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BETA BRITE Programming Manual

General information: Using a computer to operate your sign

Using a computer to operate your sign

Though messages can be programmed into the sign using the hand-

held Remote Control, messages can also be sent to the sign using a
computer. To do this, you’ll need special connectors and computer
software:

NOTE: This manual shows you how to send messages to your sign

with the Remote Control.

The manual that comes with the AlphaNET software shows
you how to send messages to your sign with a computer.

Item

Part #

Description

—

Ferrite (ferrite end towards sign)

1088-8625

25-foot 6-conductor RS232 data cable

1088-8627

50-foot 6-conductor RS232 data cable

4370-0001C

25 pin sub-D/to 6 pos. RJ11 adapter

1088-9108

9 pin sub-D/to 6 pos. RJ11 adapter

—

Power supply

To one of the

PC’s COM

(RS232) ports

To the sign’s

RS232 jack

(on the side)

PC running

AlphaNET

software

NOTE: Do NOT connect a telephone to the sign’s RS232 jack.

NOTE: Do NOT use ordinary telephone wire to connect the sign to a computer.

NOTE: Use only the power supply (Item D) that came with the sign.

NOTE: All of the parts listed below (including the AlphaNET software) are

available from Adaptive Micro Systems.

To power source

Summary of Contents for Beta Brite

Page 1: ...i PROGRAMMING MANUAL Form No 9703 6001D 11 13 98 ...

Page 2: ...ptive Micro Systems Inc BETA BRITE BIG DOT and SMART ALEC are trademarks of Adaptive Micro Systems Inc registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office Alec ALPHA AlphaLert AlphaNET AlphaNET plus AlphaNET plus II ALPHAVISION Automode Director EZ KEY II EZ95 PagerNET PrintPak PPD Solar and TimeNet are trademarks of Adaptive Micro Systems Inc Visit our Internet World Wide Web site http ww...

Page 3: ...owercase in messages 11 Example 2 Displaying messages in file name order A B C etc 13 Example 3 Displaying messages in time order 15 Example 4 Changing the text of an existing message 17 Example 5 Deleting messages 20 Advanced text messaging 21 Example 6 Displaying the time and date 21 Example 7 Using fonts and colors 24 Example 8 Speeding up and slowing down messages 27 Example 9 Special effects ...

Page 4: ...iv WARNING FOR EUROPEAN USERS This is a class A product In a domestic environment this product may cause radio interference in which case the user may be required to take adequate measures ...

Page 5: ...TEXT WILL APPEAR ON THE DISPLAY USE THE AND SELECT KEYS FOR PUNCTUATION 4 PRESS THE RUN KEY TWICE ON OFF CAPS LOCK SOUND PROGRAM MODE FONT RUN FCN Press PROGRAM to put the sign into one of these modes Use BACK to move from mode to mode and ADV to select a mode PROG TEXT A for entering text messages A is a file name from A to Z PROG DOTS A for creating graphics A is a file name from A to Z SET TIME...

Page 6: ...ign with a computer Item Part Description A Ferrite ferrite end towards sign B 1088 8625 25 foot 6 conductor RS232 data cable 1088 8627 50 foot 6 conductor RS232 data cable C 4370 0001C 25 pin sub D to 6 pos RJ11 adapter 1088 9108 9 pin sub D to 6 pos RJ11 adapter D Power supply A B C To one of the PC s COM RS232 ports To the sign s RS232 jack on the side PC running AlphaNET software NOTE Do NOT c...

Page 7: ...ace the power supply on a flat surface where no chemicals or liquid such as water will contact it Plug the power supply into an easily accessible electrical outlet no further than 15 feet away from the sign Front view Top view Wall mount Power cord Washer 1 Attach the mounting brackets to the wall or surface 24 5 8 inches 62 7 cm on center 2 Attach the sign to mounting brackets using hardware as s...

