BETA-BRITE® Remote Control Programming Manual This manual is for the 1026 and 1040 models of the BetaBrite® sign. To find the model of your BetaBrite® sign, turn it off and then on again. The model number appears as follows: 10404402d EZ95 The first four numbers (“1040”) are the model number. Form No.
NOTE: Due to continuing product innovation, specifications in this document are subject to change without notice. Copyright © 1998-2001 Adaptive Micro Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. The following are trademarks of Adaptive Micro Systems: Adaptive, Alpha, AlphaNet plus, AlphaEclipse, AlphaPremiere, AlphaTicker, AlphaVision, AlphaVision InfoTracker, Automode, BetaBrite, BetaBrite Director, BetaBrite Messaging Software, Big Dot, PPD, Smart Alec, Solar, TimeNet.
Contents Warranty................................................................................... iv Return Merchandise Authorization .................................................... v General information ...................................................................... 1 Using a Remote Control to operate your sign..................................................1 Basic sign operation ..................................................................... 3 Turning a sign on and off..............
Warranty Adaptive Micro Systems, Inc. warrants to the original purchaser that the sign, keyboard and power supply will be free of defects in workmanship and materials for a period of one year from the date of purchase. Adaptive Micro Systems, Inc. will without charge, repair or replace, at its option, defective product or component parts upon delivery to the factory service department accompanied by proof of the date of purchase in the form of a sales receipt.
Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) Form RMA Number: Date of Purchase: Company Name: Contact Person: Address: Phone Number: Fax Number: ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ Description of Problem: _____________________________ ________________________________ ____________________
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Remote Control Programming Manual General information You can operate a BetaBrite® sign in two ways: • • by using a hand-held Remote Control by using a single computer with special software (See “Appendix C — Connecting the sign to a computer” on page 39.) Using a Remote Control to operate your sign A Remote Control is a hand-held keyboard used to operate a BetaBrite® sign. Most of this manual shows you how to program messages on your sign using a Remote Control.
Remote Control Programming Manual To program a sign with a Remote Control: • Stand at least 5 feet and no more than 30 feet from the sign. • Make sure nothing reflective is in front of the sign. (Light from the sign’s display that is reflected back can interfere with the Remote Control.) • If nearby fluorescent lights interfere with the Remote Control, you may have to relocate either the lights or the sign. 30 30 o o 30 o 30 o If a sign is this far from the floor... ...
Remote Control Programming Manual Basic sign operation Turning a sign on and off When you plug in the sign’s power supply, the sign starts up automatically, and unplugging the power supply turns the sign off. However, instead of unplugging a sign, there is another way to turn a sign off: Holding down SHIFT and then pressing 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.
Remote Control Programming Manual Setting a sign’s time and date Once set, a sign will remember the time and date unless the sign is unplugged or interrupted by a power loss. NOTE: Because the BetaBrite® sign does not have a real-time clock, the date function can not be updated when power is off. The date and time must be re-programmed whenever the sign loses power for any reason. Step When you do this... 1 Press PROGRAM. 2 Press BACK until SET TIME appears. You see this...
Remote Control Programming Manual Clearing a sign’s memory NOTE: Clearing a sign’s memory erases all messages, graphics, and the password that have been programmed into the sign. Step When you do this... 1 Press PROGRAM. 2 Press BACK until CLEAR MEMORY appears. 3 Press ADV. You see this... PROG TEXT A CLEAR MEMORY WARNING! THEN CLEAR ALL? Y/N 4 Press Y to clear the sign’s memory. The sign will return to normal operation and display a series of demo messages.
Remote Control Programming Manual Setting a sign’s password Some signs allow you to set a personal password to protect your messages and graphics from tampering by others. NOTE: DON’T FORGET YOUR PASSWORD! If you do, you won’t be able to operate the sign. However, if you do forget the password, see “What to do when you forget a sign’s password” on page 7. Step When you do this... You see this... PROG TEXT A 1 Press PROGRAM. 2 Press BACK until SET PASSWORD appears. SET PASSWORD 3 Press ADV.
Remote Control Programming Manual What to do when you forget a sign’s password Step 1 When you do this... Press PROGRAM. You see this... PROG TEXT A ****** THEN 2 Hold down SHIFT and press L six times. CORRECT THEN PROG TEXT A 3 Enter a new password. (See “Setting a sign’s password” on page 6.) How to delete a sign’s password If you no longer want to be prompted to password protect a sign, you must clear the sign’s memory in order to delete the password.
