Intermec PL4 manual

EasyC oder PL4 Print er User's Guide[...]

Interme c Technologie s Corporat ion 6001 36th Avenue West Everett, WA 98203 U.S. serv ice and technica l su pport: 1-800-755-5505 U.S. media supplies o rdering information: 1-800-227- 9947 Canadian service and technica l su pport: 1-800-668-7043 Canadian media supplies o rdering information: 1-800-268-6936 Outside U.S.A. and Canada: Contact your l[...]

EasyCoder PL4 Printer User’s Guide iii Contents Introducing the E asyCoder PL4 Printer......................................... 5 Unpacking and Inspecti ng .............................................. 5 Reporting Dam age .......................................................... 5 Learning About the Printer......................................[...]

iv EasyCoder PL4 Printer User’s Guide Troubleshoot ing .......................................................................... 52 Understandi ng the Standard Control Panel LEDs ......... 53 Understandi ng the LCD Control Panel Icons................ 53 Troubleshoot ing Printer Problem s................................. 54 Using Communicati ons [...]

EasyCoder PL4 Printer User’s Guide 5 Introducing the EasyC oder PL4 Printer Thank you fo r choos ing the Inte rmec EasyCode r ® PL4 Pri nter. This rugge d printe r is sure to be come a productive and e fficient addition to your workplace than ks to its innovati ve design. Interm ec ensures w orld-class support for al l of your bar code printe rs[...]

6 Easy Coder PL4 Printer User’s Gu ide Learning About th e Printer The EasyCoder PL4 pr inter is a rugged, portable label and receipt print er that provides: • Print resolution o f 203 dpi • Print speeds up t o 7.62 cm (3 inches) per second • Serial or wirele ss communi cation s options Use the next two i llustrati ons to fam iliarize yours[...]

EasyCoder PL4 Printer User’s Guide 7 Communications port Belt clip Battery Charger jack PL4U003.eps Back view of the Eas yCoder PL4 Installing the Battery Note: Batteries are ship ped uncharged. 1 Unwrap the battery. 2 Rotate the belt clip to allow access to the battery compartment. 3 Insert the battery i nto the printer .[...]

8 Easy Coder PL4 Printer User’s Gu ide Belt clip Battery Charger jack PL4U006.eps 4 Press the batter y into the printer until it locks in place. When the battery i s firs t installed , the Control Panel indic ators may briefly turn on and the n go off which indicate s the ba ttery is not fully charged. F or help, se e “Using t he Single Batt er[...]

EasyCoder PL4 Printer User’s Guide 9 Do not a ttempt to ch arge batt eries with the charg er while printing. A ttempting to print whi le charging ca n resul t in improp erly charg ed batter ies. Attent ion: Ne pas essayer de charge r des batter ies à l’aide du chargeur p endant l’ impress ion. Toute tentati ve d’imp ression pendant le pro [...]

10 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 5 The charge r LED wi ll indica te th e status of the charger as follows: Charger L ED Stat us Descriptio n Steady on light The battery is unde rgoing a f ast char ge. Slow bl inking li ght The charger is in trickle mode. The battery is ready for us e. Rapidly bl inking light T here is a problem with the ba[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 11 F a u lt F a s t C h a r g e F a u lt F a s t C h ar g e Fa u lt F a s t C h ar g e R e a d y P o w e r F u ll C h a rg e R e a d y F u ll C h a rg e R e a d y F u ll C h a r g e F u ll C h a r g e F a ult F a s t C h a rg e R e a d y Power supply Power indicator Charger bay Green indicator Amber indicator [...]

12 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Note: A fault condit ion is ca used by a prob lem with t he battery. The char ger may indicate a f ault because the battery is too hot or cold to charge re liably. Charge ba tteries between 0 ° C to 45 ° C (32 ° F to 113 ° F). If the amber i ndicator starts flashing on the seco nd attempt, the battery s[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 13 Understanding the Control Panels The EasyCo der PL4 comes with one of tw o possible cont rol panels: • The standard cont rol panel • The LCD c ontrol panel Standard Control Panel The ne xt illustrat ion shows t he stan dard contro l panel wi th its three but tons and two LE Ds. Power button Green LED Ye[...]

