SimplyPats User Forum

Hello Richard, Carl and the worker (Laura)

Just a quick update on the Metrel Gamma Pat. Since I purchased this machine in May 2011, whilst Metrel could enhance the machine by increasing the information that could be entered, I have used it on over 500 items and found (for its price) it to be a formidable portable downloadable machine which does what it says on the box. Using Simply Pats this machine downloads to the laptop very quickly and without problems just by using the usb cable. Have no regrets in purchasing it.

Thanks for your input and support regarding this machine & simply pats.

On an additional matter:

Whilst using Simply Pats you can isolate reports on individual items of equipment, ie., Microwaves & RCD. I have costomers who require their extension leads tested evry 6 months so would it be possible to include within Simply Pats a method whereby you can isolate and print a report just for say, Extension Leads. I'm not idle but it would save a lot of time if this sort of thing could be done by the click of a mouse.

Once again, thanks for your continuing support (as usual)

Hi rjk

The "Worker" (Lorna) is on Holiday for the next couple of weeks, so please expect delayed response times where support is concerned

Good to hear that you find the Metrel GammaPat MI3311 a formidable Portable Appliance Tester and that the download into SimplyPats is straight forward. The release of SimplyPats Version 6.0.5 in September/October 2011 should make the process even easier with the new re-designed PAT Download screen.

On the subject of Reports, producing a PAT Report detailing just a particular type of appliance or in your example Extension leads is already easily possible with a few mouse clicks.

On the main screen of SimplyPats sort the appliances by clicking on the App Description Column Header, or drag the App Description Column Header into the Group area, either way all the Extension Leads should now be listed together.

Click on the first Extension Lead in the list to highlight it, scroll down the list until you can see the last Extension Lead in the list. Hold down Shift on your keyboard and left mouse click on the last Extension Lead, this should have selected all the Extension Leads.

On the File Menu click File and choose Print Results, if you have selected the Appliances correctly, SimplyPats should now ask if you want to print just those items that are selected, in this case Extension Leads.

Hope that’s helps for the moment as Richard has just mentioned that he will look at adding an Appliance Description filter to the Print results screen, which will in effect make it a one click process.

Carl

Once again Carl

Many thanks

RJK (Richard)

Hi Richard,

I had a look at making a filter for the reports on the print Preview Screen yesterday. This is entirely possible and would only involve 3 or 4 hours work to implement.

Did Carl's suggestion of sort the appliances and then selecting a range to be printed solve your issue?

One thing I noticed when prototyping a filter was that on some of the bigger SimplyPats data files that we have, was, if you filter by appliance description you may not get exactly what you expect. For example i was trying to print just the IEC leads, however the people that had done the testing had put some leads in just as LEADS, some as IEC LEADS, some as COMPUTER CABLE etc so the filter might not have got all the leads to print.

Regards, Richard

Hello Richard

Thanks for your reply.

Yes Carl's advice was successful and to be honest, rather than put you to the extra work, his method is great for my needs. However, I don't know what others would think.

Once again many thanks

Richard

[quote="rjk"]Hello Richard, Carl and the worker (Laura)

Just a quick update on the Metrel Gamma Pat. Since I purchased this machine in May 2011, whilst Metrel could enhance the machine by increasing the information that could be entered, I have used it on over 500 items and found (for its price) it to be a formidable portable downloadable machine which does what it says on the box. Using Simply Pats this machine downloads to the laptop very quickly and without problems just by using the usb cable. Have no regrets in purchasing it.

Thanks for your input and support regarding this machine & simply pats.

On an additional matter:

Whilst using Simply Pats you can isolate reports on individual items of equipment, ie., Microwaves & RCD. I have costomers who require their extension leads tested evry 6 months so would it be possible to include within Simply Pats a method whereby you can isolate and print a report just for say, Extension Leads. I'm not idle but it would save a lot of time if this sort of thing could be done by the click of a mouse.


