eXtendo
®
Thermal Printer Family
HENGSTLER
Part No. D 684 124
Mod. No. 4 080812 LEV
page 17 of 38
3.6.3. LED Indicators
There are two LED indicators in the eXtendo
®
series printers, located as shown in
Fig. 2 and 3. The upper LED is red, and the lower one is green. (In some early
samples, the upper LED is also green. If you have such a sample, any time you see
reference to the “red” LED, you should consider that the “upper” LED.) These LEDs
are used to signal some status information concerning the eXtendo
®
printer. The
following is a partial listing of the information supplied.
There are several flashing speeds used in the eXtendo
®
printer LEDs. These are:
Slow: 0.5 Hertz (LED is “on” for one second and “off” for one second)
Medium: 5 Hz (“on” for 100 ms and “off” for 100 ms)
Fast (Flicker, or “F”): 10 Hz (“on” for 50 ms and “off” for 50 ms)
Green LED
Red LED
Meaning
Slow
Off
Normal operation.
Medium
Off
Out of paper.
Flicker
On
Data upload in progress (fonts, images, firmware, not
normal data communication)
F0F
On
Printhead raised, printer stalled or over voltage. (Green
LED will flicker, then go off for one second, then flicker
and repeat.)
F1F
On
Paper error. (Green LED will flicker, then go off for
one second, on for one second, off for one second,
then flicker again and repeat.)
F2F
On
Cutter error. (Same pattern as above, but off, on, off,
on, off.)
Off
On
Boot failure.
Flicker
Flicker
Initialization error.
On
On
System “hung” during initialization.
Please note that much more detailed information concerning the printer’s current
state can be obtained by requesting the printer’s status via the interface. Please refer
to the eXtendo
®
Emulation Command Set Reference D 684 112 for details.
3.6.4. Head Status Sensor
An additional Head Status Sensor is used to determine whether the printhead is in
the up (do not print) or down (ready to print position). Normally, most of the heat
generated by thermal printing is transferred to the paper being printed and is removed
from the printer as the paper advances. When the printhead is up, no heat is being
transferred to the paper and the heat remains in the individual dots, allowing them to
overheat if activated repeatedly. Because this may cause permanent damage to the
printer, the eXtendo
®
firmware will prevent printing or paper loading if the head is up.
The output of this sensor is also available from the Query function. See the eXtendo
®
Emulation Command Set Reference D 684 112 for details on determining the
printhead position and the printhead temperature.
3.6.5. Chute/Jam Sensor (Optional)
The optional chute/jam sensor continually monitors whether there is paper in the
chute, and can be read via the Status function. (Please see the eXtendo
®
Emulation
Command Set Reference D 6840112 for details.) This function is often used in
conjunction with the host’s peripherals to signal the user when a printout is not taken.
Examples where this is important include when the information is confidential, or the
printout can be redeemed for cash or items of value. This function can also be used
to prevent the host from sending a new print job until the printout from the previous
print job has been removed.