Troubleshooting the System
Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to determine which portion of the
system is not functioning and to provide guidelines for fixing the
problem.
Required Materials
The following materials are necessary for troubleshooting:
•
LED Test Tag
•
A regular Tag
•
Tape measure for measuring fields and cable
•
A computer for interfacing directly with the Reader – a laptop is
ideal
•
A terminal emulation application such as HyperTerminal
•
A one-to-one Serial cable with a DB9 male connector
•
Multimeter
Check the Power
Step 1:
Open the Reader case. The LEDs on the PCB card stack
should be lit, indicating that power is supplied. If the LEDs
are not lit, check your power connections. If the Reader is
driving relays, use the multimeter to ensure that the total
power draw is below 200 mA.
Step 2:
Open the ATU case. If you have a toggle switch ATU, the
voltage meter should indicate some voltage – between 1.0
V and 5.0 V. If you have a jumper ATU, then the LEDs
should be lit. If you do not have power to the ATU, check
the cables from the Reader to the ATU. The ATU receives
its power from the Reader via the RG-58/U cable. This is
one reason this cable is specified for the NT132 system.