Serialio

How to change the Bluetooth awake timer on the idChamp RS3

By default, the idChamp RS3 Reader’s Bluetooth Smart module will turn off after 5 minutes of inactivity. This article will walk you through the steps to change the setting to disable that Bluetooth Awake timer.

Update System Awake Timer

Open the idChamp RS3 Reader and make sure that the switches match the pictures below:

idChamp RS3 Reader Diagram

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For banks S2 and S3 (See diagram above).

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For banks S4 and S5 (Note: You will need to remove the idChamp RS3 Reader from the case to access these banks – See diagram above).

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You will need a terminal application like TeraTerm, PuTTy, or Serialio’s Javaterm. We will use PuTTy in this example. You will also need a USB-RS232 cable to connect the idChamp RS3 Reader to the PC.

Open PuTTy, select the Serial radio button and set your communication options to the correct COM port and baud rate. For this example, our USB-RS232 cable is assigned to COM 235 and the idChamp RS3 Reader is using the default baud rate 9600. Click Open to be taken to the terminal window.

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Once the terminal window opens press the power button on the BlueSnap Smart Dongle to enter COMMAND mode. If you do not see the [COMMAND_MODE] message, close the terminal window, power off the BlueSnap Smart Dongle, re-open the terminal window and press the power button. Contact Serialio if you continue to have issues entering COMMAND mode.

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Type “set sy a t 0” without the quotes, followed by a carriage return (Enter key). You should see a “Success” message.

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The system awake timer has now been changed but we need to write the change to non-volatile memory.
Type “save” and press Enter. You should see another “Success” message.
Type “reboot” and press Enter. This will power down the BlueSnap Smart Dongle and finalize the baud rate change.

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Note: The idChamp RS3 Reader will reboot and may automatically re-enter COMMAND MODE. This is normal. You can verify the changes made using the “get al” command then simply close your terminal and power the unit off.

Set the DIP switches back to the correct mode for your use case (see idChamp RS3 Support link below). You should now be able to connect the idChamp RS3 Reader using Bluetooth Smart to your application.