I've recently received my DL24P (180W 4-wire version with RGB cooler and Bluetooth integrated onto the main PCB).
I was first puzzled with the fact that I can only "listen" current status via the USB. Only after a while I've noticed that the same PC apps work OK with Bluetooth. My current guess this is that Bluetooth version is just hardwired like that.
It's a pity there's no clear error/warning message explaining this though (on the other hand, I've seen the same weird "silently ignore" behavior in the same situations with high-end instruments too).
Also, some apps (usually those that does not support this load well) leave it in a weird state, so that a normal app cannot connect. So, just to be sure, it's better to power cycle the board just before connecting.
While trying to understand what's happening, I've tested effectively all related software, so here they are:
- from "https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1c04afq923397/A3"
- "DL24-DL24P\PC soft\DL24 LOAD PC SOFT.zip" - good old minimalistic app, only implements CC mode, but so does others. Adequate logging. Adequate input. Probably the best choice.
- Electronic load software
- "DL24-DL24P\PC soft\01-DL24M DL24 electronic load software V1.0.2 version.zip\01-DL24M DL24 electronic load software V1.0.2 version\" (Build 2022-04) - seem to be the second best option: direct numerical inputs, logs all the data to csv to the specified folder (although splits them not very intuitively), everything in English. Only implements CC mode.
- "DL24-PCB\DL24 series electronic load software V1.1 version.zip\DL24 series electronic load software V1.1 version\" (Build 2021-12) - effectively the same, but does not save the language setting and got some warning dialogs in Chinese. There was some effort to implement modes other that CC, but it's effectively not working.
- "DL24EW\ATORCH-DC Load PC Software V2.0.8(DL24M(Purple)_DL150_DL24EW).zip\ATORCH-DC Load PC Software V2.0.8(DL24M(Purple)_DL150_DL24EW)\01-DL24M(Purple)_DL150_DL24EW electronic load software V2.0.8\" (Build 2023-02) - only able to display the values, unable to start/stop (somewhat expected, as the readme does not claim that DL24P is compatible).
- "DL24-DL24P\PC soft\E-Tester PC soft -V2.0.1.exe" - The "black app" commonly shown on Aliexpress seller images. Less convenient controls (cursor-based "remotely click hardware buttons") - does not make any sense to me.
- misdoro/Electronic_load_px100 release v0.1.2 (Windows) - works OK, got additional "Software CC-CV" feature. Still a little awkward to use, compared to "DL24 electronic load software V1.0.2". Might be a good start for an own project though.
- Hardandsoftware - limited and less convenient manual control (cursor-based "remotely click hardware buttons"), plus additional features I don't quite understand.
- Android "E-test" app from google play (version 2.0) - miserable app that is barely able to display the current values (shows weird peaks time to time, broken stats, most buttons not working, ...). Useless.
The "DL24 LOAD PC SOFT" seem to be good enough for my use cases. Provided that all the listed software was never updated for about a year, I doubt there would be any more development on this. Anyone who's looking for a better app should probably be buying DL24EW - it's about twice the price but still fairly cheap.