Page 1
RFID Smart Label Developer’s Kit Smart Label Pilot Printer Quick Setup Guide The Printronix T5000 Series of Thermal Printers...
Page 2
Useful utility programs The CD-ROM is located in a plastic pocket in the back cover. Do not discard this guide. If you move or pack the printer in the future, you will need to follow the instructions in this guide.
Page 3
The Printronix T5000 Series of Thermal Printers RFID Smart Label Developer’s Kit and Smart Label Pilot Printer Quick Setup Guide...
Product” includes the Software resident in the printer and its documentation. The Software Product is licensed (not sold) to you, and Printronix, Inc. either owns or licenses from other vendors who own, all copyright, trade secret, patent and other proprietary rights in the Software Product.
Page 5
This License shall continue until terminated. This license may be terminated by agreement between you and Printronix, Inc. or by Printronix, Inc. if you fail to comply with the terms of this License and such failure is not corrected within thirty (30) days after notice. When this License is terminated, you shall return to the place you obtained them, the printer and all copies of the Software and documentation.
Page 6
This product is in conformity with the protection requirements of EC Council Directive 89/336/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility. Printronix cannot accept responsibility for any failure to satisfy the protection requirements resulting from a non-recommended modification of the product, including the fitting of non-Printronix option cards.
Page 7
This product has been tested and found to comply with the limits for Class A Information Technology Equipment according to European Standard EN 55022. The limits for Class A equipment were derived for commercial and industrial environments to provide reasonable protection against interference with licensed communication equipment.
Page 8
Printronix makes no representations or warranties of any kind regarding this material, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Printronix shall not be held responsible for errors contained herein or any omissions from this material or for any damages, whether direct, indirect, incidental or consequential, in connection with the furnishing, distribution, performance or use of this material.
Smart Label Characteristics ... 13 Transitioning From UCC/GTIN Applications Using Printronix Software Migration Tools (SMT)... 14 How Printronix Makes It Easy ... 14 How It Works ... 14 How To Order More Smart Labels... 15 Printronix Professional Services ... 15 What We Can Do ...
Page 10
Table of Contents Printing Adjustments...34 Printhead Pressure Adjustment ...34 Printhead Pressure Block Adjustments...34 Positioning The Media Sensors ...35 Running Auto Calibrate ...36 Saving The Configuration ...37 Run A Barcode Demo Test...37 QUICK SETUP Menu ...38 QUICK SETUP Submenus...39 For More Information ...47 3 Smart Label Development...
Developer’s Kit or Smart Label Pilot Printer. The intent of the kit is to provide a complete environment for the printing and encoding of RFID smart labels right out of the box. Printronix has specifically designed this kit to help you fast track your RFID pilot printer application through the use of a suite of Software Migration Tools (SMT).
Smart Label Developer’s Quick Setup Guide (this manual) • Application and reference notes (this chapter) • Technical support The Printronix Smart Label Developer’s Kit also contains: • Two rolls of 500 smart labels with Alien Technology™ Class 1 64 data bits, 915MHz inlays •...
• Nominal roll size is 500 smart labels. An additional number of smart labels may be added to the Printronix smart label rolls to compensate for tags that are deemed unacceptable. This is so you can have 500 good labels.
Chapter 1 Transitioning From UCC/GTIN Applications Using Printronix Soft- Transitioning From UCC/GTIN Applications Using Printronix Software Migration Tools (SMT) It is likely that your software is already set up to create bar codes. You may have also spent a lot of time creating compliance label templates &...
204932-001 Printronix Professional Services What We Can Do Printronix can partner with you on your RFID pilot project to make your existing software applications RFID/smart label capable. We specialize in AutoID Consulting, compliance labeling, third party software integration, and label generation.
Readers may have multiple antennas to maximize read range and reliability. The readers you purchase must be compatible with the smart labels programmed by the printer. Specifically, they should be EPC Class 1 compliant. Fixed position readers and their antennas can be purchased from Alien Technology (www.alientechnology.com).
Reference Material Useful Industry Web Links Reference Material EPCglobal, Inc. www.epcglobalinc.org Auto-ID Labs www.autoidlabs.org ® Uniform Code Council, Inc. www.uc-council.org RFID Journal www.rfidjournal.com ® Alien Technology Corporation www.alientechnology.com Applied Wireless Identifications Group, Inc. www.awid.com...
