We recently bought a Barcode Reader/Scanner Module - CCD Camera - USB Interface and we are quite happy about it except for the random beeps and returned random numbers (1 digit or 2 digits) when it is not being used. The occurrences are very random as sometimes it doesn’t do it for a long time like (3-5 hours).
Can you please advise on how to fix or set it up so that it will stop from doing the random beeps and numbers?
The current settings that we have used are:
Interface Selection – “USB MODE”
Reading Mode Selection – “Continuous/Auto Power On” or “Flash/Auto Power On”
And the rest of the settings are “as is” or just the defaults.
Hmm sounds like a strange occurrence. Are you using the USB cable that came with the unit? An initial though is that some noise or power issues caused by a long USB cable could be causing the random behavior. If you have access to a multi-meter, you could try checking to make sure that it’s a nice 5 Volts volts under load.
Thanks for the reply and the thoughts. Yes I am using the USB cable that came with the unit. I will try to find a multi meter to measure the volts of the USB. I’m actually using the scanner for the Raspberry PI 3.
Ok cool, the current draw for the scanner is only spec’d at 80mA so it shouldn’t be causing any trouble with the Pi USB ports.
Try powering the scanner using a powered USB hub, and connect the hub to the Pi, it could solve the issue if the behavior is being caused by some noise on the supply line (although the Pi USB ports should be fine for that kind of thing).
We tested overnight the USB scanner from a Windows PC that doesn’t go on standby mode and it didn’t produce or generate random numbers at all. Could it be that the RPi 3 has something to do with the USB scanner unit doing the random beeps+numbers?
The fact that you got it working reliably is good because a different USB supply can be easily fixed. I’d try a USB hub if you have one that is powered but connected to the Pi for data and see if that works.
Good news. I was able to fixed the problem (or sort of), by switching off all the “Symbologies” and switching back on only those that we need (it is only a couple that we need). It didn’t randomly beep or throw back random numbers after doing so, it has been like that on few days already after doing so.
I thought I might share it to someone who had encountered similar issue with the barcode scanner.