14 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Standard Co ntrol Panel Functions (co ntinued) Button or LED Function Yell ow LED Steady on light indic ates a n out of m edia or me dia cover not clos ed error condition. Fast blink indic ates RF activity (o n RF equipped printers only). Fast blink with a chime indicates th at no application is loaded . Fo[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 15 Printer status icons Feed button Power button LCD Select button Scroll button PL4U017.eps LCD Con trol Panel Functions Button or LED Function Feed Advan ces the media o ut one label or a so ftware determined length of media. Scroll Scrolls through the options and settings. Select Selects an option o r setti[...]

16 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide In addition to the status icons, the LCD control pan el can display ma ny of the printer’s settings an d function s as text. R efer to the next table, “LCD Functions,” for the full s et of printer features that ar e availabl e with the LCD panel . To set thes e function s, see the EasyCoder PL-Series [...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 17 * The hi ghest ba ud rate wi th co nsisten t results is 3840 0. ** Some parameters, such as the WLAN ID numb er and non-stand ard no- activity time out values can be set using a PC run ning Intermec PLUS and a data cable link to the printer. The LCD has a backlight op tion that allo ws viewin g of the scree[...]

18 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide PL4U011.eps 3 Pull the media su pports apart, i nsert the roll of media between them, and let the medi a suppor ts close. M ake sure the media pull s off the core in the dir ection shown i n the next illustrat ion. PL4U013.eps Media supports[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 19 The supp orts adjus t themselves to the width o f the media. The me dia should be able to spin fre ely on the support s. 4 If you want to use the p rinter in Tear-Off mode, go to the next step. If you want to use the printer in Self-Strip mode, peel a few labels off of the media. 5 Close the media cover. 6 [...]

20 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 7 Rotate the latch assembl y until it locks in pl ace. 8 Turn on the pr inter or press the Feed button if the pr inter is already on. The printer advances the media. Tear-Off mode Self-Strip mode Latch assembly Media cover Latch assembly Media cover PL4U044.eps The pr inter advan ces the media to t he next [...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 21 Latch assembl y Self-strip bar PL4U046 .eps 4 Rotate the latch assembl y until it locks in pl ace. Loading Fanfold Media The PL4 has a loading slot in the rear of th e media compartment that allows you to use standa rd 101.6-mm (4-inch ) wide fanfol d media from an externa l supply. It is important to place[...]

22 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide PL4U015.eps Rear media slot Media spacer Surface of media to be p rinted 5 Close the media cover and then rotate the latch assembly until it l ocks in pla ce. 6 Turn on the pr inter or press the Feed button if the pr inter is already on. The pr inter advan ces the media to t he next label, if printi ng labe[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 23 To print a con figura tion lab el 1 Turn the pri nter off. Load the media compartment wi th continuou s media ( media wi th no black marks p rinted on the back). 2 Press and hold the Feed butto n. 3 Press and release the Pow er button and keep the Feed b utton pressed . When printing s tarts, release the Fe[...]

24 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Inter mec PL4 V79/00 08/24/01 Serial Number: XXEC00-10-0042 xxQF00-10-0042 Name: xxQF00-10-0042 Program: Firmware:HTQ47940 /18 Chksum:F18A Software:HTK44L Chksum:5C8F Ver:L4.R79.40.U176.B19.T19.A00 Cable Communications: 19200 BPS, N,8,1 Handshake:hardware DSR: 1 Bridge mode: off Wireless Communications: Uni[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 25 Cable Communications: 115200 BPS, N,8,1 Handshake:Hardware Wireless Communications: NO LINK ATTEMPTED SRRF Version: 5.17.12W Release Date: 05/08/00 Src Address: 1140850687 Dest Address: 0 Data Retries: 5 Packet Size: 1000 RF Baud: 9600 Max RF Baud: 9600 Manchester: Enabled Sleep Mode: Enabled CC Threshold: [...]