Remote Control Programming Manual Beginning text messaging This section shows you how to start creating messages on your sign. Example 1 — Using upper and lowercase in messages In this first example, you’ll display the text THIS IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE like this: THIS IS YOUR Your first message will look like this. THEN FIRST MESSAGE . . .
Remote Control Programming Manual THIS IS YOUR THEN 4 Press RUN twice. FIRST MESSAGE Because Automode [AUT] was used in your 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. Now that the first message is done, we’ll enter a second message which contains upper and lowercase characters. 5 Press PROGRAM again. 6 Press SELECT.
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 2 — Displaying messages in file name order (A, B, C, etc.) Once you’ve programmed messages into the sign, you may want to set the order or sequence in which messages appear. This method will display messages by their file name (A, B, C, etc.) or in alphabetical order. Step When you do this... You see this... This example continues where Example 1 left off.
Remote Control Programming Manual If RUN appears on the sign, go to the next step. RUN 8 Press SELECT until RUN appears. BA RUN 9 Press B, then A. 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.) This is your File B THEN second THEN message 10 Press RUN.
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 3 — Displaying messages in time order In Example 2, you set the order of messages by file name. However, that method could not specify an exact time when a message would appear. In this example, we’ll show you how to make a message appear and disappear at times you specify. NOTE: Unless a sign has a battery-backed clock, displaying messages in time order will only work so long as a sign is powered.
Remote Control Programming Manual 7 A ON M-F 0:00 Press D (for day) until M-F (Monday through Friday) appears. Press D to set the day, H for hour, and M for minute (in 10-minute increments). A ON M-F 13:00 8 Press H (for hour) until 13:00 appears. Hours must be represented in 24-hour or military style. So 1:00 PM = 13:00, 2:00 PM = 14:00, etc. 9 A ON M-F 13:10 Press M (for minute) until 13:10 appears. Minutes are in increments of 10. 10 A OFF M-F 0:00 Press SELECT.
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 4 — Changing the text of an existing message After typing in a message, you may want to add or remove text from it. The following is an example of this common situation: Step When you do this... You see this... This example continues where Example 2 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 and that File B, then File A is displayed.
Remote Control Programming Manual 9 Press APPEND to go to the end of the message. B] cond message DON’T OMIT THIS STEP. This is the Press RUN twice. File B THEN 10 second THEN message Next, we’ll add text to the end of File A. 11 Press PROGRAM. PROG TEXT B 12 Press SELECT until A appears on the sign. PROG TEXT A 13 Press APPEND. A] IRST MESSAGE APPEND takes you to the end of a message. 14 To type a comma, hold down SHIFT and press W. 15 Press SPACE and then type BUT NOW IT.
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 5 — Deleting messages To delete all the messages in a sign, see “Clearing a sign’s memory” on page 5. However, if you only want to delete selected messages, then use the method shown in this example. Step When you do this... You see this... This example continues where Example 4 left off.
Remote Control Programming Manual Advanced text messaging Before attempting the following, make sure you’re familiar with the previous examples in the “Beginning text messaging” section of this manual. Example 6 — Displaying the time and date NOTE: Because the time and date are not updated when the sign is off, the time and date must be re-programmed each time the sign is turned back on. Step When you do this... You see this...
Remote Control Programming Manual A] 7 Press SELECT to change the Roll direction to ↓ (down).
Remote Control Programming Manual A] CT. 14, 2001 16 Press M Pressing SPECIAL and M inserts the current date into a message. Rosco THEN 17 Press RUN twice to see the message. Advertising THEN 3:26 PM THEN Jan.
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 7 — Using fonts and colors Fonts Fonts are the way characters are displayed on a sign. In the world of printing and publishing, fonts are given names like Times or Helvetica and qualities like serif or sans serif, font size (like 12 point or 14 point), bold or italic, etc.: This is Times — a serif font. This is Helvetica — a sans serif font.
Remote Control Programming Manual 2 Press PROGRAM. 3 Press ADV. 4 Hold down SHIFT and press 5 for HOLD. PROG TEXT A A] A] [HLD] Hold mode turns off Automode. 5 Press COLOR until [GRN] (green) appears. A] [HLD][GRN] We’ll make the first part of the message appear in green. 6 Press FONT to select [SRF] (the serif font). 7 Using CAPS and SHIFT when needed, type This is SRF 8 Press RETURN to start a new line of text.
Remote Control Programming Manual A] e ↵ 14 Press COLOR until [RB1] (rainbow 1) appears. [SLM][RB1] [SLM] = regular or “slim” text [RB1] = rainbow 1 colored text. 15 Press FONT to select the [SS5] font. A] [SLM] [RB1][SS5] [SS5] = the smallest font Type THIS IS SS5 16 NOTE:Only uppercase character can be used with this font. A [SS5]THIS IS SS5 This is SRF This text should appear in green. THEN SRF 17 Press RUN twice to see what you’ve typed. THEN This text should appear in amber.
