8 ms·

A talking multimeter

56 points by sizzle 13y ago

morsch 13y ago
Neat software hack? Yes. Neat hardware hack? Yes. Use a meme image in a non-annoying way? Yes. Help a person in need to create their own hacks? Yes. Awesome submission.
- sizzle 13y ago
  glad it was well received! I've been submitting more hands on, hacked-together tech posts which resonate well with the HN community.
tlrobinson 13y ago
I'm looking forward to the Mooshimeter Bluetooth multimeter, which will have an SDK: http://www.dragoninnovation.com/projects/34-mooshimeter http://www.dragoninnovation.com/projects/34-mooshimeter There's also a Seeed Studio one but it uses the serial port Bluetooth profile, so no iOS support: http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Bluetooth_Multimeter http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Bluetooth_Multimeter
ricket 13y ago
How... does this even work? How does a blind person construct an electrical circuit? How can they see the colors to determine a resistor, or read the capacitance on the side of a capacitor, or feel the little tiny circle that indicates which pin of an IC is pin 1? Or even just which wire is red and black? I suppose this multimeter is the answer to which wire is red and black (is the voltage positive or negative). But I wonder about those other things. I'm honestly just curious. And I feel bad for blind folks in one more way now.
- Hello71 13y ago
  > feel the little tiny circle that indicates which pin of an IC is pin 1 kinda answered your own question there
- syntheticnature 13y ago
  It's also worth noting that not all usages of "blind", such as "legally blind", are the same as total blindness. It's conceivable that extremely poor vision (acquired through natural reasons or accident) could be just good enough to allow painstaking circuit construction with a magnifier. I suppose a breadboard could be done by feel, as well. Also, I'll quip that I've learned through hard experience not to trust that the red and black wires are used correctly. :-)
- andyjohnson0 13y ago
  Multimeters that measure resistance and capacitance are relatively common, so it presumably wouldn't be impossible to build a talking version. Ensuring that diodes and electrolytic capacitors are correctly orientated would be a challenge though. Another problem for building anything other than simple circuits is obtaining reference material (pinouts, current/voltage limits, etc) in an accessible form. I don't know how much help screen readers would be for high-density information containing diagrams and graphs.
chiph 13y ago
I can see a talking meter being useful for even sighted people. Often you have to take measurements in awkward positions (like working on a car) so it'd be useful to just hear what the reading is.
- userbinator 13y ago
  Or even those situations where your eyes and hands are focused on making sure the probes don't accidentally short something out and are in the right place. I think having it talk continuously (with a short pause between each reading) would be better than having to actuate it manually.
  - dlgeek 13y ago
    In the video, he shows a small port and says that if you jumper it, it reads continuously.
- bananas 13y ago
  They already solved that one. Fluke do a line of meters with remote displays.
- syntheticnature 13y ago
  Not sure if it's Fluke-only, but the "Touch Hold" on Fluke Meters is intended to do this -- capture a stable voltage, with a beep when it's got it. Had this explained by a Fluke rep in a room of engineers and techs who, along with me, went "ohhhhh."
pepon 13y ago
Watch out with the yellow multimeters!!
yoha 13y ago
About the French pronunciation of "92", there is an alternative from Switzerland and Belgium: "nonante-deux". Basically, you can replace "soixante-dix" and "quatrevingt-dix" by "septante" [1] and "nonante" [2]. It is not widely used or even known in France, but it does exist. On the other hand, there is still this "quatre-vingt" thing that made "octante" [3] disappear. It sounds complicated even to French people but they are used to it. [1] https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/septante https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/septante [2] https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/nonante https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/nonante [3] https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/octante https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/octante
- bnegreve 13y ago
  The fact that you can "factorize" 92 into 4 x 20 + 12, means you need less samples, not more. Of course it also requires more and specialized logic in your program, which is the real problem.
  - yoha 13y ago
    Unfortunately, "quatrevingt" won't sound exactly like "quatre" followed by "vingt" (in "quatrevingt", you will make the sound for the "e" very clear while muting it in "quatre"). Of course, you could just use more developed algorithms to connect words but then why not just use a voice synthesizer base only on recorded syllables?
    - bnegreve 13y ago
      So you need the same number of samples whether you use 80+12 or 90+2.