Page 8: ...ing chains and ceiling hooks not supplied The chains and hooks must be able to support at least four times the weight of the sign 3 Plug the power cord into the sign and into a nearby outlet Front view Top view Counter mount Power cord Washer 1 Attach the mounting brackets to the counter 24 5 8 inches 62 7 cm on center 2 Plug the power cord into the sign 3 Attach the sign to mounting brackets usin...

Page 9: ...ence that may cause undesired operation Canada This Class A digital apparatus meets all requirements of the Canadian Interference Causing Equipment Regulations Cet appareil numerique de la class A respecte toutes les exigences du Regement sur le material broullieur du Canada Weight without power supply or keyboard 2 55 pounds 1 16 kg Height 3 13 16 inches 9 7 cm Length 25 7 8 inches 65 7 cm Depth ...

Page 10: ...gn there is another way to turn the sign off Holding down FCN and then press PROGRAM turns a sign off and on NOTE Messages that you have programmed into the sign will not be lost when you turn a sign off Messages will be retained for up to 30 days if the sign is not powered When a signs starts up the following will be displayed 1036 0001A THEN 32K RAM The software or firmware version inside the si...

Page 11: ... Press D to set the day of the week Press H to set the hour Press M to set the minute NOTE Press SELECT to change from 12 hour AM PM to 24 hour mode 0 23 5 Press BACK until SET DATE appears 6 Press ADV 7 Press D to set the day Press M to set the month Press Y to set the year NOTE Press SELECT to display the date in different formats for example JAN 26 1998 or 1 26 98 or 26 1 98 etc 8 After setting...

Page 12: ...s that have been programmed into the sign also the sign s password if any will be deleted Step When you do this You see this 1 Press PROGRAM 2 Press BACK until CLEAR MEMORY appears 3 Press ADV 4 Press Y to clear the sign s memory The sign will return to normal operation and display a series of demo messages PROG TEXT A CLEAR MEMORY WARNING THEN CLEAR ALL Y N ...

Page 13: ...r password Only asterisks will appear on the sign as you type Re type the password when prompted CORRECT will appear if you entered the same password If you failed to type the same password ERROR will appear and you ll have to start over from Step 1 6 Press RUN twice 7 Press Y to password protect the sign NOTE If you select N then a password will not be needed when you press PROGRAM PROG TEXT A SE...

Page 14: ...elete the password To do this see Clearing a sign s memory on page 8 Sound control Normally when you press a Remote Control key while programming a sign the sign will beep If you want to turn the beeping off hold down FCN and then press FONT To turn the beeping on again repeat this Step When you do this You see this 1 Press PROGRAM 2 Press L six times 3 Enter a new password See Setting a sign s pa...

Page 15: ...DV 3 Type THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE Note If you make a mistake while typing press DELETE to erase a letter Your first message will look like this THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE THEN Your second message will use lowercase text This message must be shown on three displays because the words second message won t fit on a single line This is your second THEN THEN message PROG TEXT A A is the file name of ...

Page 16: ...message see Step 3 the text of your message will be displayed in a variety of formats For example one of the formats or modes called Scroll moves your message from the bottom to the top of the sign THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE THEN PROG TEXT A The A changes to a question mark after pressing SELECT PROG TEXT B is now the file name of your second message If you pressed A instead of B you would have wr...

Page 17: ...ee this This example continues where Example 1 left off This example assumes that there are two messages files A and B in the sign File A THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE File B This is your second message 1 Press PROGRAM 2 Press RUN 3 If RUN appears on the sign go to the next step Otherwise press SELECT until RUN appears 4 Press B 5 Press RUN You have just programmed the sign to run only message file B...

Page 18: ...od you can program the order of some or all of the messages you ve entered on a sign RUN The order of these letters determines the order in which messages will appear on a sign In this case message B will appear first then message A RUN BA File B File A This is your second THEN THEN message THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE THEN THEN These two messages will keep being displayed in this order until a new ...

