Professional Balance Charger/Discharger SKYRC B6AC V2 is the upgraded version for well-known iMAX B6AC. Compared with iMAX B6AC, it is more accurate and stable and also has some new features and functions.

Table of Contents

DataExplorer is looking for contributors for new supported languages and/or new supported devices. If you're interested, please take a look at this Contributing. Thanks.

Introduction

The DataExplorer is free software, please see https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html. It is also available at no cost, but without any warranty. Since the implementation is based on Java, using free available libraries for data communication and SWT, the execution of this program is possible under a number of popular operating systems like 32/64 Bit GNU/Linux and MS Windows and Mac OS. To execute the only prerequisite is an installed Java runtime with version 8 (1.8) up to Java 11, like IcedTea. An Android version of DataExplorer is available via PlayStore. The DataExplorer gathers data from connected devices and display this data for a various of further analysis. Actual the following devices are available as plug-in:

• AkkuMasterC4 (Htronic) - 4 outlet battery charger/discharger
• Akkumatik (Estner) - battery charger/discharger
• 4D-AkkuMonitor (4D) - battery monitor
• ArduPilot - UAV log analyzer (beta-version)
• AV4ms (Fritz Mössinger/accu-select) 4 slot battery charger/discharger firmware >= 762
• CellLog 8S, (Junsi) battery cell monitor
• CSV-Import generic form (beta-version)
• CSV2SerialAdapter, import of configurable CVS data files
• D100 (SkyRC) 2 channel charger/discharger USB-HID
• D100 V2 (SkyRC) 2 channel charger/discharger USB-HID
• Devo-Telemetry (Devention)
• DataVario, DataVarioDuo (WStech) variometer, GPS, multi measurement device
• eStation BC6 50W, BC6 80W(dx), BC610, BC8, 902 (Bantam) charger/discharger
• FlightRecorder (Multiplex) Logger
• Futaba-Telemetry (Robbe/Futaba) multi logger
• GigaLogger (Simprop) multi logger
• GPS-Logger (SM-Modellbau) - GPS, variometer integrated
• GPS-Logger2 (SM-Modellbau) - GPS, variometer with TEK integrated
• GPS-Logger3 (SM-Modellbau) - GPS, variometer with TEK integrated
• GPXAdapter GPS Exchange Format file analyzer, extensions prepared for Mikrokopter
• Herkules III Telemetry (Andreas Baier) Copter ESC Module
• Hitec DRX1 (Hitec DRX1 Pro) charger/discharger
• Hitec X1 Red charger/discharger
• HoTTAdapter (Graupner) Receiver-, Vario-, GPS-, General-, Electric-Sensor-Module
• HoTTViewerAdapter (Graupner HoTTViewer files)
• iCharger 106B (Junsi) charger/discharger
• iCharger 206B (Junsi) charger/discharger
• iCharger 208B (Junsi) charger/discharger
• iCharger 306B (Junsi) charger/discharger
• iCharger 3010B (Junsi) charger/discharger
• iCharger 308DUO (Junsi) 2 channel charger/discharger USB-HID
• iCharger 406DUO (Junsi) 2 channel charger/discharger USB-HID
• iCharger 4010DUO (Junsi) 2 channel charger/discharger USB-HID
• iCharger X6 (Junsi) charger/discharger USB-HID
• iCharger X8 (Junsi) charger/discharger USB-HID
• IGCAdapter (OnLine Contest(OLC)/International Gliding Commission) file analyzer
• iMax B6 (SkyRC) charger/discharger
• iMax B6 V2 (SkyRC) charger/discharger USB-HID
• iMax B6 mini (SkyRC) charger/discharger USB-HID
• IISI Cockpit (Multiplex) Matthias Isler
• JetiAdapter (Jeti, Jeti-Box) multi-sensor-log
• JLog2 (SM-Modellbau) - ESC motor driver logger
• Kosmik (Kontronik) - ESC motor driver with integrated loggger
• LinkVario, LinkVarioDuo (WStech) variometer, GPS, multi measurement device
• LiPoWatch (SM-Modellbau) - LiPo saver, cell voltage measurement
• LogView OpenFormat Zero (LogView) - user defined device log format
• NMEA-Adapter (diverse) - GPS track analyzer
• MC3000 (SkyRC) single cell charger/discharger USB-HID
• OpenTx-Telemetry - telemetry data analysis
• Pichler P6 50W, P6 80W, P60 (Pichler) and other eStation BC6 clones charger/discharger
• Picolario (Renschler) - variometer
• Picolario2 (Renschler) - variometer
• Polaron Ac/Dc Sports (Graupner/SJ) - battery charger/discharger
• Polaron EQ (Graupner/SJ) - battery charger/discharger
• Polaron EX (Graupner/SJ) - battery charger/discharger
• Polaron Pro (Graupner/SJ) - battery charger/discharger
• Polaron EX 1400 (Graupner/SJ) - battery charger/discharger
• Pulsar 3 (Elprog) - battery charger/discharger
• QC-Copter/QuadroControl (tt-tronix) control unit
• Q200 (SkyRC) 4 channel charger/discharger USB-HID
• S32/JLog3 (R2Prototyping) - ESC logger
• Spektrum-Telemetry (Spektrum) - telemetry data analysis
• Ultramat AC/DC EQ (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultramat12 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultramat16 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultramat16S (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultramat18 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultra Duo Plus 40 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultra Duo Plus 45 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultra Duo Plus 50 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultra Duo Plus 60 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultra Duo Plus 80 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultra Trio Plus 14 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultra Trio Plus 16S (Graupner) charger/discharger
• Ultra Quick 70 (Graupner) charger/discharger
• UniLog (SM-Modellbau) multi - measurement device
• UniLog2 (SM-Modellbau) multi - measurement device with cell voltage analysis
• UT16E (UniTrend) multimeter
• VC820, VC840 (Conrad/VoltCraft) multimeter
• Weatronic-Telemetry (Weatronic) telemetry data analysis
• WDE-1 (ELV) Weather-Data-Receiver beta-version

