[Troubleshooter] How to Filter An Unstable Mains Supply And Improve Mains Earth Stability

To condition the electrical mains power travelling through your PC to the visualplanet touchfoil™, visualplanet recommend a 6 way Mains conditioner power strip from UK based Lindy.

This product provides a powerful mains conditioner and radio frequency interference filter to help remove noise from your visualplanet touchfoil™ installation (this will also prevent unwanted frequency interference throughout your whole system setup)

It may be beneficial to have one mains conditioner for each touchfoil system.

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[Troubleshooter] Considerations when using visualplanet touchfoil™ with LCD

• The sensor should be set up with the coarse gain set as low as possible, but will still allow good positive touches. This means that there will be as low a level of noise as possible in the system.

• The sensor always has a low level of background noise. The setup of the sensitivity and the press threshold is to allow the sensor to differentiate between background noise and true touches.

• Sometimes the mouse will move around randomly of its own accord. This is due to spurious noise in the system and can be caused by a number of things. In this case disconnect the cable to the PC and uncheck the "Enable Selected Control" box in the output tab of MA7/8. You will then be able to work with the sensor until the sensitivity setup is working in a correct manner.

Things to look for it there is too much noise in the LCD/touchfoil™ combination

• An Air gap of 8mm or more will be required between the LCD panel and the touch sensor.
• Where visualplanet have experience of a particular LCD we will share that information. In other cases the only way to discover the distance is by trial and error.
• If the LCD is too close then the resulting noise interference with the touchfoil™ will result in spurious random mouse movements.
• In all cases the earth cable provided with the touchfoil™ controller MUST be connected to the metal CASE/CHASSIS of the LCD. The whole setup should be very well grounded.
• Ensure Laptops are connected to the mains. If the earth of the system is floating random noise may occur.
• Mains conditions vary from one location to another. Visualplanet have had examples of touchfoil™s being on one floor in a building and being noisy, and on a different floor being perfectly OK.
• The Press threshold in the driver is set too close to the Finger Pressure. Either the Press Threshold must be moved to the right slightly or the Coarse Sensitivity must be reduced so that any background noise is not seen as a touch.
• Check the routing of the cables. Isolate the USB/Serial cable away from other cables eg. VGA, power or data cables.
• The touchfoil™ may be too close to a power source of some kind or there may be other electronic devices nearby.
• Try to locate the controller board away from power supplies, printers, inverters or any other electronic components in your in your unit.
• If there is a store theft detection system nearby (RFID) then this may cause interference. It can be effectively shielded with a metal shield such as aluminium foil.
• To check the cause of the noise try to move the touchfoil™ to another location with a known working setup (where possible) and install it there.
• When installing the touchfoil™ to a unit located in a metal/alluminium frame please ensure the frame is grounded to avoid any unnecessary interference.
• The store clothing tag detector near entrances causes electrical noise and can stop a touch system working if too close. A grounded metal plate between the two systems will prevent any problems.
  

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[Troubleshooter] The visualplanet touchfoil™ requires specific touchfoil driver

To obtain the relevant touchfoil driver for your visualplanet touchfoil™ please visit our Get interactive area. You will find out which touchfoil driver you require by looking at the touchfoil's tail and the touchfoil part number. Please see below:

Please note, you will not be able to calibrate your touchfoil™ if you are using the wrong touchfoil driver. Please ensure that you install the correct touchfoil driver from the visualplanet touchfoil driver CD or that you download the correct touchfoil driver from the website.

In addition to this, if you rebrand the bitmaps for a particular touchfoil driver please maintain reference to the touchfoil driver number to avoid confusion at a later stage.

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[Troubleshooter] Serial Ball Mouse Issues and Plug and Play

One of the problems with Plug and Play (PnP) is its tendency to detect and load drivers for devices you don't want to use. Although there is a way to turn off Plug and Play to prevent the Windows PnP feature from detecting and installing drivers for some devices, you can also disable most other devices that may be causing conflicts.

