PROGRAMMING MANUAL Form No.
NOTE: Due to continuing product innovation, specifications in this document are subject to change without notice. Copyright © 1998 Adaptive Micro Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. The distinctive appearance of this product is a Trade Dress of Adaptive Micro Systems, Inc. BETA-BRITE, BIG DOT, and SMART ALEC are trademarks of Adaptive Micro Systems, Inc. registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Contents General information ...................................................................... 1 Using a Remote Control to operate your sign..................................................1 Using a computer to operate your sign ...........................................................2 Attaching your sign to a surface......................................................................3 Technical specifications...................................................................................
WARNING FOR EUROPEAN USERS This is a class A product. In a domestic environment, this product may cause radio interference, in which case the user may be required to take adequate measures.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual General information You can operate a BETA BRITE sign in two ways: • by using a hand-held Remote Control • by using personal computer Using a Remote Control to operate your sign A Remote Control is a hand-held keyboard used to operate a BETA BRITE sign. Most of this manual shows you how to program messages on your sign using a Remote Control. A Remote Control needs two AA batteries to operate.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Using a computer to operate your sign Though messages can be programmed into the sign using the handheld Remote Control, messages can also be sent to the sign using a computer. To do this, you’ll need special connectors and computer software: A B To the sign’s RS232 jack (on the side) To power source C To one of the PC’s COM (RS232) ports PC running AlphaNET software D NOTE: Do NOT connect a telephone to the sign’s RS232 jack.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Attaching your sign to a surface Your sign can be mounted on a wall, ceiling, or counter. NOTE: This sign is intended for indoor use only. NOTE: • Do not mount or attach the power supply to anything. • Do not let the power supply hang loose. • Place the power supply on a flat surface where no chemicals or liquid, such as water, will contact it. • Plug the power supply into an easily-accessible electrical outlet no further than 15 feet away from the sign. Wall mount 1. 2. 3.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Ceiling mount 1. 2. 3. Attach the ceiling brackets to the sign using the screws supplied. Hang the sign from the ceiling using mounting chains and ceiling hooks (not supplied). The chains and hooks must be able to support at least four times the weight of the sign. Plug the power cord into the sign and into a nearby outlet.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Technical specifications Weight 2.55 pounds (1.16 kg) (without power supply or keyboard): Height: 3 13/16 inches (9.7 cm) Length: 25 7/8 inches (65.7 cm) Depth: 1 15/16 (3.4 cm) Power: 7.5 VDC at 3.25A The display should be operated in an environment Environmental requirements: where the temperature is between 0° C and 45° C, and the humidity (non-condensing) does not exceed 95%.
BETA BRITE 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 the sign off: Holding down FCN and then press 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.
BETA BRITE 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 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 off and on. Step When you do this... 1 Press PROGRAM. 2 Press BACK until SET TIME appears. You see this... PROG TEXT A SET TIME SET W/D ,H&M 3 Press ADV.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Clearing a sign’s memory Clearing a sign’s memory erases all messages and graphics that have been programmed into the sign — also, the sign’s password (if any) will be deleted. 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 8 Press Y to clear the sign’s memory. The sign will return to normal operation and display a series of demo messages.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Setting a sign’s password You can set a personal password to protect your messages and graphics from tampering by others. If you forget the password, see “What to do when you forget a sign’s password” on page 10. 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. SET PASSWORD? Y/N 4 Press Y to set a password. Type a 6-character password.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual What to do when you forget a sign’s password Step 1 When you do this... Press PROGRAM. You see this... ENTER PASSWORD ****** 2 Press L six times. CORRECT THEN PROG TEXT A 3 Enter a new password. (See “Setting a sign’s password” on page 9.) 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. To do this, see “Clearing a sign’s memory” on page 8.
BETA BRITE 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 . . .
BETA BRITE 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.
BETA BRITE 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. In this example, we’ll 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.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual If RUN appears on the sign, go to the next step. 8 RUN 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 THEN Press RUN.
BETA BRITE 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: Displaying messages in time order will work only as long as the sign has power.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual 7 8 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 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 set in increments of 10. 10 A OFF M-F 0:00 Press SELECT.
BETA BRITE 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 A, then File B is displayed.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Press APPEND to go to the end of the message. 9 B] cond message DON’T OMIT THIS STEP. If you do, the last part of the message will be automatically deleted. 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. 14 To type a comma, press ! and then SELECT until a comma appears.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual THIS IS YOUR THEN 18 Press RUN twice.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Example 5 — Deleting messages To delete all the messages in a sign, see “Clearing a sign’s memory” on page 8. 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.
BETA BRITE 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 off and on. Step When you do this... You see this...
BETA BRITE Programming Manual 7 8 A] Type R Hold down FCN and then press MODE to switch between uppercase and lowercase letters, type the following: [RL↓]R A]o Advertising osco Advertising We’ll Roll the time in from the bottom to the top of the sign. 9 Press MODE and then SELECT until the Roll Up mode appears: [RL ↑] 10 Press FONT and then SELECT until [WD7] appears. 11 Press TIME/DATE to include the time in the message.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Rosco THEN 15 Press RUN twice to see the message. Advertising THEN 3:26 PM THEN Oct.
