Devices Menu

Device Wizard

This dialog guides the user through the installation of a new device. Currently the Battery Manager supports charging devices like Charge Manager 2010 and RFID readers like A30A-RS232 both of which are attached to the serial interfaces.

In the first step the qizard determines the available serial interfaces of the computer. The free ports can then be selected. In the second step a device can be deposited. Since devices are stored into the database a database connection is required which must have been created using the session window. A tab showing the devices is displayed by the wizard for each connected database here.

Please choose an available device from the list (double-click). If no appropriate or free device is available please add a new device directly from the list or copy an existing device.

Finally the wizard creates a new device window where additional settings may be applied. By default separate windows are created for the devices which can then be positioned to the right of the main window. The device windows may also be moved to the dock.

Edit Devices

The dialog to manage devices allows the creation and maintenance of devices in a connected database. A database connection is required which must have been created using the session window, a notice on the status bar is displayed otherwise.

The list in the figure shows the deposited device datasets shipped with the Battery Manager software. Currently the Battery Manager supports charging devices like Charge Manager 2010 and RFID readers like A30A-RS232 both of which are attached to the serial interfaces. In addition to that, also devices without serial interface may be configured here (of no fixed type) which cannot be displayed by the device window though. For example a multimeter from METEX without serial connection is configured here which is used for manual measurements of the battery voltage.

For the details of the general function of the buttons and choosers please refer to the description of the session window.

Rescan Ports

The Rescan Ports menu may be used to find the serial ports of the computer. After the scan the status bar prints a message with the number of free ports. This function is especially useful also while the application is running to find temporarily attached USB serial ports. Typical port names under Windows are COM1, COM2 etc.

For each detected port the menu displays an appropriate entry with which the visibility of the associated device window can be controlled. If a port has not been configured yet or if a port must not be used by Battery Manager then the menu item is deselected.

The scan functionality can also be called with the corresponding shortcut (Windows/Mac).

The easiest way to configure new devices is the device wizard. It is recommended to use this dialog whenever possible for the configuration of serial ports, too.

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