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 8 — Speeding up and slowing down messages Messages can be sped up or slowed down using the SPEED mode. Once you pick a mode, like ROTATE, a speed can be selected by selecting SPEED on the Remote Control. Then press SELECT to change the speed: [SP1] [SP2] [SP3] [SP4] [SP5] Slowest speed [NHL] Fastest speed Here’s an example of how to vary the speed of the SCROLL mode of a message: Step When you do this... You see this...
Remote Control Programming Manual 10 Press SELECT until [NHL] appears. A] [SCR][NHL] (No Hold = very fast) 11 Type Scroll speed=N Press RUN twice to see your message. 12 The message Scroll speed=1 should scroll up very slowly. However, the message Scroll speed=N should scroll up without pausing at all. A]croll speed=N Scroll speed=1 Using [SP1], slow speed, the message scrolls up into the sign, pauses, then scrolls off the sign.
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 9 — Special effects with modes (Trailing modes) Modes, like ROTATE and ROLL, are used to create special effects with messages. Typically modes are used once at the beginning of a message. However, a mode can also be placed at the end of a message (called a “trailing mode”) to create a special effect. NOTE: The following can not be used as a trailing mode: CONDENSED ROTATE, SCROLL, SLIDE, SNOW, and SPRAY. Step When you do this... You see this...
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 10 — International characters International characters — like ü and é — can be included in messages. NOTE: International characters can not be used with the small [SS5] font. The following table summarizes all the international characters that can be used: Type a Base Character, like A. International Characters Base Characters A] A Then press SELECT to choose an international character. (Use the CAPS button on the Remote Control for the lowercase letters.
Remote Control Programming Manual 5 Press SELECT until é appears. A]ubmit your ré 6 Type sume A] your résume 7 Press SELECT until é appears. A] your résumé 8 Press RUN twice to see your message satellite.
Remote Control Programming Manual Graphics In addition to pre-programmed or “canned” graphics (see “Sign graphics” on page 43), you can create your own custom graphics using DOTS files. You can display a DOTS graphic that you create either by itself or with text. NOTE: After you create a DOTS graphic, to display it on your sign, the DOTS graphic must be placed in a text file—even if you just want to display the graphic all by itself. Example 11 — Creating a movie marquee Step When you do this...
Remote Control Programming Manual The blinking DOTS cursor keeps track of where you’re drawing. 4 Press ADV. Keep pressing Q until the DOTS cursor moves here. REMOTE CONTROL ON - OFF SOUND PROGRAM RUN APPEND CURSOR SPECIAL FONT 5 SCROLL FLASH ROLL WIPE 1 2 3 4 AUTO SPEED TIME DOT 7 8 9 0 Press Q until the DOTS cursor is on the bottom. B A ¢ # N : ; T S ? I ’ U Z SHIFT INSERT 6 NOTE:Remember: hold down SHIFT with these keys to actually draw.
Remote Control Programming Manual 8 Press RUN. 9 Then press Y to save graphic A. PROG DOTS A 10 Press SELECT until a question mark appears. PROG DOTS ? 11 Type B as the name of the next graphics file. PROG DOTS B Repeat the previous steps to draw graphics B and C. (Both are just smaller versions of graphic A.) DOTS graphic B Use the COLOR key to make all the dots in graphic B green, and all the dots in graphic C amber.
Remote Control Programming Manual 20 Insert the second DOTS graphic by holding down SHIFT and pressing 0 again. Then press SELECT until the letter B appears. 21 Insert the third and final DOTS graphic by holding down SHIFT and pressing 0 again. Then press SELECT until the letter C appears. A] [DOT]A Press SELECT. A] 4][DOT]A [DOT]B A] [DOT]A Press SELECT. A]]A [DOT]B [DOT]C Now we’ll add the message Movie News after the three graphics: 22 Press FONT until [SRF] appears.
Remote Control Programming Manual 30 32 Press RUN twice to watch the marquee you created.
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 12 — Mixing text with graphics In this example, we’ll create a graphic and combine it with text: Step When you do this... You see this... These triangle graphics (two copies of a single DOTS file) will be combined with the text Graphics! 1 Delete all the messages currently stored in the sign. (See “Clearing a sign’s memory” on page 5 or “Example 5 — Deleting messages” on page 16.) 2 Press PROGRAM. 3 Press BACK.
