EBC-A40L - "No Device" in PC software

[jonathanv]

I have just purchased an EBC-A40L tester and followed the instructions from the manual to connect it to my PC but I keep getting “No Device” when connecting. My steps:

1. Install the EB Tester Software (from ZKETECH website)
2. Install the USB driver
3. Connect the USB TTL cable
4. Find the COM port in the Windows device list (COM4)
5. Start EB Tester program
6. Switch on EBC-A40L tester
7. Set EB Tester to COM4
8. Click on connect

But the program keeps saying “No Device”. The display on the EBC-A40L says “-PC-”

I’ve switched USB ports, which then becomes COM5 but the issue remains. It’s a Windows 10 machine. The tester says v3.0.3. It will find the COM port when I search from the EB tester program

I've tried the software from the forum but that doesn't seem to make a difference.

Any ideas?

 

[gotbeans]

When you go to device manager does it show USB serial CH340? (where you see the COM4 stuff)

if it's connecting on the thing saying -PC- I assume it's entirely the software having an issue. What is your "tester v3.0.3" the version of the software? one on the forum is 1.8.5
haven't experienced this.
I've been testing windows xp - win7, windows10 vms for many hours past 2 weeks with this software debugging some stuff
none of them have done that, so must be some collision of software on your machine not liking it
I guess there could be some hardware bug too lol

oh is that 3.0.3 over here?

 

[jonathanv]

When you go to device manager does it show USB serial CH340? (where you see the COM4 stuff)

if it's connecting on the thing saying -PC- I assume it's entirely the software having an issue. What is your "tester v3.0.3" the version of the software? one on the forum is 1.8.5
haven't experienced this.
I've been testing windows xp - win7, windows10 vms for many hours past 2 weeks with this software debugging some stuff
none of them have done that, so must be some collision of software on your machine not liking it
I guess there could be some hardware bug too lol

oh is that 3.0.3 over here?
View attachment 181537

The V3.0.3. shows up on the LCD screen of the tester when I power it on. I am using the software from the forum, 1.8.5, and also tried the software from ZKE's site, same result. The COM port shows up like you mention.

I have been back and forth with the vendor and they are sending me a new circuit board and cable. ZKE was also quite helpful, we took apart the USB cable and measured all the voltages but they didn't know what it was. I tried two different PC's but no luck. Hopefully the new board will solve it.

Does it work ok under a virtual machine? Maybe I'll try that. Which OS worked best in your view?

 

[gotbeans]

The V3.0.3. shows up on the LCD screen of the tester when I power it on. I am using the software from the forum, 1.8.5, and also tried the software from ZKE's site, same result. The COM port shows up like you mention.

I have been back and forth with the vendor and they are sending me a new circuit board and cable. ZKE was also quite helpful, we took apart the USB cable and measured all the voltages but they didn't know what it was. I tried two different PC's but no luck. Hopefully the new board will solve it.

Does it work ok under a virtual machine? Maybe I'll try that. Which OS worked best in your view?

yea it sounds very weird
yea works fine under a VM what are you familiar with (I'm using KVM/Qemu on linux)?
literally all you have to do is passthrough the USB to the vm the same as you'd do with any flash drive etc.
I've tested on fresh windows 10, and the hacked windows 10 that are tiny isos... and the hacked windows 7 that are "tiny7" etc
works under everything really. I'm using tiny7 as it uses 300mb of ram

If you run the VM without internet like I do you need the CH341 usb to serial driver. I've asked the guy with the software uploaded on the forum to include it but he hasn't responded so far.. I'll ask an admin in a month or something idk if the guy uses the forum frequently.


This is the driver I used, IT IS AUTO DOWNLOADED BY WINDOWS so if you do have it connected to internet you don't need it.

CH341SER.EXE - NanjingQinhengMicroelectronics

CH340/CH341 USB to serial port One-Key installation VCP vendor driver for Windows, supports Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/VISTA/XP/2000/98，Server 2022/2019/2016/2012/2008/2003 -32/64bit, Microsoft WHQL/HCK Certified, supports USB to 3-line and 9-line serial port. Used to distribute to user with the...

www.wch-ic.com

I did not virus scan it or anything (the vm doesn't even have internet, so who cares!), it does work 100% though


I'm not linking to any of the versions I said above but they're very easy to find and running with no internet security is not a concern. You can use a flash drive to give them the ZKE software and the VM will NEVER change and ALWAYS work cuz it has no internet to mess it up.
You can use this ISO from microsoft for free, forever as it is the "trial" and no internet works fine too

Download Windows 10 Disc Image (ISO File)

I think if your browser user agent is showing windows it gives you a different file
if you are not on windows or just change the browser user agent you should see some page like


after clicking a few things like what language you want

 

[jonathanv]

Thanks! Appreciate the extensive writeup!

 

[gotbeans]

Yep let me know how it goes. Working in another thread with some guys there is very inconsistent results it seems with this device/software though I haven't been able to reproduce any of it.

ZKETECH EBC-A40L loading and viewing .csv data without unit?

I'm trying to load the .CSV files from Andy (offgrid garage) into the EB Tester software V1.8.5 (I don't have the unit yet). I've tried both the old and new files he provides. Difference is in the header of the files. What I've tried is to download the .CSV files, in the software I've choosen...

diysolarforum.com

I think if we can figure out what it is, they'd fix it.

 

[jonathanv]

The V3.0.3. shows up on the LCD screen of the tester when I power it on. I am using the software from the forum, 1.8.5, and also tried the software from ZKE's site, same result. The COM port shows up like you mention.

I have been back and forth with the vendor and they are sending me a new circuit board and cable. ZKE was also quite helpful, we took apart the USB cable and measured all the voltages but they didn't know what it was. I tried two different PC's but no luck. Hopefully the new board will solve it.

Does it work ok under a virtual machine? Maybe I'll try that. Which OS worked best in your view?

SOLVED!

They sent me a new usb to serial cable, the internal cable, and the circuit board that attaches to the LCD and now it connects. The circuit board was the issue as the two replacement cables had no effect.