I have a project that does some data logging to an SD card. It is a very modest project, and I need a quick and dirty way to dump that data to a csv file on a Windows computer.
It strikes me the simplest way that involves no new hardware is to use the serial monitor to read that data and write it to an IDE local file. (the data coming from the sketch is already in csv format.)
How can I use the serial monitor to do this, or is there a better way, like adding a bluetooth device, etc.?
johnwasser:
Why not take out the SD card, connect it to the Windows PC with an SD card reader, and copy the file?
You could print the data to Serial Monitor and then copy and paste that to a text file in the editor of your choice.
Yep, those are two good answers, (thanks John!) but the project is going to be enclosed and mounted and hard to get inside to get to the SD. Also, there will be quite a bit of data, so I am a bit leery of the cut and paste approach. However, the USB port will be accessable.
How have others solved the "data dump" when logging data? I looked at SD Dumpfile, but how does that data end up in a regular file on the IDE computer?
Is there a way of communicating over the USB without invoking the bootloader? Is there a way to redirect the com port on the Windows machine to a file? I really do not want to write any Windows programs!
jremington:
Just about any terminal program, like Putty or Teraterm, can substitute for the serial monitor and log all incoming data to a file.
PLXDAQ is an Excel macro that can read the serial port and enter the data directly into a spreadsheet. Download from Parallax.
PLX-DAQ has a few limits (the major one is 26 columns and requiring the user to have Excel) Open Office is probably not supported?
But aha! I hadn't thought of just turning on logging in a terminal emulator. I can have the sketch monitor the serial line looking for a command, and then when I send it via the term emulator with the logging turned on, just do the SD Dumpfile. I'll have to remove the first line of the file before importing, but that is simple. I thought there must be a simple way to do this. Thanks!
Upon investigation, I found out that just starting the serial monitor causes the arduino to reboot - or plugging in the USB. Is there anyway to defeat the auto reboot of the board when the serial monitor comes active?