56 points by sizzle 13y ago

Neat software hack? Yes. Neat hardware hack? Yes. Use a meme image in a non-annoying way? Yes. Help a person in need to create their own hacks? Yes. Awesome submission.

sizzle 13y ago
glad it was well received! I've been submitting more hands on, hacked-together tech posts which resonate well with the HN community.

tlrobinson 13y ago

I'm looking forward to the Mooshimeter Bluetooth multimeter, which will have an SDK: http://www.dragoninnovation.com/projects/34-mooshimeter http://www.dragoninnovation.com/projects/34-mooshimeter There's also a Seeed Studio one but it uses the serial port Bluetooth profile, so no iOS support: http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Bluetooth_Multimeter http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Bluetooth_Multimeter

ricket 13y ago

How... does this even work? How does a blind person construct an electrical circuit? How can they see the colors to determine a resistor, or read the capacitance on the side of a capacitor, or feel the little tiny circle that indicates which pin of an IC is pin 1? Or even just which wire is red and black? I suppose this multimeter is the answer to which wire is red and black (is the voltage positive or negative). But I wonder about those other things. I'm honestly just curious. And I feel bad for blind folks in one more way now.

Hello71 13y ago
> feel the little tiny circle that indicates which pin of an IC is pin 1 kinda answered your own question there
syntheticnature 13y ago
It's also worth noting that not all usages of "blind", such as "legally blind", are the same as total blindness. It's conceivable that extremely poor vision (acquired through natural reasons or accident) could be just good enough to allow painstaking circuit construction with a magnifier. I suppose a breadboard could be done by feel, as well. Also, I'll quip that I've learned through hard experience not to trust that the red and black wires are used correctly. :-)
andyjohnson0 13y ago
Multimeters that measure resistance and capacitance are relatively common, so it presumably wouldn't be impossible to build a talking version. Ensuring that diodes and electrolytic capacitors are correctly orientated would be a challenge though. Another problem for building anything other than simple circuits is obtaining reference material (pinouts, current/voltage limits, etc) in an accessible form. I don't know how much help screen readers would be for high-density information containing diagrams and graphs.

chiph 13y ago

I can see a talking meter being useful for even sighted people. Often you have to take measurements in awkward positions (like working on a car) so it'd be useful to just hear what the reading is.

userbinator 13y ago
Or even those situations where your eyes and hands are focused on making sure the probes don't accidentally short something out and are in the right place. I think having it talk continuously (with a short pause between each reading) would be better than having to actuate it manually.
- dlgeek 13y ago
  In the video, he shows a small port and says that if you jumper it, it reads continuously.
bananas 13y ago
They already solved that one. Fluke do a line of meters with remote displays.
syntheticnature 13y ago
Not sure if it's Fluke-only, but the "Touch Hold" on Fluke Meters is intended to do this -- capture a stable voltage, with a beep when it's got it. Had this explained by a Fluke rep in a room of engineers and techs who, along with me, went "ohhhhh."

pepon 13y ago

Watch out with the yellow multimeters!!

yoha 13y ago

About the French pronunciation of "92", there is an alternative from Switzerland and Belgium: "nonante-deux". Basically, you can replace "soixante-dix" and "quatrevingt-dix" by "septante" [1] and "nonante" [2]. It is not widely used or even known in France, but it does exist. On the other hand, there is still this "quatre-vingt" thing that made "octante" [3] disappear. It sounds complicated even to French people but they are used to it. [1] https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/septante https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/septante [2] https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/nonante https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/nonante [3] https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/octante https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/octante

bnegreve 13y ago
The fact that you can "factorize" 92 into 4 x 20 + 12, means you need less samples, not more. Of course it also requires more and specialized logic in your program, which is the real problem.
- yoha 13y ago
  Unfortunately, "quatrevingt" won't sound exactly like "quatre" followed by "vingt" (in "quatrevingt", you will make the sound for the "e" very clear while muting it in "quatre"). Of course, you could just use more developed algorithms to connect words but then why not just use a voice synthesizer base only on recorded syllables?
  - bnegreve 13y ago
    So you need the same number of samples whether you use 80+12 or 90+2.