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8-1
Chapter 8
Troubleshooting
General Considerations
Site Test
The most basic tool for troubleshooting is the Site Test at 50 feet range.
(See Chapter 4 for the details on how to do a Site Test). If the Site Test fails
at close range (50 feet), you have found the problem. The radio on either the
Base Station or the RF Terminal is defective. A Terminal will operate very
poorly at a distance of less than 10 feet from the Base due to high
transmitter power. Make sure to Site Test at least at 50 ft. range.
If you have multiple terminals and multiple Base Stations, after site test
failure, you can determine if the failure is with the Terminal or the Base by
substitution. If you have only one Terminal and Base, you have no way of
knowing which has failed; you must call us and get an RMA for both units
to be checked out at the factory in Santa Cruz or in Ireland.
If the Site Test passes, there is nothing wrong with the radios.
Changing Batteries
For RF Terminals, the most frequent cause of problems is low batteries that
have either been ignored or undetected. The real test for batteries is to
remove batteries from a working unit and place them in a suspect unit.
Don’t assume that just because the batteries are new they are good. We
have purchased “new “ batteries off the shelf and tested them immediately
to discover they are bad.
Most of the time batteries become the problem as a result of two failures:
1. The operator ignores the Low Batteries message and doesn’t finish
up the transaction and immediately change the batteries. If you turn
the unit off and turn it on again, the batteries may have had time to
“almost” recover. Unfortunately they will have so little reserve
power that they will likely operate just long enough to produce some
very screwy behavior on the RF Terminal. Intermittent laser beams,
continuous beeping, black bars on the screen, etc. are just a few of
the disastrous symptoms that can be exhibited.
2. NiCad or NiMH rechargeable batteries are being used, but the
Terminal thinks that Alkalines are still being used. The Terminal
ships with Alkaline batteries in the Setup. Alkalines and rechargeable
batteries have different reserve powers, so the Terminal has to know
if you have decided to use rechargeables in order to properly notify
you that the batteries have reached the low point requiring the
batteries to be changed.