Compact FLASH III Digital Audio System
Copyright©1992-2007 by ACS, Sarasota, Florida
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LEXAR Media Compact Flash cards are not 100% compatible in True IDE mode and as such are NOT
COMPATIBLE with the Compact Flash III Digital Audio System.
We have asked Lexar for technical information on this incompatibility, and they have not responded.
Q. We have a client who has a specific need -- an interval timer function. They want their very short
message to go off every 30 minuites (not seconds). Does your equipment have a provision for an
interval timer ?:
By placing a file named CFSOUND.INI on the compact flash card along with your sound files, you can
control several operating features of the unit.
For your application the following entry would provide the 30 minute delay between the background
sound:
[Background]
BackgroundDelay=1800
This .INI file option sets the delay in seconds between background sound playouts to the decimal value of
1800 seconds (30 minutes). The default is 0 seconds (no delay). This is not a high-resolution timer and may
be affected by other sounds playing while the timer is active.
Q. We need to have a light associated with an individual "message initiate" momentary switch when
that message is playing. Do we need only the Contact I/O 8 module, or do we also need the Contact
Sense 8 ?:
The Contact I/O 8 has 8 contact sense inputs and 8 contact outputs. The Contact Sense 8 has 8 contact
sense inputs and the Contact Sense 24 has 24 contact sense inputs. You can only have a single contact
module installed.
Q. I ordered an enclosed CFSoundIII, and no volume control knob was installed/received ?:
We do not ship a volume knob with the CFSound III, since the volume may be adjusted by pushbuttons
on the front of the unit.
Q. When wiring the power supply connector to the supplied power supply, which side is plus and
which side is ground ?:
Please see the MAIN connector description earlier in the manual for correct power supply wiring.
Q. Will it finish playing the current file even if another input is tripped half way through the file ?:
If you add an "N" in the filenames of your files, it marks the files as non-interruptible. Then setting
SaveNIContacts= TRUE in the [CONTACTS] section of the ini file, will cause the contact closure during
play out of the Non-Interruptible file to be saved until it completes playing.
Q. When I format my CF card under Windows XP, it uses FAT32, and does not work in the
CFSound III ?:
By default, Windows XP will format any CompactFlash card of 64MB or more with FAT32 format.
Digital cameras and the CFSound III use the FAT (FAT16) format and cannot operate with a FAT32
formatted card. Either format your CompactFlash card in a camera or select FAT file system (not FAT32)
to format your CompactFlash card correctly in a Windows XP PC.
Q. How long does it take the CFSound-III to power-up and be ready to play sounds ?:
The unit must either scan the card upon power-up, or scan the card everytime a sound is initiated. We
opted to scan the card upon power-up to enable each sound to be played quicker. Many of the delays upon
power-up are due to having to support the variety of Compact Flash cards on the market - some of which
require several seconds upon power-up before they are accessible. The firmware is designed to
accommodate the worst case card, and we've had to slow it down in production as people encountered
problems with various cards that couldn't be read. There is no firmware modification available that will
shorten this delay. A freshly formatted small card with a limited number of sounds will scan the fastest. We