I am thinking of buying the metrel gamma pat (need a handheld tester) - there are two types available with/without the "pro" software so that it can download. Wondering if anyone knew if I had to buy the "pro" software because I will be using simply pats?
regards

Hi

You mention about printing just the extension leads only option, this can be do very easy within SP. Go to the App Description and grab it moving it up to the white bar saying “Drag Column Header Here to Group”, then go to the section where the extension leads are grouped this was done by dragging it to the group section, this then places all items into their groups / fields. Highlight the leads section all or just the ones required you want to print, (do this by selecting the first item, then holding down the shift key, click on the last item you require, and then hay presto all the items are highlighted) Go to File, Print Results, SP will then ask you if you want to print these items, say yes (well click yes), you are then presented with the print options to print whatever Print lay out you require e.g. one item per page, detailed etc.

Hope this is of any help.

Ps
Regarding the Metrel range, I would agree that both the Gamma and Delta PAT are very good with a possible drawback of not having a keyboard input option, it’s a bit like a old mobile phone, press this button 3 times to get a ‘G’ say. The Sigma PAT is a very very good machine but the price reflects this as well, all work exceptionally well with Simply PAT’s, so in my opinion I would not bother with another PAT software when you have already got the best.”SP”

_________________
City and Guilds 2377 Qualified PAT Testing Engineer
Domestic Electrician(NICEIC)
Always looking for new customers based in Cornwall
All in accordance with The IEE CofP
www.handselectrical.co.uk

Hi Racerjo

I have moved this post from the Feedback and Comments section into the Metrel Section, sorry for any confusion.

At the time of writing I can confirm that you only need purchase the standard GammaPat MI3311 package and not the GammaPat MI3311 Pro package, the GammaPat will quite happily download to SimplyPats once you have plugged in a standard A to B USB Cable (Standard USB Printer Cable) and installed the USB Drivers (normally supplied on the included Metrel CD).

The GammaPat is a great PAT Tester for the money, but as mentioned by another forum member the lack of a keyboard may put some people off, however saying that I believe that Appliance Description field on the PAT Tester will allow you to select Appliance Descriptions from a list accessible by pressing the TAB button, this certainly goes some way to speeding up the entry of Appliance Descriptions.

Also, don’t forget that SimplyPats has an option to convert Appliance Abbreviations which may be worth looking at. Enter KE into the PAT Tester and after choosing the Replace Abbreviations option in SimplyPats, KE becomes KETTLE.

You can add your own Abbreviations or Edit the existing ones, you can even enter more than one Abbreviation into the PAT tester by separating them with a space, this is especially useful if you want to record the Manufacturer name as well as the Appliance Description. Entries that would normally take a lot of typing or entering using non QWERTY keyboards such as Morphy Richards Panini Press can be entered into the PAT as MOR PP for instance, you just need to make sure that you have the abbreviations set up in the Maintain Abbreviations list before choosing to Replace Abbreviations.

In this case I have used three letters for the manufacturer and two for the appliance description MOR = Morphy Richards and PP = Panini Press, you can use up to four letters for any abbreviations if needed.

Slighly off topic, but i hope that all makes sense.

Regards Carl

thanks we already use the abbreviations tool find it very helpful.

Thanks for the feedback on the Gamma think that we may purchase!

I have purchased the gamma pat - i dont want to use the pro software so plugged in the gamma and used the serial port connector but unable to get the results uploaded to simply pats6 any ideas?

Hi racerjo

Couple of things to check if you haven't already done so.

The best way of downloading is to use a standard A to B USB Cable (Standard USB Printer Cable) between the PC and the GammaPat. When you connect the GammaPat to you PC for the first time it will want to install the USB Drivers, these are supplied on the included Metrel CD that came with your GammaPat.

Once installed, make sure you have selected the correct Serial Port to download from (you can check this by going to control panel, device manager and then look down the list to find Com Ports. (confirm that there isnt a yellow exclamation mark against your new port as this means the drivers havent been installed.)

When you plug in the GammaPat the main screen will change to show a picture of it connecting to a PC.

If you have everything installed ok, before downloading, just make sure your GammaPat is at its Main Menu. (For some reason, if the GammaPat is not at the main menu when you try and download, it will not do so, despite showing a connection screen.)

Let us know if you get sorted, or if you still continue to have problems.

Regards, Richard.