User's Manual

Y1-03-0343 Rev. T1 Company Confidential 17
Testing Your Beacon
GPS Self-Test (GNSS Self-Test)
The GPS receiver is located under the bottom front portion of the case (indicated by “GPS Give
Clear View to Sky”). It is imperative that the receiver is not obstructed during the GPS self-test
or during activation to ensure that the GPS receiver is acquiring your latitude (LAT) and
longitude (LON) position. This test must be performed outside with a clear view of the sky.
This beacon has enough excess battery life to perform 20 GPS self-tests over the 5 year life of
the battery. Once this GPS testing feature reaches 20 tests, the feature will be disabled by
internal software.
To perform a GPS self-test:
1. Unclip the antenna latch from the case and rotate antenna 90 degrees into the upright
position. (ON/OFF button will be exposed on face of beacon once antenna is in upright
position).
2. Depress the “Test” button between 5 and 10 seconds.
A green LED will flash to show the start of the GPS test and will be followed by 3 quick green LED
flashes. Subsequent red LED flashes will occur approximately every 5 seconds until GPS has been
acquired by the beacon. Once valid GPS data has been obtained, a green LED flash and a strobe,
indicates a successful GPS self-test. As long as the beacon is unable to acquire GPS coordinates,
the beacon will continue flashing the red LED for no longer than 110 seconds and then terminate
GPS self-test, indicating a failed GPS self-test. In case of a failed GPS self-test, repeat GPS self-
test and if failure persists, return the beacon to ACR Electronics, Inc. for service. The PLB-400
and PLB-425 will both display the same LED sequences but the PLB-425 will also display the
following 3 things on the screen to show a passed GPS Test: GPS Coordinates, “GPS Test Pass,”
and the total number of GPS tests remaining that the beacon is able to run. In the event of a
failed GPS Test, the PLB-425 will display the following on the screen: “GPS Test Fail” followed by
the total number of GPS tests remaining that the beacon is able to run.
The maximum number of GPS tests allowed is 20. If the user tries to perform another GPS test
after the maximum of 20 has been reached, there will be a green LED flash, followed by 3 quick
green LED flashes, followed by 3 red LED flashes and the beacon will then turn off (in addition to
the 3 red LED flashes, the PLB-425 will display a message on the screen indicating that the GPS
Test Limit has been reached). Additionally, if the total ON time of the beacon exceeds 2 hours,
the beacon will not allow any more GPS tests to run.