Phone Connection Maintenance
Scanners make an electrical connection to the phone via the
electrical connector at the bottom of the phone. The electrical signals are
very small, requiring a clean and positive physical connection.
Phones that have been in-service often have contaminated contacts that
need cleaning before a scanner can be attached.
If the phone screen does not display
"Device Attached" when attaching the scanner, and/or the scan beam does not come out,
or the beam comes out but your software does not receive the scan, the problem
can often be resolved by cleaning the contacts as follows:
- Turn the phone off and detach the scanner.
- Detaching i355 SP5 scanners: Push up from the bottom to
remove both the phone and the scanner plug, taking care to not push on
or touch the scan window.
- There is a row of very small gold plated pins at the scanner end
that attaches to the phone. The pins are spring-loaded, and should be
"limbered" up and cleaned so that they will make good contact: Carefully push down
on the pins using a sharpened, new and clean pencil eraser tip. Push
down on the pins about a dozen times each. Brush the pins carefully
and lightly with a clean, dry toothbrush, which you are prepared
to throw away after use. (It can be an old toothbrush, as long as it
is clean and dry.)
- Clean the contacts at the bottom of the phone using the
toothbrush. You can be quite aggressive doing this, as the phone
contacts are not that delicate. A single drop of rubbing alcohol
on the brush can help to dissolve gum or other contaminants.
Brush until the phone contacts are bright and shiny.
- There is a thin plastic rib between each contact on the phone.
These ribs can sometimes be damaged, and bent. If you are careful, you
may be able to straighten out a bent-over rib using a pen knife.
- Reattach the scanner several times to ensure that
it is well seated and that the pins are making a good contact.
- Attaching i355 SP5 scanners: It is possible to have the
scanner and phone in the case, yet still not have them fully
connected. To attach, push the phone firmly down into the
scanner plug, then push the phone and scanner into the leather case.
It is a tight fit. Stand the case on end on a table top, and
make a final firm push of the phone down into the scanner plug, then
firmly stretch and reattach the strap over the top of the phone.
- Turn the phone on, and try the scanner again.
If your scanner now attaches correctly and emits a beam, but the bar code does not get displayed
on the phone, the problem is usually related to how your software
program is configured. Please contact your software vendor for
further instructions on how to configure their software.
Occasionally, the internal scan engine will need to be "rebooted" back to its
factory defaults. This is done by scanning in a special command
bar code.
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