Oximiter: Contec Med'l Systems CMS50D+

[Mark NJ]

Hi All,
Just received my Contec Medical Systems CMS50D+ pulse oximeter from China. Having a problem with down-load. If anybody has this model, or a similar model, who can help me with my download I'd appreciate it.

I've used the oximeter for a few minutes; installed the software, connected the cable between the oximeter and my computer.

The software seems to work. It displays 4 quadrants (apparently to monitor 4 patients). When I have my finger in the oximeter and cable connected I see a real-time display of my pulse and SpO2 in the 1'st quadrant. So, I surmise that my computer is configured correctly to recognize the cable and the oximeter at the end of the cable.

However, when I try the download I fail.

At the bottom of the display there is a button that appears as the letter i surrounded with a circle. When I click on that button I see new window that prompts me for the patient's name, height, weight, age, sex and comments. I enter this data and then hit the button: [OK] I get the error:

Connection error : invalid COM number!

I don't understand this. Why would my computer recognize the oximeter in real time and display my data if my computer didn't recognize the oximeter and its COM port as valid? I don't see anywhere in the application a place to set or change the COM port. So, even if I were to concede that my COM port was invalid I don't see how to try other COM port numbers in order to find the correct one.


I also am not clear as to how to invoke the download. The pertinent instruction in the user manual seems to be the following:


b. On the main menu interface, the users to upload the stored date to computer when the symbol "Record" shows "off".

Not a great translation to English. Even so, I take it that the user is to invoke the download after recording a period of time while the oximeter is in the state "Record" = "On" by switching the Record setting to "Off". Presumably, this singnals that the recording session is complete and that the oximeter should begin the download as soon as it establishes communication with the computer.

I further understand that by exiting the menu while Record = Off that the oximeter will purge the memory of the recorded values in preparation for the next recording session. The next recording session will begin when the user enters the menu and sets Record = On.

(Incidently, while working with this application my computer crashed with the "blue screen of death". This was a crash that I have never seen before on this computer (running Windows 7 on a 64 bit machine).
Thanks for any help anyone might be able to offer.

Mark

[Lizistired]

Click the GREEN REVIEW program icon, not the red one.

Try this:
When you are done recording,
Turn record OFF, and stay in that menu.
Hook the device to your computer using the cable that came with it.
Open the review program(the green one)
The program should find your device and display: "Waiting for data".(you may have to open that patient file since you entered it.)
Turn download ON on your device.

I doubt that it dumps the data, at least not until you turn record on again, probably just overwrites it.

[McSleepy]

Since you mentioned that you got it from China, and Contec being a Chinese manufacturer, I should probably start by saying that I also have ordered many Chinese electronic products and have had a lot of frustrations getting them to work properly, but the low price seems to motivate me to try again and again.
I can see in the description of the product (off of their website) that there is an option for "RF Wireless communication function". That might be a Bluetooth connection, which usually uses an SPP profile, which shows up on a Windows PC as a COM port. The USB connection is very unlikely to generate a COM port (I've only seen GPS devices do that, and that's for compatibility with software), but you can check that in your "Devices" control panel (I should note that I'm not familiar with Windows 7, so my terminology might not be correct). I would see if you can tell it to only try to use the USB connection. The bugcheck that you have observed (i.e., the crash) suggests that the software has installed something in the kernel (e.g., a device driver), which is unusual for a USB device but leads me to believe the Contec software was not designed for 64-bit Windows 7. My main suggestion is to visit the manufacturer's website and see if there are any drivers or software updates, any instructions, or, obviously, any way to obtain technical support. You can also try to install the software in 32-bit compatibility mode (e.g., Windows XP SP3).
McSleepy
P.S. How much did you pay for this?

[Slinky]

LizIsTired is correct. The red icon is for real time viewing. The green icon is for viewing an overnight recording.

And I would agree that the Chinglish instructions are NOT the easiest to decipher. I needed help from Snnnark to be able to use my ConTec CMS-50D+ correctly. You can usually find the 50D+ online for $100-$120 and it is US FDA approved.

I've read you can find the 50D+ and other low price recording oximeters at Walgreen's and Wal-Mart at very low prices as well.

[Lizistired]

Mark, Did you get this to work?
Kevin at Cooper Medical has posted a doc at this link. It's under manuals, download help. It says the newest version of the software may produce an error like yours and you can download the older version there.
He also has instructions in ENGLISH!


http://www.pulseoxstore.com/CMS-50F_INSTRUCTIONS.pdf

[Mark NJ]

Thanks everyone,
Major problem was caused by my failure to notice the green heart icon. There was a gap in my desktop icons. So, when the application installed it dropped the green icon in the open gap and put the red icon at the end of the list. My attention was drawn to the red icon; I overlooked the green icon. When I tried the green icon it worked right away.

I got a propt response from the vendor. The response was quite clear.

While not the slickest packaged product, the product is priced attractively and so far I'm pretty satisfied.

Regards,
Mark