Page 19: ...at your sign s internal clock has been accurately set See Setting a sign s time and date on page 7 This example continues where Example 1 left off This example assumes that there are two messages files A and B in the sign File A THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE File B This is your second message In this example we ll program the sign to display File A from Monday through Friday from 1 10 PM to 2 30 PM W...

Page 20: ...3 Press AB 14 Press RUN once Press D to set the day H for hour and M for minute in 10 minute increments A ON M F 0 00 Hours must be represented in 24 hour or military style So 1 00 PM 13 00 2 00 PM 14 00 etc A ON M F 13 00 Minutes are set in increments of 10 A ON M F 13 10 After setting the ON time select the OFF time or when the message stops A OFF M F 0 00 RUN or DEMO may also appear here TIME T...

Page 21: ...is displayed In this example we ll change File A and File B to the following File A THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE BUT NOW IT S LONGER File B This is the second message your changed to the 1 Press PROGRAM 2 Press SELECT until B appears 3 Press ADV until the space after your appears 4 Press DELETE until your and the space after it are erased 5 Press INSERT 6 Type the and then SPACE 7 Press INSERT to tu...

Page 22: ...add text to the end of File A 11 Press PROGRAM 12 Press SELECT until A appears on the sign 13 Press APPEND 14 To type a comma press and then SELECT until a comma appears 15 Press SPACE and then type BUT NOW IT 16 Press and then SELECT until an apostrophe appears 17 Type S LONGER B cond message File B This is the second THEN THEN message PROG TEXT B PROG TEXT A APPEND takes you to the end of a mess...

Page 23: ...BETA BRITE Programming Manual Beginning text messaging Example 4 Changing the text of an existing message 19 18 Press RUN twice File A THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE THEN BUT NOW IT S THEN LONGER THEN ...

Page 24: ...his You see this This example continues where Example 4 left off This example assumes that there are two messages files A and B in the sign File A THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE BUT NOW IT S LONGER File B This is the second message In this example we ll delete File B 1 Press PROGRAM 2 Press SELECT until B appears on the sign 3 Press DELETE 4 Press Y to delete the file 5 Press RUN twice PROG TEXT A PRO...

Page 25: ...u do this You see this In this example we ll create a message that continuously displays the current time and date 1 Delete all the messages currently stored in the sign See Clearing a sign s memory on page 8 or Example 5 Deleting messages on page 20 2 Press PROGRAM 3 Press SELECT 4 Press A 5 Press MODE to select a mode Modes are used to change the way a message appears See Appendix A for a list o...

Page 26: ...e ll Roll the date in from the left to the right of the sign NOTE Make sure that the date is set correctly before using the date in a message See Setting a sign s time and date on page 7 12 Press MODE and then SELECT until the Roll Left mode appears RL 13 Press FONT and then SELECT until SS7 appears SS7 is the default or normal font 14 Press TIME DATE and then SELECT to display the date A RL R A o...

Page 27: ...BETA BRITE Programming Manual Advanced text messaging Example 6 Displaying the time and date 23 15 Press RUN twice to see the message Rosco Advertising THEN 3 26 PM THEN THEN Oct 14 1997 ...

Page 28: ...for green RED for red etc plus four special color combinations To determine what colors are available on your sign see Appendix A Modes fonts colors and graphics available on page 40 The following examples demonstrate how to use fonts and colors on your sign Step When you do this You see this 1 Delete all the messages currently stored in the sign See Clearing a sign s memory on page 8 or Example 5...

Page 29: ...n needed type WDF Wide 12 Press RETURN to start a new line of text 13 Press COLOR and SELECT until RB1 Rainbow 1 appears 14 Press FONT and then SELECT to select the SS5 font 15 Type THIS IS SS5 NOTE Only uppercase character can be used with this font A HLD GRN SRF As you type the font you selected will appear as it will actually be displayed on the sign A his is SRF This symbol indicates RETURN A ...