Printer Setup Unpacking And Installing The Printer Unpacking The Printer The printer is shipped in a carton and protective bag. Keep all packing material in case shipping is required. CAUTION Avoid touching the electrical connectors to prevent electrostatic discharge damage while setting up the printer.
Chapter 2 Unpacking And Installing The Printer Removing The Internal Packing Material Remove the tape strips and foam pads from the printer as indicated below. (The top lid of the shipping carton also displays these instructions.) Foam Pads (2) Foam Pad...
Installation AC Power Receptacle 1. Place the printer on a flat level surface that allows easy access to all sides of the printer. CAUTION Never operate the printer on its side or upside down. 2. Make sure the printer power switch is in the Off (O) position.
Controls And Indicators Power Switch The power switch is located on the bottom back panel of the printer. To apply power, place the switch in the | (On) position. When you first power on the printer, a series of initialization messages appears on the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) on the control panel.
Page 23
Control Panel Status And Display Indicators...
Chapter 2 Loading Media And Ribbon Loading Media And Ribbon IMPORTANT Printronix recommends using the supplied starter roll of 100 labels to set up and verify printer operation. This will avoid expending the more expensive smart labels for this task. CAUTION DO NOT TOUCH the printhead or the electronic components under the printhead assembly.
Page 27
3. Slide the media width guide close to the outside end of the media damper. 4. Slide the supplied starter media roll onto and towards the back of the media hanger. 5. Place the media hanger guide under the media hanger and against the lower part of the label core at a 45 degree angle (as shown).
Page 28
6. Raise the media damper. 7. Route the media as illustrated on the media and ribbon loading instructions (or refer to the arrows on the printer frame). NOTE: The media must rest on top of the RFID encoder and the RFID tag must be in proximity of the antenna when the RFID tag is programmed.
Page 29
Lower Media Sensor Media Guard 8. Lower the media damper. 9. Verify that the left edge of the media is against the fixed guide on the bottom of the media damper. 10. Push the media width guide in until it is flush with the outer edge of the media.
Page 30
Deck 13. Close the printhead by pressing down on the pivoting deck and rotating the deck lock lever fully counterclockwise. 14. Power on the printer (place the power switch in the | position). Media (left edge) Platen (left edge) Deck Lock...
Deck 1. Install the ribbon take-up core on the ribbon take-up spindle. NOTE: The first ribbon take-up core comes with the printer. Thereafter, use the core from the old (used up) ribbon. 2. Slide the ribbon roll onto the ribbon supply spindle until it stops against the spindle flange.
Page 32
Chapter 2 Loading Media And Ribbon Printhead Media Rear Ribbon Guide Roller 4. Thread the end of the ribbon under the rear ribbon guide roller, then between the platen and the printhead.
Page 33
5. Route the ribbon as illustrated on the media and ribbon loading instructions (or refer to the arrows on the printer frame). IMPORTANT Do not attach the ribbon to the ribbon take-up spindle without a ribbon take-up core installed. 6. Attach the ribbon to the ribbon take-up core on the ribbon take-up spindle using the adhesive on the ribbon leader.
Chapter 2 Printing Adjustments Printing Adjustments Left Pressure Block Left Pressure Block Handle Bold Mark Printhead Cover/ Upper Media Sensor Pressure Block Adjustment Scale Printhead Pressure Adjustment Adjust the printhead pressure to the setting of 4. Printhead Pressure Block Adjustments Left Pressure Block Manually adjust the left pressure block so its handle is aligned with the bold mark on the pressure block adjustment scale.
Positioning The Media Sensors Lower Media Sensor Your printer is equipped with upper and lower media sensors that detect the top-of-form position on media with label length indicators (gaps, notches, holes, or black marks). The media sensors also detect Paper Out conditions.
(gap). To ensure proper operation, you must now run Auto Calibrate: 1. Power on the printer by pressing the power switch. (For the location of the power switch and various panel keys, refer to “Controls And Indicators” on page 22.) 2.
. Saving Configuration displays briefly. Run A Barcode Demo Test IMPORTANT Printronix recommends using the supplied starter roll of 100 labels to set up and verify printer operation. This will avoid expending the more expensive smart labels for this task.
Advanced Gap Notes: * = Default Maximum value depends on the width of the printer model and printhead. You can change the unit value from inches to millimeters under Units (in MEDIA CONTROL) Refer to the User’s Manual for information.
QUICK SETUP (cont. from previous page) SMT: Status Disabled* SMT: Sel Toolset Toolset [1]* GTIN SMT: Select Tool 2, 3 zEPC zGTIN QUICK SETUP Submenus Print Intensity Specifies the level of thermal energy from the printhead to be used for the type of media and ribbon installed. Large numbers imply more heat (thermal energy) to be applied for each dot.
