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Beep on completion
If the total period being measured is longer than about 10 seconds, you can instruct
MicroSet to produce an audible beep whenever a reading is complete. This way the
display doesn’t need to be watched constantly to see when a new reading is ready.
See the “
Configuration - Beep tone
” section in these instructions to turn the beep on
or off.
Blanking Window
MicroSet will ignore any sounds that occur at a time that is outside a “window” of when
the correct beat is likely to occur. This reduces false triggering on noisy watches. It can
also prevent a false reading if you drop a screwdriver on the table or the sensor cable
gets bumped. The Blanking Window can greatly reduce these sources of inaccurate
readings and is an important feature that you should become familiar with.
The Blanking Window has a default value that’s specified in the Configuration Mode.
The setting of the Blanking Window should be matched to the watch you’re working
on. If the window is too long, MicroSet will not be able to measure fast beat watches
because it will ignore every other beat. If it’s shorter than it needs to be, MicroSet will
be more susceptible to noise.
For measuring watches with a beat time of 18,000 BPH to 21,600 BPH, a Blanking
Window of “8” is appropriate. If you’re working on watches with beat times of 28,800 to
36,000 BPH, set the Blanking Window to “4”.
You can tell if the Blanking Window is set correctly for the watch you’re working on.
The red LED on the front of MicroSet blinks on every beat. The LED is on while the
Blanking Window is active, and goes off when MicroSet begins to listen for the next tick.
The feature will be most effective if the LED is off for a very short time before it comes
on again. This indicates that MicroSet is ignoring sound most of the time, then begins
to listen just before the next tick arrives. If the LED seems to blink half as fast as the
watch beats, it’s an indication that the Blanking Window is too big and you’re missing
every other beat.
To program a default value for the Blanking Window, see “
Configuration - Minimum
blanking
” for details.
You can also change the size of the Blanking Window “on the fly” as you measure a
watch. Every time MicroSet finishes a reading, if the PLUS key is down, the Blanking
Window gets longer by one count. If the MINUS key is held down, the Blanking Window
gets shorter by one count.
If you hold down the PLUS key while MicroSet is measuring a watch, you’ll see that the
LED stays on for an increasingly longer time and blinks off for a shorter time. If you set
MicroSet to “time” a short beat count, like “Time: 4”, the change will happen more quickly.
In this way you can increase the Blanking Window to the optimum value for the watch
you’re working on. You can probably reach a point where the LED doesn’t seem to go
off at all. This is the maximum setting. If you pass this point, the LED will begin to blink
half as fast as the watch ticks because you’re skipping every other beat. If this happens,
hold down the MINUS key to reduce the Blanking Window by one or more counts.
MicroSet will keep this value of the Blanking Window until you turn it off or press the
RESET key. Then it will revert to the default value that was specified with the Configuration
Mode.