More device are under construction. Help doing this is very welcome.

New similar to existing devices can be easily created by using the integrated DevicePropertyEditor application without coding effort. A device API (IDevice) is defined to enable a relative simple adaptation of a new device as plug-in to integrate into the application framework.

Inquiries about APIs and how to integrate new devices into the framework are welcome (send questions to https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/dataexplorer-help or direct to the maintainer mailto:Winfried.Bruegmann@web.de.

Screen shots

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mac OS X, Windows 7, Windows XP (klick to resize)

Download

The latest version of DataExplorer can be found and downloaded at downloads or https://savannah.nongnu.org/files/?group=dataexplorer. Currently, the latest is quite often the greatest, so consider trying out the anonymous checkout of GIT provided on savannah.

Troubleshooting

DataExplorer will be distributed without a bundeled Java runtime environment. This should prevent your system to have multiple Java versions installed which may be need later on some maintenence from time to time. Therefore there is a need to provide a Java runtime environment by installation if not already available. In most cases a JRE (Java Runtime Environment) fulfills the DataExplorer requirements to execute successfully. A JRE installation installs a web browser plug-in as well which needs automatically update if not de-activated since this might cause a potential security risc. For a not browser based application Java is no security risk and an automatically update might not necessary. The Java runtime environment must have version 1.8.+. Starting with release version 3.3.4 up to Java 11 is supported. It is not always recommended to update to latest Java version, recommendation stay with Java 1.8.
With GNU/Linux-systems it is simple to install Java, just select from the connected software repository and a reasonable Java will be installed. This will install a Java which fits the system architecture, 32/64 Bit.
A Windows-system allows, at least a 64 bit system, to install both in parallel, a 32 bit and a 64 bit Java runtime environment. Since from DataExplorer both versions 32 and 64 bit are available it is important to install fitting versions. A 32 bit DataExplorer requires a 32 bit Java. To verify which Java version is available just type 'java -version' in a command line. Does this not respond with an version answer the Java executable is not installed or not reachable by the path. Any responds will contain a hint which bit version is installed.
An Apple-system with MAC OS X and Intel based processor is always 64 bit. Please use the 32 bit version of the DataExplorer for Power processor based system only. For a MAC OS X also a Java runtime environment would fulfill the execution requirement. For unknown reason the JRE Java executable is not reachable. Therefore it is required to install a Java SE or development environment (JDK). Please be patient for that while downloading. JDK (Java Development Environment) can be downloaded directly from Oracle.
The overall procedure while start-up trouble should be to open a command line prompt (GNU/Linux bash, Windows command line shell, MAC OS X Terminal) and change into the directory in which you find the DataExplorer start executable (GNU/Linux DataExplorer script, Windows DataExplorer.exe, MAC OS X DataExplorerMac64 script). In this directory execute 'java -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -jar ./DataExplorer.jar'. If there are some errors with the Java environment you will get an meaningful responds. To check out if Java can be executed at all just enter 'java -version'.
Problems while downloading a usable Java runtime environment? Please drop me a mail.

