This article outlines the terminology used in RC4 Series 3 Device User Interface (UI) Charts. Each RC4 device has it’s own concise chart describing every feature that is accessible with the buttons and LEDs on the device.
RC4 devices intentionally provide a very small user interface with a limited number of buttons. This is an approach that is loathed by many when encountered in all walks of life — we get that — but in our case we have a good excuse: our devices must be as small as possible, and we strive to make them even smaller every year. We want our user interface to be much the same in the future, so the button sequences you learn today will still do what you expect in the future, on devices so small they are easily mistaken for specks of dust. (No, really — that’s our objective.)
Several small colored LEDs provide feedback, indicating that various button selections invoked the desired response, confirming various settings, and displaying real time status.
The Buttons
The RC4 user interface has been called OneTouch for years — all the way back to the mid 1990s when we first introduced our simple method of assigning a DMX channel and dimmer curve with a single press of as single button. That function is still there in almost every RC4 device, but to accommodate our ever growing family of functions and features, we’ve had to expand and introduce other creative ways to select things with a minimal number of buttons and only a few small LEDs for feedback.
Power-Up “Hidden Features”
A power-up button function is invoked by holding a button, applying power, and then releasing the button after power is applied:
- press button
- apply power with button still pressed
- see LED confirmation of selected feature
- release button
On RC4Magic devices this is used to select one of four system ID codes. (Three of your ID codes are unique to you and your system alone — when you select your ID0, it is not the same as another user’s ID0, ensuring different systems will never interfere with each other.)
Single-Press Button Features
After an RC4 device powers up normally — a few seconds — each button on the user interface has a basic function. This function may vary depending on the context at the moment. For example, if live DMX data is streaming in to a dimmer device, then the Set buttons provide OneTouch selection of DMX channel and dimmer curve for each dimmer. But if no DMX data is streaming in — when no transmitter is running, for example — then the Set buttons are bump buttons for testing each dimmer.
Func+Button Features
The next layer of features is accessed by holding the Func button while pressing a Set button. The Func button acts like the shift key on a computer keyboard, providing a second set of features for each of the other buttons:
- press and hold Func
- briefly tap a Set button (press and release)
- see LED confirmation of selected feature
- release Func button
Long-Press Button Features
Yet another set of features is accessed by holding a button for several seconds. It is important to not release the button until the long-press feature is confirmed on the LEDs. Otherwise, a Single-Press feature could be inadvertently invoked.
The LEDs
RC4 Series 3 devices may have anywhere from two to six LEDs. For consistency between all devices, two of these LEDs always indicate the same messages in the same way. On dimmer devices an LED directly indicates the output of each dimmer, so 2-channel dimmers have two such indicators while 4-channel dimmers have four of them.
In some cases the RC4 user interface uses the dimmer output indicators for other purposes as well, which also also causes connected loads to come on. Thus, some functions are indicated with your external lamps, LEDs, etc, as well as the little LEDs on the RC4 device.
LEDs On or Off
On some devices, one feature is dedicated to a particular LED. For example, DMX Termination is indicated on DMXio transceivers with an LED that serves no other purpose: when that LED is on, termination is on.
LED Blinking Speed
Blinking speed is one method that allows a single LED to continuously indicate one of several states. For example, RF Power is indicated on DMXio transceivers with an LED that blinks slowest for the lowest power and fastest for the highest power.
LED Blinking Patterns
Another method of displaying different states with a single LED is with patterns of blinks. For example, the DMXpix and LumenDimPix indicate the selected pixel string type by blinking the COP indicator with different numbers of “blips,” and the DMXio indicates Series 2 (Compatibility) or Series 3 (Enhanced) RF data protocols with single or double blips of the COP indicator in transmitter mode.
Patterns of Two LEDs Indicating Selections in a List
For selecting from multiple options, particularly in dimmer devices, a pair of LEDs indicate a series of 2 or 3 blinks in different orders. (For the geeks and coders reading this: the two LEDs indicate binary 0 and binary 1, and the number of blinks are the number of bits. A series of 2 blinks can indicate 4 different options, a series of 3 blinks can indicate 8 different options, and so on.)
This display method is used, for example, to choose from the 8 different operating modes in each RC4 Series 3 dimmer — straight DMX dimmer mode, Cross-Fade Mode, Flicker Engine Mode, HSL Color mode, etc.
This method is also used, in different situations, to indicate the selected PWM frequency, and selected Digital Persistence period.
Summary
Armed with the information in this article, all the RC4 Series 3 UI Charts should be clear and easy to follow. If you have any trouble, do not hesitate to post a question in our online forum or email RC4 Wireless technical support.