To disable a device and prevent Windows from detecting it again:

• Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Select the "Device Manager" link.

• In the Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) find the hardware that you want PnP to ignore, right-click, and select "Disable"

A red cross will then appear over the device's icon to signify that it has been disabled. The device can be re-enabled at a later stage by right-clicking and selecting "Enable"

How to disable Plug and Play

In the event that you need to disable Plug and Play completely, since PnP is a Windows Service you need to disable it through the Service Manager:

• Search for "services.msc" in the start menu search field
• Once opened, in the Service panel right-click on "UPnP Device Host" or "Universal Plug and Play Device Host" and select "Properties". In the properties window change the Startup type to "Disabled"

The SSDP service is the actual server that is open to the Internet (unless you are firewalled), and the service that turns on the UPnP Device Host. Next, go on to the SSDP Discovery Service, double-click and select "Stop" to stop the service. Then disable it in the same manner as done above withe UPnP Device Host

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[Troubleshooter] Visualplanet touchfoil™ RS-232 Serial Device detected as a Serial Ball Mouse

This solution will stop the occasional issue of the visualplanet's touchfoil™ controller being assigned to your computer as a "Serial Device". (Serial Ball Mouse)

Microsoft states that this problem can occur because most of the devices that are detected as serial mice are types of device constantly sending data to the serial port which causes the detection code to incorrectly identify the device as a serial mouse.

Microsoft have a tool that disables COMPORTS and in this case COM x is the port that requires disabling. (x is the port your touchfoil is connected to)

NOTE: This DOES NOT FULLY DISABLE the COM port, it only Disables the code that cause the port to incorrectly reassign itself because of the "Plug & Play" function within WINDOWS.

To download and install the COMDisable tool visit the following Microsoft Website:

comdisable.msi

Recommended Installation Procedure:

• Backup Registry by creating a system restore point - All Programs > Accessories > System > Tools > System Restore
• Create Backup and give a suitable name
• Install "COMDisable.exe"
• Install with defaults

Now disable COM PORT x (NOTE: Use the COM PORT ID that Windows has assigned to the touchfoil)

To check COM PORT ID - All Programs > Accessories > Run > devmgmt.msc
Then expand ports (COM & LPT)

Or identify using "MA7 Control GUI"

Open a Dos Command Window
To open a Dos command prompt type CMD.exe in the search tool.
Navigate to the folder where the Comdisable tool exists by typing the following in the Dos command prompt:
CD\Program Files\Microsoft COMDisable
Now disable the COM port by typing the following:
comdisable /disable COMx (x is the port assigned to the touchfoil)
comdisable /list (This will show port status)
Now reboot if ALL looks satisfactory

The visualplanet touchfoil RS-232 Serial Device will now fully function without being reassigned by WINDOWS

Windows 7 Serial Ball Mouse Fix

i. Click on start

ii. In the search box, type in regedit

iii. Registry editor window opens

iv. Navigate to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sermouse

v. On the right hand side you should find start

vi. Modify the value to: 00000004

vii. Restart the computer

If you do not find the start key please follow these steps:

i. Right click on the blank space

ii. Select 'New'

iii. Click on dword 32-bit value

iv. Rename it to start

v. Right click on the key and select modify

vi. Feed in the value: 00000004

vii. Restart the computer

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[Troubleshooter] I have a touchfoil™ installed in front of an LCD and the cursor keeps jumping to the same location

This is caused by interference with the outermost wire in the touchfoil™. To remedy the problem try:

• Reducing the coarse sensitivity slightly on the controller settings
• Grounding the touchfoil™ to the case of the LCD
• The touchfoil™ electronics or the touchfoil™ itself may be to close to the LCD

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[Troubleshooter] If my touchfoil™ is not responding what is the solution

If the touchfoil™ is not responding then please refer to the quick start guide you received during delivery. Please ensure you have followed these key steps:

• Ensure the controller board is connected correctly.
• Ensure the "Enabled Selected Control" box in the "Output" tab is checked.
• Ensure the correct touchfoil driver has been selected.
• Clean the gold contacts on the orange flexible circuit and re-connect the controller board

If you are still encountering problems please contact the visualplanet Customer support team.

