The engineers at Ingenuity Electronics Design have created a tool that integrates a multimeter, digital storage oscilloscope, and data logger. The Australian design and development company created pokitMeter as a tool for makers and engineers focused on simple projects and spending most of their time in the field. The group is running a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to fund the first production units.
pokit is around two inches diameter and less than an inch thick. The meter measures DC voltage from 10 milliVolts up to 60 Volts, and AC up to 42 Volts. DC current measures 1 milliAmpere up to 2 Amperes, and AC up to 1.4 Amperes. Resistance can be measured between 1 and 10 million Ohms. Temperature operating range is 32 to 140 degrees Farenheit, and temperature can also be measured in that range. The Lithium CR2032 battery is expected to last around a year. Probes retract from the unit and spool around the center. pokit units come with a carrying case, probe clips, and a fuse.
All of the data outputs for pokit run through an app, with a bluetooth range of ten meters. Measurement modes can be selected through the app, and dynamic viewing allows the user to pan and zoom the visual data. Data can be logged for temperature, current and voltage and the data can be held on the pokit unit for up to a year without being connected to a phone. Logs can be named, saved and shared on the pokit app.
Ingenuity has a two pathed plan for the future. There's a commitment to open source functionality with the idea that users will build functions and applications that can be useful for everyone. A second idea is that upgrades will be made in the future by the development team to add battery analysis, serial protocol analyzers and spectrum analysis with fast Fourier transform capabilities.
pokitMeter looks like a great tool that's portable and functional. I like that it comes with carrying case and the probes retract inside the meter's body. There's a staggering amount of deep detail in both the FAQ page of the Kickstarter page and the Questions section. Usually when either one of these zones have as much detailed information as the pokit pages have, I feel good about the engineering and design practices built into a project. The campaign has smashed by its modest funding goal and ends on December 29. First units are expected to ship in April 2018.