaces making it at least somewhat likely that they might just be accessible. So don't buy an Omega UV1000 unless you really need one, and again, don't buy from Omega and tell them you're blind, they're paranoid. Tom Fowle