26 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Peripherals: MCR 2.00 LCD: Installed Expansion module: 0x1D 802.11/b PCMCIA 5V Other : 0F Pow er Management: In-activity Timeout:120 Secs Low-battery Timeout:60 Secs Remote(DTR) pwr-off:Enabled Voltage :6.98(179) Low-bat Warning :6.86(176) Low-bat Shut-down:6.55(168) Memor y(0): Flash :2097151 Bytes RAM :20[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 27 Establishing Communications With a Terminal The prin ter must e stablish c ommunicat ions with a host te rminal that sends the data to be p rinted. The PL4 printer pr ovides thr ee ways to communicate with a termi nal: • Serial cable betw een the pri nter and the host ter minal • Bluetooth ™ radio lin[...]

28 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Communications port Communications cable to terminal PL4U019.eps 5 0 2 0 Connecting the printer to a terminal Serial communications cable to computer PL4U021.eps Connecting the printer to a PC The next table indicates the Intermec terminal s that have been tested wi th the PL4 printer and the part number fo[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 29 Terminals and Cables Terminal Cable Part N umber Trakker Antares 2415 B L11757-0 00 with t he comm unic atio ns dock (P/N TD2410 A) or seri al adap ter cable (P /N 06 9591) Trakker Antares 2425 B L11757-0 00 with t he opti cal lin k adap ter (P/N 0640 21) Trakker Antares 2435 B L11537-1 BL1153 7-2 Trakker A[...]

30 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Bluetooth Com munications Note: Th e followin g secti on only applie s when the Bluet ooth Module is instal led in the PL4 printe r. The radiat ed output po wer o f this inter nal wireless ra dio is far below the FCC radio frequency exposure limits. Neverthele ss, this Bluetooth ra dio must be used in such [...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 31 Note: If the printer times out, sending a pri nt request through the Bl uetooth connection wil l not turn the pri nter on. Make sure the p rinter is on before sending y our print reques t. To print labels fr om a Bl uetooth -enabled device 1 Create a label file with a .LBL extension, and load it on your dev[...]

32 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 11 Close t he Bluet ooth print utility, or prin t anothe r label. Wireless Local Area Net work (WLAN) Communic ations This se ction pr ovides in form ation about t he Com pact Fl ash radio and PCMCIA card ra dio and procedures f or the fol lowing setup scen arios: • LPD a nd TCP printing • WEP enc rypti[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 33 LAN’s pe rimeter. Me thods o f establishing c ommunicat ions to the PL4 vary wi th ea ch LAN applicati on. WLAN Module Using a PCMCIA Card Radio Note: Th e followin g secti on only applie s when the PCMC IA card WLA N module is instal led in the PL4 print er. The F CC ID number label is on th e bottom of [...]

34 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Setting Up LPD or TCP Printing PL4 printer Access point Host Laptop PC PL4U049.e p s You use LPD pr inting in mos t Unix env ironments. LP D printin g requi res an LPD daemon to be running on the Unix server. TCP socke ts print ing is su pporte d on most plat forms, including W indows an d Unix. Before sett[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 35 For mo re inform ation on usin g and send ing comm ands t o your printer, see the EasyCod er PL-Series P rinter Programmer’s Reference Manual . Note: If the printer times out, sending a pri nt request through the 802.11b connection w ill not turn the printer on. Make sure the prin ter is on before sen din[...]

36 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide ! U1 SETVAR “ip.gateway” “ xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ” ! U1 SETVAR “ip.addr” “ xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ” where “ xxx.xxx.xx x.xxx ” wi ll be replace d with valid values for your network. If you are unsure what values to enter, please contact yo ur network admi nistra tor for ass istance. 6 Turn th e print[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 37 For mo re inform ation on usin g and send ing comm ands t o your printer, see the EasyCod er PL-Series P rinter Programmer’s Reference Manual . To set up WEP encryption 1 Print a configura tion labe l. For he lp, see “V erifying t he Printe r Is Work ing” earl ier in t his guide. 2 Connect to the prin[...]