SH IF T + F Remote Control Programming Manual Remember: 6 Draw the following graphic using the keys indicated. 7 Press RUN twice. PROG DOTS ? 8 Press BACK until PROG TEXT appears. PROG TEXT A 9 Press ADV. A] 10 Hold down SHIFT and press 6 for ROTATE. A] 11 Hold down SHIFT and press 0 to insert your DOTS graphic. To just move the cursor, don’t hold down SHIFT.
Remote Control Programming Manual Example 13 — Deleting a graphic If you want to delete an entire DOTS graphic file, use this example as a guide: Step When you do this... You 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. PROG TEXT A 2 Press BACK. PROG DOTS A 3 Press SELECT. PROG DOTS ? 4 Type the letter of the graphic you want to delete. (In this case, type A.) 5 Press Z.
Remote Control Programming Manual Appendixes Appendix A — Modes, fonts, and colors available Modes determine the way text and graphics move on a sign. For example, the ROTATE mode moves a message across a sign from right to left. Fonts are the size and shape of text characters. The letters in brackets — like [AUT] and [RED] — are what will appear on the sign: Modes available • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Automode — [AUT] — SHIFT + 7. Flash — [FLS] — SHIFT + 4. Hold — [HLD] — SHIFT + 5.
Remote Control Programming Manual Colors available • • • • • • • • • • • Red — [RED] Light red — [LRD] Green — [GRN] Light green — [LGN] Amber — [AMB] Brown — [BRN] Orange — [ORG] Yellow — [YEL] Rainbow 1 — [RB1] Rainbow 2 — [RB2] Mixed colors — [MIX] Appendixes: Appendix A — Modes, fonts, and colors available 37
Remote Control Programming Manual Appendix B — Sign diagnostic test Your sign can do a self test to determine if all the LEDs (or incandescent lights) are working properly. Step When you do this... 1 Press PROGRAM. 2 Press BACK until SET TIME AND DAY or SET TIME appears. 3 Press ADV. You see this... PROG TEXT A SET TIME SET W/D ,H&M THEN MON 2:29 AM Type TEST 4 56 38 NOTE:This test deletes all messages in the sign.
Remote Control Programming Manual Appendix C — Connecting the sign to a computer Messages can also be programmed into the sign using a computer. To do this, you’ll need special connectors and computer software, either AlphaNet plus™ or BetaBrite®Messaging Software™. Follow the instructions that come with the software CD to program messages.
Remote Control Programming Manual Appendix D — Updating the sign’s firmware (EPROM) Your sign has an internal chip or EPROM that is used to control the sign. From time to time, the firmware in this EPROM is updated and the EPROM must be changed. NOTE: Internal components may be damaged by “static electricity”, or electrostatic discharge. Follow these guidelines to prevent weakening of circuits that may not be immediately evident: • • • • • • 1.
Remote Control Programming Manual Quick Reference Card Message control keys ON - OFF SOUND PROGRAM RUN APPEND CURSOR SPECIAL FONT WIDTH COLOR To turn the sign on or off, hold down SHIFT and then press PROGRAM. To enter messages, set the date and time, clear memory, etc., press PROGRAM and then: PROG TEXT A OR PROGRAM Press BACK to select one of the following: PROG DOTS A — press ADV to create a graphic. SET TIME — press ADV to set the time. SET DATE — press ADV to set the date.
Remote Control Programming Manual Display modes and special keys APPEND CURSOR ROLL WIPE SCROLL FLASH 1 2 3 4 AUTO SPEED TIME DOT 7 8 9 0 HOLD ROTATE 5 6 SELECT ROLL Hold down SHIFT and press 1 to use the Roll mode in a message. Use SELECT to change the direction of the roll. WIPE Hold down SHIFT and press 2 to use the Wipe mode in a message. Use SELECT to change the direction of the wipe. SCROLL Hold down SHIFT and press 3 to use the Scroll mode in a message.
Remote Control Programming Manual Sign graphics “Thank You” Press SPECIAL. Then press S. “No Smoking” Press SPECIAL. Then press U. “Don’t Drink and Drive” Press SPECIAL. Then press V. Running Animal Press SPECIAL. Then press W. Fireworks Press SPECIAL. Then press X. Turbo Car Press SPECIAL. Then press Y. Cherry Bomb Press SPECIAL. Then press Z. Welcome Press SPECIAL. Then press 8. Slot Machine Press SPECIAL. Then press 9. How to create a graphic 1.
Remote Control Programming Manual 44 Quick Reference Card: How to create a graphic
