NAME

Device::MAS345 - Reading the Mastech MAS-345 Multimeter

SYNOPSIS

  use Device::MAS345;

  my $mas = Device::MAS345->new( port => "/dev/ttyS0" );

  my($val, $unit, $mode) = $mas->read();

DESCRIPTION

Device::MAS345 reads data from a Mastech MAS-345 multimeter connected to the computer's serial port.

This cheap (less than $50) multimeter measures voltage, current, temperature, resistance, capacity, and features a serial cable to hook it up to a PC.

Using Device::MAS345, you can connect to the multimeter and read out the currently displayed value, along with the selected mode and a units character.

Reading data returns three values:

  my($val, $unit, $mode) = $mas->read();

$val is the numeric value displayed on the multimeter (e.g. -0.015), $unit holds the measurement unit (e.g. V) and $mode adds an additional mode setting (e.g. DC).

On error, Device::MAS345 throws exceptions. If you want to catch them, use eval {}. The cause for the error can be seen by calling the object's error message, which returns the string of the last exception.

Debugging

Device::MAS345 is Log::Log4perl-enabled. To turn on debugging, just add

    use Log::Log4perl qw(:easy);
    Log::Log4perl->easy_init($DEBUG);

at the start of your code.

Serial Ports

The constructor can be called without arguments. The optional ports parameter defaults to /dev/ttyS0, the first serial port.

Gotchas

If you want to run this as a non-root user, make sure that

    ls -l /dev/ttyS0

(or whatever serial port the multimeter is connected to) is read/writeable by the user.

The multimeter has to be turned on for the connection to succeed.

LEGALESE

Copyright 2007 by Mike Schilli, all rights reserved. This program is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

AUTHOR

2007, Mike Schilli <cpan@perlmeister.com>