38 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 7 Set the encryptio n key of the p rinter via the fo llowing command: ! U1 SETVAR “wlan.encryption_key N ” “ encryptionkey ” where the N is 1, 2, 3, or 4 depend ing on which in dex is being used, and encryptionkey is 10 o r 26 hexadecimal (0 to 9, A to F) characters depending on whether 40-bit or 12[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 39 2 Ping the IP addre ss of the p rinte r and verify acknowledge ment (fr om a DOS prom pt on Win dows platform s). 3 Print a test la bel via Intermec PLUS. Test us ing TCP sockets (port 6101) and LPD. Setting Up for POP3 E-m ail Printing PL4 printer Email T o: F rom: Access point Host Laptop PC PL4U053.e p s[...]

40 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide To succe ssfully c onfigure t he printe r for POP3 su pport, y ou need the fol lowing infor mation: • The IP addr ess of the P OP3 server • The username o f the POP3 acco unt • The pass word of t he POP3 a ccount • The po ll freq uency for the pri nter. The pol l freq uency tells the pri nter how of[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 41 5 Set the poll freq uency of the pri nter. T he poll fr equency determ ines how often th e printe r checks f or new e- mail. It is recommended that you choose a v alue greater than 10 seconds ; otherw ise the p rinte r may be unre sponsive to oth er activity. Set the po ll frequency usi ng the following com[...]

42 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Setting Up for Ad Hoc Mode Laptop PL4 printer PL4 printer Hand-held computer PL4U055.eps This se ction expla ins ho w to set up your prin ter fo r Ad Hoc mode. You use Ad Hoc mode to communi cate with a wi reless device with out using an ac cess point. Before setti ng up the pri nter, you need to kno w the [...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 43 2 Connect to the printer via the serial cable and a communicat ions pr ogram (such as Hy perTerm inal). Ensu re your comm unications software matche s the baud rate displayed in th e configurati on la bel generated in Step 1. For help co nnecting the pri nter to a PC, see “Seri al Cable Commun ications”[...]

44 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide where “ xxx.xxx.xx x.xxx ” is repla ced with valid IP a ddress values for your netw ork. If yo u are unsure what va lues to enter, pl ease contact your network adminis trator fo r assistance. 8 Test the ad ho c connecti on. For help , see the next pr ocedur e. To test the ad hoc connection 1 Print a con[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 45 To open Interm ec PLUS 1 Install Inter mec PLUS. For help , see the pr evious procedure. 2 Click Start. 3 Select Programs and th en Intermec PLUS. 4 Click Inter mec PLUS. The Intermec P LUS main scr een appear s. Downloading Firmware Use Inter mec PLUS to do wnload firmware upgra des to you r PL4 printe r. [...]

46 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 4 Click Br owse to sele ct the fir mware file ( .HEX file) y ou want to downloa d. 5 Click Send to downl oad the firmware. 6 Close Inte rmec PL US. Using the Accessories There are s everal acc essories available f or use with the P L4 printe r. This sect ion show s you how to use the belt clip an d the shou[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 47 Using the Belt Clip The PL4 is equipped with a belt clip. To use the belt clip, hook the clip over your belt and ensur e that the clip is securely attached to the belt. The belt cl ip will pivot to al low you to move free ly while wearing t he prin ter. Clip printer to belt Printer can pivot freely PL4U025.[...]

48 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Using the Adju stable Shoulder St rap The PL4 comes with a shou lder strap (P/N BT1113 2-1) for your conv enience. To us e the shoulder s trap, snap each end of the sh oulder strap into the s houlder st rap ring s on the top of the printer. Slid e the buckle away fro m or toward the printer unti l you achie[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 49 Maintaining the Printer The easies t way to maintain your printer is to extend the batter y life for as long as possi ble and to perfor m routine cl eaning of the print er parts. Extending Battery Life • Never expo se the battery to dir ect sunlight or temperatures over 40°C (104°F). • Only use the fo[...]

50 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide • Pull the battery o ut of the pri n ter if you will not be using the printer for a day or more and you are not performing a maintenance charge. • Consider pur chasing an ex tra battery (P/N AT16293-2). • Remember that any rechargeable battery lose s its ab ility to maintain a charge over time . It ca[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 51 Cleaning th e PL4 Printer Printe r Part Cleaning Metho d Cleaning Int erval Printhead Use the clean ing pen th at came with your printer or 70% isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab to clean the print elements fro m end to end (th e print elemen ts are located in the thin gray line on the printhead). After eve[...]

