Reply Worldwide hardware overview

The Reply Worldwide Wireless Response System consists of the following items:

1. Wireless Keypads: Model CRS5200 is a calculator-style radio frequency device with a numeric button panel on the top surface. Keypads are given to each participant in the group. They are used to respond to questions presented during the meeting. Each Keypad is powered 2 x “AA” batteries and requires no external wires or electrical connections.

2. Base Station: Model CRS940 processes responses of up to 250 keypads on a single radio channel. There are 15 radio channels available to support a maximum of 3,750 keypads per room if 15 systems are used together.

Keypad Use

After the Base Station is turned on, pass out the keypads to the meeting participants and demonstrate how the keypad works. Ask each person to press a numeric key on his or her keypad and observe what happens. When a key on the keypad is pressed, a single digit display will indicate which key was activated.

The digit keys (1 through 10) are used to enter numeric responses, including multiple

choice questions (A through E) or yes/no answers, into keypad memory. The key

must be released to allow the next keypress to occur. Entries are transmitted to the

Reply CRS940 Base Station, which is then transmitted to the computer via the provided

serial cabling. As keys are pressed, the digits are echoed on the seven-segment display (SSD).

During normal operation, the displayed digit will go out within 3 seconds. This indicates to the user that the Base Station has accepted the entry and the hardware is operational.

If the light blinks and comes back on, this means that the Base Station addressed the keypad but was not able to accept the entry. This could mean one of a few things:

An invalid choice was made. (Some software packages use a key masking function that rejects entries from certain keys. For example, keys #3 – 9 and 0 may be marked as invalid answers and keys #1 - 2 as valid answers to a Yes/No question.) The participant should press the “Clear” key and enter a new valid answer.

To clear a response, the CLEAR key must be pressed and released before the Reply CRS940 Base Station receives the keypad transmission. Depending on the

number of keypads being scanned, this may take 0.5 second (< 50 keypads) to 2.5 seconds (> 200 keypads). While the “Clear” key is depressed, the keypad will

display the letter C on the SSD.

The keypad is out of range of the Base Station. Try moving the keypad closer to the base. An out of range keypad's LED indicator will wink approximately every 2.5 seconds (with 250 keypads polling).

If the LED indicator on one keypad stays on and never blinks while other keypads are working, check the address and channel of the keypad. If everything appears to be set

correctly, then the pad might need factory repair.

There is also a low battery detect circuit built into the keypad to notify the user when the battery is getting low and needs replacement. This causes the LED indicator to flash at a high rate (several times per second) when the battery is getting low and should be replaced. There will, however, still be several hours of usage left in the battery, allowing use of the keypad until the meeting is completed.

Softkeys

A new feature for the CRS5200 keypad is the addition of 3 “Softkeys”. If enabled, these keys can be used as 3 extra general purpose response buttons for non-numeric responses.

Change/Check Keypad Address

Model CRS5200 keypads have a mode that allows the user to change or recall the current keypad address. There are two methods for accessing this mode:

Enter code 951: This feature may be disabled from a previous base command. If it is disabled, use the 951 code listed above.

Once one of the above actions has been performed, the two lower horizontal segments will light on the keypad. At this point, you have 5 seconds to do one of the following actions:

To recall the current address, press the “*” key. The address will blink out on the display (001 - 250).

To set a new address, simply type in the new 3-digit address (i.e. “0”-“0”-“1” = address 1, and “2”-“5”- “0” = address 250).

If the address was changed, the keypad will use this new address on the next keypress.

Change/Check Keypad Channel Number

The CRS5200 keypads contain a mode that allows the user to recall or change the current channel. There are two different methods of accessing this mode:

Enter code 973: Press and hold “Clr” and press “2”. Then release both keys. This feature may be disabled from a previous base command. If it is disabled, use the 973

code listed above.

Once one of the above actions has been performed, the two lower horizontal segments will light on the keypad. At this point, you have 5 seconds to do one of the following actions:

To recall the current channel, press the “*” key. The channel will blink out on the display (01 - 15).

To set a new channel, simply type in the new 2-digit address (i.e. “0”-“1” = channel 1, and “1”-“5” = channel 15).

If the channel was changed, the keypad will use this new channel on the next keypress.

Keypad Option Commands

Entering option commands is identical to entering a new Channel Number. All option commands start with the digit “9”.

Code	Description
910	Display the key that was pressed.*
911	Display a secure character ("-") instead of the key that was pressed. The actual key pressed will still be sent.
920	Disable post acknowledge*
921-929	Enable post acknowledge for 1-9 seconds
930	Disable the "*" key.
931	Enable the "" key.
940	Disable sending low battery message.
941	Enable sending low battery message (A "?" is sent after each response if the battery is low)*
951	Setup the keypad's address.
952	Disable the C-1 and C-2 shortcut keys.
953	Enable the C-1 and C-2 shortcut keys.*
960	Display the keypad's 6 digit serial number (in Hex)
970	Display the keypad's firmware revision
973	Setup the keypad's channel.
980	Reset EEPROM to default settings.
983	Disable key lockout (Any key can be pressed at any time).*
984	Enable key lockout (Only the first key is accepted until an acknowledgement is received).

Option Commands (* = default)

Most of the keypad settings are controlled by a series of “9XX codes, where “XX” represents a two digit number. To enter a 9XX code, press and hold down the “C” key, type in the 3 digit 9XX code, and release the “C” key. For example, to enter the code “970”, press and hold the “C” key, type “9”- “7”-“0” and then release all keys. In this example, the keypad will blink back the firmware revision.

Base Station Overview

The Base Station contains a 2.4 GHz RF transceiver and the hardware necessary to send keypad votes to a PC via USB connection.

The CRS940 can change channels so systems in close proximity can be set to different channels to prevent interference.

The CRS940 uses an integrated RF antenna combined with a proprietary frequency hopping algorithm to ensure reliable RF performance when there is a lot of RF interference being generated from other 2.4 GHz devices such as wireless internet, cordless phones, etc.