How to connect your Ohaus Valor 7000 scale to a PC and transfer the weight into any application

I’ve made a short, but comprehensive walkthrough video on connecting an Ohaus Valor 7000 scale to a PC. It uses the standard RS-232 port, a suitable data cable, an RS-232-to-USB converter and our free 232key virtual keyboard wedge software.

This will enable you to transfer the weight directly into a variety of applications as simulated keystrokes, such as Excel, a LIMS, or any other application of your choice. It even works with browser-based applications!

This guide can also be used for the very similar scales from the popular Ohaus Ranger 3000 series.

Ohaus Valor 7000 with 232key software

Video transcript

Introduction

This video will show you how to connect your Ohaus Valor 7000 scale to a PC and configure the 232key Virtual Keyboard Wedge software.

Connect the RS-232 cable to the scale

To prevent accidental overloading of the scale, remove the weighing pan and pan support. Then turn the scale upside down.

Open the compartment on the bottom. Connect the serial cable and secure it with the thumb screws.

Remove the cable breakaway tab

Before closing the compartment, break the middle tab on the cover. Turn the balance back over and put the weighing pan back in its place.

Connect the USB converter to the RS232 cable

Connect the USB converter to the other end of the cable and secure it with the thumb screws.

Connect the USB converter to your PC

Plug the converter into a USB port on your PC. The driver should install automatically. If not, see the video description for download links.

After the device is recognized by Windows, a new COM port will appear. You can find this port in the Windows Device Manager under “Ports (COM & LPT)”. In our case it is called COM9, but the number will probably be different on your system.

Configuring 232key

Download and install 232key, then launch the application.

In the “Input” tab, select the new COM port.

Set the “Device” to Ohaus and press the “Set defaults” button to set the serial interface parameters.

In the “Output” tab, select your keyboard type and, if necessary, a key that should be “pressed” after the weight is entered.

Go to the “Start” tab and press the “Start” button. 232key will now start listening for incoming data on the specified COM port and output it as simulated keystrokes.

Switch to the target application, e.g. Excel or a LIMS. For testing purposes we’ll just use Notepad.

Transfer the weight

Turn the scale on. Place an object on the weighing pan and press the PRINT button.

The weight is entered into the target application.

For more information, please visit our website at 232key.com.

A GX16 connector that does not fail

If you’re working in the weighing industry, you’ve probably come across the GX16 connector:

GX16 connector
Typical GX16 connector (male)

This circular connector is named after its M16 thread and can have up to 8 pins. While it is frequently referred to as an “aviation connector”, I sincerely hope that it is not actually used in aircraft, as I’ve seen many of these connectors fail. Their tiny screws are prone to coming loose, which renders the strain relief useless. Then it’s only a matter of time before the cable is pulled too hard and the wires detach.

What does it take to make a reliable GX16 connector?

This is the Ohaus Catapult 5000 scale:

Ohaus Catapult 5000 scale

It uses an overmolded GX16 connector to connect the platform to the indicator:

Ohaus Catapult 5000 scale indicator

We’ve sold hundreds of these scales and never had an issue with them that was caused by the connectors. This is due to the extensive work that Ohaus put into making them, as demonstrated by the photos below. Apologies for the photo quality, I didn’t take them in our photo studio and it shows.

Completely disassembled GX16 connector
Disassembly of the overmolded Ohaus Catapult 5000 GX16 connector (female) reveals that it contains a complete regular connector, including the metal backshell
The screws of the strain relief are secured with heat shrink tubing
The connector is completely filled
After removal of some material
Further material removal reveals that heat shrink sleeves were used after soldering

Further info

A&D EK-i/EW-i scales: Changing the data transmission mode

The scales are equipped with an RS-232 interface and can be connected to a PC for data acquisition (if necessary via an adapter from RS-232 to USB). They are known as “Everest EK/EW compact balances” in the US.

Applications such as the following can be used to capture the weight:

  • Simple Data Logger (writes the weight to a file with date and time),
  • 232key (enters the weight as simulated keystrokes directly into another application),
  • WinCT (a collection of 3 applications from A&D),
  • LabVIEW,
  • any terminal software (useful for testing data transmission).

Data transmission modes

EK-i and EW-i scales support the following transmission modes:

  • Prt 0 – stream mode: continuous transmission of weight with approx. 10 values/s,
  • Prt 1 – PRINT key (default setting): transmission when pressing the PRINT key on the scale,
  • Prt 2 – auto-print A (positive values only): automatic single transmission when the weight is stable (return to zero required before next transmission),
  • Prt 3 – auto-print B (positive and negative values): automatic single transmission when the weight is stable (return to zero required before next transmission),
  • Prt 4 – command mode only: request-response mode, the computer sends a command to the scale and it responds with the weight value.

Notes:

  • The display flashes briefly (in Prt 1, 2 and 3) to confirm the data output.
  • Commands from a connected computer can be sent in all modes.
  • The PRINT key is active in all modes except Prt 4.
  • There is no interval mode. If you want to capture the weight in certain intervals (e.g every minute), you need a software that supports polling with a timer (or you could set the scale to stream mode and discard most values).

These data output modes can be found in the Func class of the scales’ menu:

Excerpt from the user manual (see link below)

Changing the transmission mode

  1. Turn on the scale.
  2. Press and hold the SAMPLE key until the scale displays “P-3.00” (or a similar value). The scale shows “Func” next.
  3. Press the PRINT key to enter the function settings menu. The first setting “PoFF” is displayed.
  4. Press the SAMPLE key 8 times to enter the “Prt” setting. By default, “Prt 1” is set.
  5. Set “Prt” to the desired value by pressing the RE-ZERO key (see description above).
  6. Confirm the setting with PRINT. The balance displays “End” briefly and then “CP Hi”.
  7. Restart the scale by pressing the MODE key.

Further information