52 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Label taken sensor Gap sensor Edge guides, inner Bearing points (2 places) Media rollers (2 places) Black mark sensor Platen surface Printhead elements Tear bar Self-strip rollers Self-strip bar PL4U029.eps Identifying the parts for cleaning Troubleshooting You may h ave print er operat ion, prin t qual ity[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 53 Understanding the Stan dard Control Panel LE Ds If the pri nter is not functio ning properl y, refer to the table belo w to find the s tate of the tw o LED s on the contro l panel. Us e the “Printer Pr oblems” table later in this guide to find your symptom and solutio n. Understanding the LEDs Green LED[...]

54 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Troubleshooting Pr inter Problems If you are hav ing a proble m with y our printe r, look fo r your symptom i n the Printer Problems table bel ow and then try the solutions in the order they are li sted. Printer Problems Sympto m Solutio n The printer has no power. Make sure the battery is insta lled proper[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 55 Printer Problems (con tinued) Sympto m Solutio n The battery life is reduced. Check the battery date code. If the battery is 1 to 2 years old, the short life may be due to normal agi ng. Recondition th e batter y. Replace the battery. The printer is skip ping labels . Check the media for top of form sense m[...]

56 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Printer Problems (con tinued) Sympto m Solutio n The printer is not communicating with the network. Print a configuration lab el to check the follow ing settings: • eSSID • Operating mo de • Preamble length • IP addre ss • Netw ork mask • Gatew ay • Encryption • Auth entication • LPD • T[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 57 Printer Problems (con tinued) Sympto m Solutio n The printer prints POP3 e-mail but does not respond t o othe r tasks. The poll fr equency is s et to low. M ake sure the poll frequency is set to more than 10 seconds. For help, se e “Setting Up for P OP3 E-mail Printing” earlier in th is guide. When you [...]

58 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Note: If you do not pre ss th e Feed button within 3 seconds , the prin ter print s “Dump mo de not en tered” a nd resumes n ormal operat ion. 3 At this po int, th e printer i s in Dump m ode and p rints th e ASCII hex codes of any data sent to it and their tex t repres entation (or [.] if not a printab[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 59 Memory/Commu nications Specifications (con tinued) Optional wireless communications Bluetooth compatible 2. 4 GHz link Wireless LAN capabilities comply with 802.11b protocol s Label Specifications Label/t ag widt h 50.8 mm to 104.1 mm (2 inches to 4.1 i nches) Maximum label/ta g leng th 508 mm (20 inches) w[...]

60 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide Font/Bar Code Specifica tions- Fonts Avail able Five re sident scalab le and rotatab le fonts avai lable from 12 to 4 8 pt. Downloadab le pre -scaled fonts via Intermec PLUS application. Optional international character sets. 1D Bar C odes Av ailable Codabar UCC/EAN 12 8 Cod e 39 Cod e 93 EAN 8/ JAN 8, 2 an[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 61 Physical/Environ mental/Electrical Specifications (continue d) Weight with battery, excludi ng media & wirele ss options 0.9 kg. ( 2.0 lbs.) Temperature Operatin g Storage -15°C to 50°C (5° F to 1 22°F) -25°C to 70°C ( -13°F t o 158°F ) Relative humidity Operatio n Storage 10% to 80% (non-conden[...]

62 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 8 7 6 4 2 1 5 3 PL4U031.eps Communications Port 8-pin Cir cular DIN Accesso ries You can or der the fo llowing accessorie s for the P L4: • Adjustable shoulder stra p (P/N BT11132-1) • Extra battery (P/N AT1629 3-2) • Vehicle-mount unit (VMU ) bracket (P/N DC16620-2) • Chargers: • Single battery c[...]

EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide 63 For details abo ut accessories, contact your l ocal Intermec repres entative.[...]

64 EasyCoder P L4 Printer Us er’s Guide[...]

Corpora te Headquarters 6001 36th Avenue W est Everett, W ashington 98203 U.S.A. tel 425.348.2600 fax 425.355.9551 www.intermec.c om EasyCoder PL4 Printer User's Guide *073204-001* *073204-001*[...]