Page 30: ... text messaging Example 7 Using fonts and colors 16 Press RUN twice to see what you ve typed THEN THEN THEN This is SRF WDF Wide THIS IS SS5 This text should appear in green This text should appear in amber This text should appear in rainbow 1 ...

Page 31: ...en you do this You see this 1 Delete all the messages currently stored in the sign See Clearing a sign s memory on page 8 or Example 5 Deleting messages on page 20 2 Press PROGRAM 3 Press ADV 4 Select the SCROLL mode Press MODE and then press SELECT until SCR appears 5 Press SPEED 6 Press SELECT until SP1 very slow appears 7 Type Scroll speed 1 Press SYMBOL and then SELECT to get the sign 8 Select...

Page 32: ...UN twice to see your message The message Scroll speed 1 should scroll up very slowly However the message Scroll speed N should scroll up without pausing at all A SCR SP1 A SCR NHL A croll speed N Scroll speed 1 Scroll speed N Scroll speed 1 Using SP1 slow speed the message scrolls up into the sign pauses then scrolls off the sign Using NHL fastest speed the message scrolls into and off the sign wi...

Page 33: ...ROTATE SCROLL SLIDE SNOW and SPRAY Step When you do this You see this 1 Delete all the messages currently stored in the sign See Clearing a sign s memory on page 8 or Example 5 Deleting messages on page 20 2 Press PROGRAM 3 Press ADV 4 Press MODE and then SELECT until FLS Flash appears 5 Type ATTENTION Press and then SELECT to get 6 Press MODE and then SELECT until RF Roll Up appears 7 Type Traili...

Page 34: ...l characters in a message Base Characters Hold down FCN and then press MODE on the Remote Control to switch between uppercase and lowercase letters A B C D E I N O S U Y Z SYMBOL International Characters A B C D E I N O S U y Z Both the and SYMBOL keys can produce a variety of specialized symbols Ä ß Ç D É Í Ñ Ö S Ü ÿ Z Å C d Ê i n Õ ß u z Æ C d e î ñ o s ü z Á c é ï ô s û À ç ê ì ö ß ù Ã c ë í ò ...

Page 35: ...characters 31 2 Press PROGRAM 3 Press ADV 4 Using FCN and MODE when needed type Submit your re 5 Press SELECT until é appears 6 Type sume 7 Press SELECT until é appears 8 Press RUN twice to see your message PROG TEXT A A A ubmit your re A ubmit your ré A your résume A your résumé ...

Page 36: ...ant to display the graphic all by itself Example 11 Creating a movie marquee Step When you do this You see this In this example we ll create three graphics or DOTS files and combine them with text to make a flashing marquee 1 Delete all the messages currently stored in the sign See Clearing a sign s memory on page 8 or Example 5 Deleting messages on page 20 2 Press PROGRAM 3 Press BACK First you l...

Page 37: ...TIME DATE APPEND SPEED DOTS INSERT DELETE BACK ADV SELECT HOW TO ENTER A MESSAGE 1 POINT THIS REMOTE CONTROL KEYBOARD AT THE DISPLAY 2 PRESS THE PROGRAM KEY THE WORDS 3 ENTER THE MESSAGE YOU WANT TO BE DISPLAYED SEE YOUR PROGRAMMING MANUAL FOR ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS AND DISPLAY FEATURES PROG TEXT WILL APPEAR ON THE DISPLAY USE THE AND SELECT KEYS FOR PUNCTUATION 4 PRESS THE RUN KEY TWICE ON OFF C...

Page 38: ...er to display a DOTS graphic it must be placed in a text message In the following steps we ll create a text message and add the three DOTS graphics just created 13 Press BACK until PROG TEXT A appears 14 Press SELECT until a question mark appears 15 Press A 16 Press MODE and then SELECT until FLS Flash appears 17 Press SPEED and then SELECT until SP5 appears 18 Insert the first DOTS graphic you cr...

