MCR12 - how is it configured/used ?

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tmadfr
 
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MCR12 - how is it configured/used ?

Post by tmadfr »

dear Adafruit,

our R&D team have chosen your MCR12 barcode reader (Product ID 1203) for use in our upcoming project. I'm now collecting technical information in relation to this reader for the purpose of understanding the interface to our existing electronics as well as the complete programming and configuration details of the reader that would be applied through that interface.

I believe this device includes both a USB and RS232 interface, but we require technical details of both before we can proceed with development.

I've found the Scanner Manual on the Adafruit website (document 1D Embedded CCD Module V1.04), but I believe there should be further technical information provided. Can you help me to find, or can you provide, the remaining documents, please ?

I was initially assuming this reader could be programmed/configured through its RS232 port – by this I mean the initial/factory configuration. Having read the manual as well as some other posts on this forum I’m no longer certain this is the case. We planned to connect the reader through an RS232 interface to a controlling microprocessor for the purposes of initial configuration – is this actually possible ? My feeling is actually that the reader can only be initially configured by exposing it to the various barcodes in that manual – is that correct ? So, for example, if we want to enable the RS232 interface at 9600 baud we would have the reader ‘see’ the <RS232 Serial Port> barcode (000601) followed by the <9600bps> barcode (000705) – is my understanding correct ? I also have to assume once these settings are applied that they are retained by the reader even after power-down – correct ? Is there any way such initial setups can be performed via the RS232 port instead ?

Also, the readers I’ve seen so far (which were obtained from Adafruit) are with a USB cable - there is no RS232 cable. I believe each reader is capable of both USB and RS232 comms, depending which is enabled, but in that case why do our readers not have a RS232 cable ? Is there a specific order code we should use in this case ?
Once the reader is configured for, say, RS232 @9600 baud mode then what happens next ? Chapter 7 of that manual suggests commands can be sent to the reader for control purposes, but this seems to be just whether we enable or disable the reader – correct ? Actually another thing you seem to be able to do through the RS232/Serial port is set the baud rate to 115,200 (this is one of the examples provided) – does this mean once the initial <RS232 Serial Port> barcode has been ‘seen’ by the reader that remaining configuration can then be done via RS232 ? This particular 115,200 baud example uses CMD=0x02 … what are the other command byte values for other baud rates ?

Finally, what does the reader output to the microprocessor – what is the structure of data it sends to the user ? I assume this only happens when it ‘sees’ a barcode, but I don’t think the manual goes into this detail ?

Thank-you.

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