The detector and sentry are used to find lost keypads and alert you if a keypad leaves the main voting area
Activation. For a keypad to be found by a detector or sentry it must be "on air". Keypads by default are off air until a button is pressed to vote. It is obviously not possible to press a button on a lost/missing keypad so each keypad is able to enter standby mode.
To enable the use of the detector/sentry the keypads have a stand-by setting that, when enabled, makes them wake up and go "on air" at regular intervals. When on-air a detector or sentry is able to find and locate them.
Enabling Standby Mode
1. To enable standby mode load Keypad Setup and tick the "Enable Standby – 4 min" option.
2. Start a test vote and press a button on each keypad to vote, once voted the keypad will be placed into standby mode.
3. Once in standby mode a keypad will periodically transmit a signal enabling it to be located by a Detector/Sentry.
It is important to remember to enable the 4 minute Standby option and perform a test vote for the entire system before each voting session. This ensures that all of the keypads are placed into standby mode before live voting begins.
The auto off period determines how long a period of inactivity the keypads will remain in standby mode before switching
themselves off, ensure this is long enough so that keypads which are not used for live voting are able to be located by a detector. It is recommended to set this to the maximum 8 hours for ease of use.
Detector Use
1. Collect and switch all keypads off by pressing the * and 10 keys together, if any keypads are missing switch on the detector keypad.
2. The detector will beep to indicate it has been switched on and once again when it has finished its power up cycle and is ready to receive a signal from a missing keypad – it will flash 0 in the display when it is searching for a missing keypad. Once a signal has been received from a missing keypad (which will take up to 4 minutes) the detector will beep.
3. The detector will display a number from 1 to 8 indicating how strong the signal from the missing keypad is. Once close
enough (i.e. the detector displaying a 6, 7 or the maximum 8) press and hold the magnify button, the missing keypad will
beep to help you locate it.
4. Once you have found the missing keypad, switch the keypad off (pressing * and 10 together) and then press the detector’s "On" button to locate the next missing keypad.
5. When all missing keypads have been found, switch the detector off to preserve its batteries.
The base station must not be involved in a voting exercise whilst using the detector otherwise it will interfere with the detect process. It is recommended that the base station is either unplugged or PowerPoint is closed to ensure that the base station is idle.
vote by clicking the "Enable Standby – 5 sec" option in Keypad Setup.
Sentry Use
1. Enable the 5 second standby mode before the end of a session, either during a live vote by pressing "S" or from a test vote by clicking the "Enable Standby – 5 sec" option in Keypad Setup.
2. Once selected the keypads must then be told about this new setting, this will be done during the current or next live vote. If there are no further live votes a keypad can be automatically switched from 4 minute mode to 5 second mode by starting a Test Vote from the Keypad Setup screen and waiting 4 minutes for each keypad to activate.
It is very important not to place all of the keypads into the 5 second standby mode too soon as this will drastically reduce the life of the batteries. If at the start of a 4 hour voting session the keypads are placed into the 5 second interval standby mode they will have voted an equivalent of 2880 times
3. A Sentry must be in armed mode to find a keypad – the first press of the "On" button will place the Sentry in Standby mode, in this mode the sentry will flash a green light once every 30 seconds but will not find a missing keypad.
4. To arm the sentry press the "On" button again – the sentry will flash a green light every few seconds.
5. The sentry will beep if it detects a keypad nearby. The keypad will also beep when it has been detected.
6. To switch the keypad off press the * and 10 keys together.
7. After use, turn all keypads off by pressing the * and 10 keys together to preserver battery life
8. To turn a sentry off, press and hold the "On" button then press and release the "Off" button. The Sentry will beep once then switch off.
The Sentry must be placed outside of the range of voting keypads, otherwise when armed they could interfere with live voting and/or active keypads that are still in the main voting room.