Page 39: ...aphics 21 Press FONT and then SELECT until SRF appears 22 Type the letter M 23 Press FONT again Then press SELECT until SS5 appears 24 Type ovie and then press SPACE 25 Press FONT and then SELECT until SRF appears again 26 Type the letter N 27 Press FONT and then SELECT until SS5 appears again 28 Type ews Press SELECT A DOT A A 4 DOT A DOT B Press SELECT A DOT A A A DOT B DOT C A T B DOT C SRF A B...

Page 40: ...BETA BRITE Programming Manual 36 Graphics Example 11 Creating a movie marquee 29 Press RUN twice to watch the marquee you created ...

Page 41: ...This reduces the size of the drawing area Keep pressing X until there are 5 dots between the vertical line and the end of the sign NOTE If you don t reduce the graphic area the graphic would take up the entire area of the sign These triangle graphics which is just a single DOTS file will be combined with the text Graphics PROG TEXT A The name of your DOTS graphics file will be A PROG DOTS A The bl...

Page 42: ...sary type Graphics Place a space before Graphics 13 Press DOTS to insert your DOTS graphic again 14 Press RUN twice to see your graphic and text message move across the sign H J I Remember Use SELECT to turn drawing on or off PROG DOTS PROG TEXT A A A ROT The A is the file name of your DOTS graphic A ROT DOT A A T A Graphics Place a space before the word Graphics Otherwise the first triangle will ...

Page 43: ...ou see this This is a continuation of the previous example This example assumes that the following graphic is in DOTS file A 1 Press PROGRAM 2 Press BACK 3 Press SELECT 4 Type the letter of the graphic you want to delete In this case type A 5 Press Z 6 Press Y to delete the graphic Or N if you don t want to delete it 7 Press RUN four times to return to normal operation PROG TEXT A PROG DOTS A PROG...

Page 44: ... the size and shape of text characters The letters in brackets like AUT and RED are what will appear on the sign Modes available Use the MODE key to select one of the following Automode AUT Cycle colors SPC 5 Flash FLS Hold HLD Interlock SPC 3 Roll RL Use SELECT to change the roll direction Rotate or Condensed Rotate ROT or CRT Use SELECT to change between the two Scroll SCR Snow SPC 2 Sparkle SPC...

Page 45: ...pendix A Modes fonts colors and graphics available 41 Fonts available Fonts are selected by using the FONT and SELECT keys An example of each font is shown in the table below 5 HIGH SANS SERIF FONT 5 LED pixels high Name Example SS5 ST5 WD5 WS5 ...

Page 46: ...endix A Modes fonts colors and graphics available 7 HIGH SANS SERIF FONT 7 LED pixels high Name Example SS7 ST7 WD7 WS7 SDS SDS is a shadow font because each letter is composed of two colors foreground and shadow like red and green amber and red etc ...

Page 47: ...ndix A Modes fonts colors and graphics available 43 7 HIGH SERIF FONT 7 LED pixels high Name Example SRF STF WDF WSF SDF SDF is a shadow font because each letter is composed of two colors foreground and shadow like red and green amber and red etc ...

Page 48: ...reen LGN Amber AMB Brown BRN Orange ORG Yellow YEL Rainbow 1 RB1 Rainbow 2 RB2 Mixed colors MIX Autocolor ACL Graphics available Use the MODE and SELECT keys to select one of the following Welcome SPC 8 Thank you SPC S No smoking SPC U Don t drink and drive SPC V Slot machine animation SPC 9 News flash animation SPC A Trumpet animation SPC B Party balloons animation SPC Y Fish animation SPC W Fire...

Page 49: ...When you do this You see this 1 Press PROGRAM 2 Press BACK until SET TIME appears 3 Press ADV 4 Type TEST NOTE This test deletes all messages in the sign However if you type the letter R immediately after typing TEST your messages will be preserved 5 Press PROGRAM to exit the self test mode PROG TEXT A SET TIME SET W D H M THEN MON 2 29 AM THEN A series of test displays will appear 1 00 AM00 ...

Page 50: ...BETA BRITE Programming Manual 46 Appendixes ...

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