Support of obsolete operating systems

The DataExplorer application should sometimes run on a system with a back-level operating system.
Hopefully the system doesn't connected to Internet while the operating system doesn't receive updates anymore!
The Java runtime or service environment should be already installed with version 1.8+. Java installation executables may hard to find or not be available anymore.
Actual GNU/Linux systems comes with GTK3 instead of GTK2. The SWT-toolkit with version 4.9 support both. Anyhow sometimes an older SWT-toolkit results in a better UI representation while using a back level Linux with GTK2. Export SWT_GTK3=0 to force usage of GTK2 (start script) or try an older SWT-toolkit (swt.jar).
Windows XP does not support SWT-toolkit 4.9 as actually used, just replace SWT-toolkit with a version 3.* by replacing swt.jar
MAC OS X changed USB API with 10.14 Mojave release. Therefore for Mac OS X <= 10.13 High Sierra usb4java release 1.2.0 needs to be used. This may change with usb4java > 1.3.0 which may use a newer LibUsb library supporting both APIs.

Plug-ins

The DataExplorer application consists of a kernel application and plug-ins. Very similar devices following the same data schema are grouped into one plug-in. A good example is the eStation plug-in which groups the eStation BC6, eStation BC610, eStation BC8, eStation 902 and the Pichler P6 as well as the Pichler P60 charger/discharger devices. There are a lot of charger discharger charger devices which are using the same processor and firmware and are usage compatible. This clones might not be known by name and therefore are not directly available using the device name. Such devices can be easily enabled using the DevicePropertyEditor.

Mailinglists

Two mailing lists have been set up on the nongnu.org server.

• DataExplorer bugs (https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/dataexplorer-bug ) is focused on bugs,
• DataExplorer help (https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/dataexplorer-help) was initially focused on helping people to get started with the DataExplorer, or who want to integrate new devices without touching the rest of the DataExplorer application. It has now become a combined user/developer list.

Use the source

https://savannah.nongnu.org/ is the GNU hosting server, available for general free software packages. You find the DataExplorer there under https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/dataexplorer. On Savannah you can browse the DataExplorer sources in cvs. You can also report bugs there. For discussions, please use the mailinglists instead of the Savannah-provided forum, we do not want people to have to look at too many places for information, and mailman was there first.

Contributing

There are lots of things to do. Current suggestions can be found at the task manager https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/dataexplorer. To give you some ideas:

• There are quite a lot of missing features in varying sizes. One of the bigger ones is making a universal usable device plug-in which allows user interface guided adaption to real device dependencies.
• You have a device which generates measurement data or store measurement data within it local storage and you want to integrate it into the DataExplorer as plug-in, contact us!
• Maybe you can help out with a task listed in the task list over at https://savannah.gnu.org/task/?group=dataexplorer.

If you have some spare time, sign up in bug-gift and help-gift, and tell us what you would like to do, what kind of hacking you prefer, and we find out what's best for you. There is enough for everyone.

Translations of this page:
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This writeup is about how I manage to get the USB PC interface enabled on a 'Genuine Imax RC B610 Pro' that I bought from an Ebay store.

I bought the battery charger from an Ebay store that stated it as being equipped with a USB interface that could read display and save battery charging data.

The charger arrived and I found it to have a mini USB connector but no USB wire or software was included in the package, I contacted the company via Ebay but they couldn't or didn't want to help me with this matter, they just told me that the charger was coming from another supplier.

Battery kits. I started to investigate the problem by downloading a few battery charger monitoring applications that I found at various places on the Internet, but without success I also tried loads of different USB Uart drivers still without being able to communicate with the Imax RC B610 Pro charger that I up to now considered as genuine (Due to the hologram sticker and the fact that I could register the device with the serial number!).