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IV. O p e r a t i o n
A. Remote Operation from Controller Unit
The filter positions of each filter wheel can be controlled using the thumbwheel switches on the
controller modules supplied with the filter assemblies. Connect the motor drive cable of the
controller to the motor connector of the filter wheel for each unit. Connect the control unit to an AC
line of the voltage listed on the back of the controller. The positions 0 - 6 may then be selected by
this switch.
B. Operation with RS-232 Computer or Terminal
Connect the motor drive of the control unit to the filter wheel and the RS-232 output of the control
unit to an RS-232 port of a computer or terminal. See section III-B for cable installation instructions.
The filter wheel with controller responds to commands from the computer or terminal in the form of
ASCII strings. The following two commands are used for controlling the filter position:
FILTER Controls the filter position and is used as follows:
3 FILTER <enter> sets filter wheel to position 3. Filter
positions 1 - 6 may be selected. Note that there must be a
after the number and the command must be terminated
with the enter or carriage return key. The filter will go
to the specified position in the direction which
requires the shortest move. When the move is
complete, the controller will respond with OK followed
by carriage return and line feed (hex AXCII sequence
20 6F 6B of OA). Also, the default condition is to echo each
character that is sent to the controller. If no echo is
desired, the command NO-ECHO will suppress the echo.
The command ECHO will return the controller to the
default echo state.
?FILTER Returns the current filter position. Typing ?FILTER <enter>
will cause the current filter position to be returned to the
computer and displayed.
FHOME Initializes the filter wheel to the first filter position.
This command is automatically executed at power-up.
The filter wheel controller keeps track of filter
position as long as power is applied. It should not be
necessary to execute this command under normal
circumstances, although it is available if desired. This
command follows the same format as in FILTER above
for entry and response.
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