BETA BRITE 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. The fonts available for your sign are in “Appendix A — Modes, fonts, colors, and graphics available” on page 40.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual 6 Press FONT and then SELECT to select [SRF] (a serif font). 7 Using FCN and PROGRAM when needed, type This is SRF 8 Press RETURN to start a new line of text. A] [HLD][GRN][SRF] A] his is SRF As you type, the font you selected will appear as it will actually be displayed on the sign. A] is is SRF ↵ This symbol indicates RETURN. 9 10 Press COLOR and then SELECT until [AMB] appears. Press FONT and then SELECT until [WDF] (wide text) appears.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual This is SRF This text should appear in green. THEN WDF 16 Press RUN twice to see what you’ve typed. THEN This text should appear in amber. Wide THEN THIS IS SS5 26 This text should appear in rainbow 1.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Example 8 — Speeding up and slowing down messages Messages can be speeded 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] [NHL] Slowest speed 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...
BETA BRITE Programming Manual 9 10 Select SPEED again. Press SELECT until [NHL] appears. A] [SCR][SP1] 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. A]croll speed=N Scroll speed=1 Using [SP1], slow speed, the message scrolls up into the sign, pauses, then scrolls off the sign. Scroll speed=1 However, the message Scroll speed=N should scroll up without pausing at all.
BETA BRITE 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...
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Example 10 — International characters International characters — like ü and é — can be included in messages. Also, the ! and SYMBOL keys can produce special characters (see “Using a Remote Control to operate your sign” on page 1). NOTE: International characters can not be used with the small fonts (like [SS5]). The following international characters can be used: Type a Base Character, like A. Then press SELECT to choose an international character.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual PROG TEXT A 2 Press PROGRAM. 3 Press ADV. A] 4 Using FCN and MODE when needed, type Submit your re A]ubmit your re 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.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Graphics In addition to pre-programmed or “canned” graphics (see “Graphics available:” on page 44), 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...
BETA BRITE Programming Manual The blinking DOTS cursor keeps track of where you’re drawing. 4 Press ADV. ON/OFF CAPS LOCK SOUND 5 Press I until the DOTS cursor is on the bottom. PROGRAM MODE FONT FCN RUN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z SPACE RETURN COLOR SYMBOL APPEND TIME/DATE SPEED DOTS ! BACK ADV SELECT DELETE INSERT Keep pressing I until the DOTS cursor moves here. These keys move the DOTS cursor.
BETA BRITE 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.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual 19 Insert the second DOTS graphic by pressing DOTS again. Then press SELECT until the letter B appears. 20 Insert the third and final DOTS by pressing DOTS 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: 21 Press FONT and then SELECT until [SRF] appears.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual 29 36 Press RUN twice to watch the marquee you created.
BETA BRITE 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 (which is just 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 8 or “Example 5 — Deleting messages” on page 20.) 2 Press PROGRAM. 3 Press BACK.
H BETA BRITE Programming Manual Remember: I 6 Draw the following graphic using the keys indicated. 7 Press RUN twice. PROG DOTS ? 8 Press BACK until PROG TEXT A appears. PROG TEXT A 9 Press ADV. A] 10 Press MODE and press SELECT until [ROT] (Rotate) appears. A] 11 Press DOTS to insert your DOTS graphic. Use SELECT to turn drawing on or off. J A] [ROT] [ROT][DOT]A The A is the file name of your DOTS graphic.
BETA BRITE 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.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Appendixes Appendix A — Modes, fonts, colors, and graphics 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.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Fonts available Fonts are selected by using the FONT and SELECT keys.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual 7-HIGH SANS SERIF FONT (= 7 LED pixels high) Name Example [SS7] [ST7] [WD7] [WS7] [SDS] [SDS] is a “shadow” font because each letter is composed of two colors — foreground and shadow — like red and green, amber and red, etc.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual 7-HIGH SERIF FONT (= 7 LED pixels high) Name Example [SRF] [STF] [WDF] [WSF] [SDF] [SDF] is a “shadow” font because each letter is composed of two colors — foreground and shadow — like red and green, amber and red, etc.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Colors available Use the COLOR and SELECT keys (or just COLOR) to select one of the following: • 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] • Autocolor — [ACL] Graphics available: Use the MODE and SELECT keys to select one of the following: • “Welcome” — [SPC]8 • “Thank you” — [SPC]S • “No smoking” — [SPC]U • “Don’t drink a
BETA BRITE Programming Manual Appendix B — Sign diagnostic test Your sign can do a self test to determine if all the LEDs are working properly: Step When you do this... 1 Press PROGRAM. 2 Press BACK until 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 5 NOTE:This test deletes all messages in the sign. However, if you type the letter R immediately after typing TEST, your messages will be preserved.
BETA BRITE Programming Manual 46 Appendixes:
