Electronic Sign Board (630-0950) Operation Faxback Doc. # 18114 TURNING ON THE SIGN BOARD To turn on the sign board, set ON/OFF to ON. If the sign board does not detect errors, it shows the following: SELF TEST ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| TEST PASS Message 1 or the preprogrammed message: RADIO SHACK AMERICA'S TECHNOLOGY STORE... If the sign board detects an error, one of the following appears: SYSTEM ROM FAILURE. PLEASE RETURN UNIT TO SERVICE CENTER. SYSTEM RAM FAILURE. PLEASE RETURN UNIT TO SERVICE CENTER. MESSAGE # - HAS MISTAKE. PLEASE PRESS "EDIT/DELETE" KEY TO RE-EDIT. PLEASE RE-EDIT INCOMPLETE MESSAGE #- BY PRESSING "EDIT/DELETE" KEY. The sign board conducts this self test each time you turn it on. The status indicator lights when the sign board is on and a message shows on the display. TURNING OFF THE SIGN BOARD To turn off the sign board, set ON/OFF to OFF. The sign board retains the messages if AC power is connected or if you installed batteries. TURNING THE DISPLAY ON AND OFF You can turn off the display without turning off the sign board. You might want to use this option for one of the following reasons: Turn off the display if you want to temporarily stop showing messages. Then you can return to showing messages without waiting for the self test. Turn off the display if you want to stop showing messages, but you want the alarm message to appear if an intruder triggers the security system. See "Using the Alarm Message.", (see below). To turn off the display, press OFF/END. To turn on the sign board, press DISPLAY/PREVIEW, the sign board displays Message 1 or the sample message. ENTERING A MESSAGE Follow these steps to enter a message. 1. Turn on the sign board and wait for it to complete its self test. 2. Open the keyboard cover. 3. Press PROGRAM. The sign board shows PROGRAM MODE: SELECT MESSAGE #. 4. Press 1, 2, 3, or 4 for the memory location that you want to store the message in. The sign board shows: ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO ERASE THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE? PRESS LETTER "Y" TO CONFIRM OR PRESS LETTER "N" TO RETURN TO "DISPLAY MODE". 5. Do one of the following: If you do not want to store a message, press N. The sign board displays Message 1 or the sample message. If you want to store a message, press Y. The sign board immediately erases any old message that was stored in the message number. The sign board shows PROGRAM MESSAGE # _. Then, a cursor appears. Proceed to Step 6. 6. Type the message. To type a white character, press the button beneath the character. To type a blue character, press and hold down SHIFT. Then, press the button beneath the character. NOTE: Each message must contain at least one character but no more than 601. Spaces count as one character. When the message reaches 591 characters, the cursor disappears and a block appears. You can add 10 more characters. If you try to add more characters, the sign board does not show or store them. To move the cursor to the left or right, press (>) or (<). To delete a character, move the cursor to the right of the character you want to delete. Then, press EDIT/DELETE. To see the entire message, press DISPLAY/PREVIEW. 7. When you finish entering the message, press OFF/END. The sign board stores the message in memory and repeatedly shows the message on the display. If a message does not contain at least one character, the status indicator flashes and the sign board shows WARNING! THE MESSAGE IS EMPTY. If this appears, follow the steps in "Editing a Stored Message.", (see beow). NOTE: If AC and battery power fail while you are entering a message, the sign board turns off. EDITING A STORED MESSAGE Follow these steps to edit a stored message. 1. Turn on the sign board and wait for it to finish its self test. 2. Press EDIT/DELETE. 3. Press the number for the message you want to edit. 4. Edit the message as necessary. To move the cursor to the left or right, press (<) or (>). To delete a character, move the cursor to the right of the character you want to delete. Then, press EDIT/DELETE. To see the entire message, press DISPLAY/PREVIEW. 5. When you finish editing, press OFF/END. The edited message repeatedly scrolls across the display. SELECTING MESSAGES To set the sign board to show a message, turn on the sign board and wait for it to complete its self test. After the self test. Message 1 (or a sample message) appears and repeatedly scrolls across the display until you select another message or turn off the display. When you select another message without selecting sequential display, the sequence of messages is always 1, 2, 3, 4. Press (>) or (<) to view the message after or before the current message. For example, if the display shows Message 1, press (>) to view Message 2. If the display shows Message 1, press (<) to view Message 4. To turn off the display, press OFF/END. To turn on the display again, press DISPLAY/PREVIEW. Message 1 appears. SPECIAL FEATURES USING THE ALARM MESSAGE If you do the following, the sign board shows the alarm message when the security system is triggered: Connect the sign board to the security system (See "Connecting to a Security System.", see Faxback Doc. # _____ ). Connect the sign board to power. Turn on the sign board. NOTE: When the security system triggers the sign board, the alarm message repeatedly scrolls across the display, regardless of whether the display was on or off. Changing the Alarm Message The following alarm message is preprogrammed: HELP! PLEASE CALL POLICE. ROBBERY OCCURRING IN STORE. HELP! The alarm message is Message 5. To change the alarm message, follow the steps in "Entering a Message,", (see above) but press 5 for the message number. To edit the alarm message, follow the steps in "Editing a Stored Message,", (see above) and press 5 for the message number. After you press 5, the sign board shows EDIT ALARM MESSAGE. Then, the current alarm message appears. Turning Off the Alarm Message If the security system is triggered and the alarm message appears, set ON/ OFF to OFF to cancel the alarm message display. USING SEQUENTIAL DISPLAY You can set the sign board to repeatedly show two or more messages in any sequence. The sequence can contain up to eight message numbers. Only Messages 1 through 4 can be included. For example, you can set the sequence to 2,4,3,1,4,2,3,1. The preprogrammed sequence is 1,2,3,4. Changing the Sequential Order To change the sequential order, follow the steps in "Entering a New Message", (see above) or "Editing a Stored Message,", (see above) but press 6 for the message number. After you press 6 during "Editing a Stored Message,", (see above) the sign board shows EDIT SEQUENTIAL MESSAGE SEQUENCE ORDER. Then, the sign board shows the current sequence order. NOTE: The sequence must contain at least one message number (1,2,3,or4). If it does not contain a message number, the sign board shows WARNING! EMPTY SEQUENCE IS FORBIDDEN. PLEASE RE-EDIT MESSAGE #6 BY PRESSING "EDIT/DELETE" KEY. If this happens, press EDIT/DELETE, and enter the sequence order. Turning Sequential Display On and Off To turn on sequential display, press DISPLAY/PREVIEW when the sign board and display are on. The sign board repeatedly shows messages in the programmed sequence. To turn off sequential display, turn off the display or sign board. When you turn on the display or sign board again, Message 1 appears and repeatedly scrolls across the display. Scanning Messages in Sequential Display To view the message after or before the current message, press (>) or (<). When you select sequential display, the programmed sequence determines which message is next or previous. For example, if the sequence order is 2,4,1,3 and Message 4 is scrolling across the display when you press (<), the sign board shows Message 2. CHANGING THE SCROLLING SPEED Set SPEED to HI to set the display's scrolling speed to 420 characters a minute. Set SPEED to LOW to set the scrolling speed to 88 characters a minute. RESETTING THE SIGN BOARD CAUTION: When you reset the sign board, your messages are deleted. You must re-enter the messages. If the sign board is not working properly, press RESET with a pointed object, such as the end of a straightened paper clip. If it still does not work properly, replace the batteries and press RESET again. (EB 11/15/95)