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[Multiple Foils] Can two touchfoils be placed next to each other

Visualplanet have experience of touchfoils on separate pieces of glass which have a 1 mm separation and conductive tape on the glass edges. Ideally the pieces of glass are 200 mm from each other, but this distance is subject to testing. Generally the larger the touchfoil™ the larger the distance will become.

When installing the touchfoil™s in close proximity of one another please consider the following:

• A gap of 20mm gap between the touchfoil™ and the conductive tape is required
• Conductive tape must be grounded in order to function correctly
• Conductive tape should be 25mm in width
• Overlap the conductive tape at the corners to get a good connection between each strip of tape
• Metal/aluminium frames must be grounded

Visualplanet recommend conductive tape from RS found here.

Note: The tape is only 12mm wide. This is not a problem as you can run strips together to make up the 25mm required.

If you need further assistance please discuss this with the visualplanet customer support team.

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[Troubleshooter] The Importance of Grounding

Electrical interference can falsely trigger a touch event and may make the touchfoil unstable or unusable. You can tell if the touchfoil is being affected by electrical interference by going to the graph tab within the provided driver and checking if any bars fluctuate rapidly. The driver may not be able to compensate for this interference and adjustment in the physical setup will be required.

Whilst setting up the touchfoil we highly recommend that you ground the black lead attached to the USB cable to filter any noise affecting the controller board. Another thing to consider is to connect a common ground to the display chassis and any other nearby electrical equipment.

Another cause of interference can be from electrical mains. The effect of mains interference differs in each location but is clear from a consistent fluctuation pattern on the graph. It can be filtered using a mains filter such as a 6 way mains conditioner from UK based Lindy.

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[MA9] Foil Edge Setup

Visualplanet's MA9 driver allows you to move the targets in the calibration routine. The Foil Edge function enables calibration of a touchfoil™ that is smaller than the LCD or rear projection display.

Foil Edge Calibration Mode

- Start MA9 control

- Select the "Admin" tab

- Type in the password: "vp2010"

- Check the box "Calibration Advanced Mode"

- Select the "Calibrate" tab

- Select the "Calibrate"box

- Click on "Switch Mode" and select Foil Edge

- Drag in the green lines to match the touchfoil™s active area

- Touch the calibration points as they appear to calibrate the touchfoil™

- Save the new configuration

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[MA9] Uninstalling and removing the LMA9 software

Please note: You will need to be ROOT user.

(Care should be taken with the 'rm' remove command)

Removing the LMA9 touchfoil driver

• open a ‘Terminal Window’
• enter the following command

sudo rm –r /usr/local/LMA9touchfoil

Removing the LMA9 Controller rules

• enter the following command:

sudo rm /etc/udev/rules.d/85-pure-data.rules

The LMA9 software has now been removed.

Please note: You will need to be ROOT user.

(Care should be taken with the 'rm' remove command)

Removing the LMA9 touchfoil driver

• open a ‘Terminal Window’
• enter the following command

\rm –r /usr/local/LMA9touchfoil

Removing the LMA9 Controller rules

• enter the following command:

\rm /etc/udev/rules.d/85-pure-data.rules

The LMA9 software has now been removed

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[MA9] Uninstalling and removing the WMA9 Software

Please note: the WMA9 Driver must be stopped for full Uninstall

This is best done with the 'Windows Task Manager'. Look for 'javaw.exe' in the 'Process' list and 'End' the process.

Removing the touchfoil driver:

• Navigate to your install directory
• Delete WMA9touchfoil
• Change directory to %username%\Desktop and delete WMA9touchfoil Control shortcut
• Change directory to Startup folder and delete WMA9Driver Shortcut

For details on the other file menus please go to the full user guide in the visualplanet documentation folder on the visualplanet touchfoil CD.

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