PyUSB Stop Dymo scales from shutting down automatically

Question

I am using a Dymo USB scale with PyUSB and everything is really great apart from the scale's automatic shutdown after three minutes. I would like to keep it running as long as my python program is running. Is there any way to do this using python?

I am new to PyUSB and have followed this tutorial successfully so far: http://steventsnyder.com/reading-a-dymo-usb-scale-using-python/.

The auto shutdown can be disabled manually as said here: http://www.manualslib.com/manual/472133/Dymo-S100.html?page=7 but this must be performed every single time which is a problem.

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Unless there's already a way to do it from their software, no. — Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams, Apr 07 '16 at 02:01

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 05 '16 at 12:00

3

As Ignacio said, there doesn't seem to be any computing way to do this. We eventually managed to stop the automatic shutdown by wiring a timer directly to the button which changes the units mode from grams to ounces. "Pressing" this every few seconds prevents the shutdown, and a little bit of extra coding allows for reading the mass from either mode correctly.

Not as simple a solution as I'd hoped for, but perhaps the idea will help anyone with a weirdly-specific problem similar to this.

answered May 05 '16 at 12:00

zooombini

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Zoombini - I'm looking to do exactly this, do you have any more details on how you wired in the timer to the units button? – Keith Jan 30 '18 at 16:22
Our university physics workshop did it for us so I'm not sure, but I think they just broke inside, removed the button and used a 555 timer to activate the button connections. I'm not sure they'll remember but I can ask if you need more details. – zooombini Jan 31 '18 at 16:47
@zoombini i'd also love help with this solution – ChatGPT Oct 30 '18 at 11:12
how did you guys even open it? tamper proof screws! – ChatGPT Oct 30 '18 at 11:37
Anyone find an alternative scale to use? I need a scale that has a USB connection, no auto shut down (or ability to turn off this 'feature') and reasonable price (<$100). I've seen high-end expensive scales with these requirements. It's hard to search for these types of scales too because when you search "usb" it returns results of many cheap scales that are usb-powered but that don't have usb data transfer. – 823g4n8901 Mar 30 '23 at 22:17

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 11 '20 at 03:37

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Here is a hardware description to open/modify and code to toggle the scale button of DYMO (to avoid auto-shutdown) https://learn.adafruit.com/data-logging-iot-weight-scale/code-walkthrough

answered Jan 11 '20 at 03:37

Erwin Coumans

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PyUSB Stop Dymo scales from shutting down automatically

2 Answers2