The default is Transfer. Media Handling Specifies how the printer will handle the media (labels or tag stock). • Tear-Off Strip. Printer prints on the media and sends it out the front until the print buffer is empty, then positions the last label over the tear bar for removal.
NOTE: This feature is currently not supported using the RFID encoder. • Continuous. Printer prints on the media and sends it out the front. The default is Tear-Off Strip. Paper Feed Shift Represents the distance to advance a label (+ shift) or pull back (–...
QUICK SETUP Menu Label Width The allowable range in inches is 00.1 to the maximum print width of the printer. The allowable range in millimeters is 2.5 to the maximum width of the printer. Ver Image Shift Specifies the amount to shift an image up (-) or down (+) for precise positioning on the label.
Page 43
The top edge of the image is parallel to the trailing edge of the media. The following example is viewed from the front of the printer. Trailing Edge 4”...
Disable. Select when using media with no label length indicators (no gaps, notches, holes, or black marks), or when you want the printer to ignore all existing label length indicators on the installed media. NOTE: When you select Disable, the length of each label is based on the Label Length value entered.
This eliminates the need to change the parameter settings for each new job. The configurations are stored in memory and will not be lost if you turn off the printer. The default is 1. QUICK SETUP Submenus...
See “Software Migration Tools (SMT)” on page 65. • Disabled.The printer disables the use of the Software Migration Tools. • Enabled. The printer enables the use of the Software Migration Tools. SMT: Sel Toolset See “Software Migration Tools (SMT)” on page 65. •...
For More Information This chapter has provided general information for use of your printer. The next chapter provides information about the RFID encoder. Refer to the User’s Manual for more detailed information including: • Other Configuration Menus • Interfaces •...
Incorporate RFID commands into new or existing Printronix PGL programs. Command details start on page 56. • Incorporate RFID commands into new or existing ZPL™ programs. By selecting the Printronix PPI1 emulation you can seamlessly upgrade from Zebra™ printers. Command details start on page 60.
None Stop 1 to 10 Disable Notes: * = Default. Italicized items are available only when you enable Admin User in the PRINTER CONTROL menu. Display item only. 1 to 9 Enable Error Type Msg Enable Duplicate 1 to 20...
In None mode, no specific action is taken when a tag fails to be programmed. In Stop mode, when a tag fails to be programmed, the printer will halt and display the error message “RFID Error: Check Media.” The label is discarded and reprinting of the label (if desired) must be initiated from the host.
Page 52
This menu item selects the number of label retries that the RFID encoder will attempt before declaring a fault. This may indicate a problem with the RFID encoder, the antenna assembly, the printer setup, or the label stock. The default is 10.
Table 1. Printed Overstrike Error Messages Error Message Tag R/W Err x The printer software attempted to write to or read from the Check media RFID tag, but the RFID encoder indicated that the tag could not be written to or read from.
Squig 64. Other classes may be added in the future. IMPORTANT If you have a T5000e printer, do not use Alien M-TAG 64, Alien M-TAG 96, or Matrics X2020 96. Only a T5000e SR or SL5000e printer can program these tag types properly.
Page 55
Admin User Menu Items When Custom Tag is set to Disable, the settings in the custom tag menus are ignored by the RFID encoder. When it is set to Enable, the RFID encoder uses the settings in the custom tag menus, which must be set to match the characteristics of the custom tag.
Chapter 3 RFID PGL Commands RFID PGL Commands Write Tag Purpose To program non-incremental data into an RFID tag (embedded in the smart label). MODE CREATE Format RFWRITE;[HEX;][EPC m ;][RF n ;L;][LOCK;]AT p ;[(D) datafield (D)] RFWRITE; HEX; EPC m ; RF n ;...
datafield is ignored, and dynamic data must be entered via the RF command in the EXECUTE mode. The length of the dynamic data must be equal to L . LOCK; Optional parameter to write-protect the data. Currently not supported. AT p ; p specifies the decimal start position where data will be written to the tag.
Chapter 3 RFID PGL Commands length format EPC Programming Example This programming example shows reading and writing dynamic EPC data to a tag. ~CREATE;HEX;431 //Create a form named HEX. RFWRITE;HEX;RF3;16;AT1; //Write Tag with data from dynamic RFID element 3. //Length of data is 16, format is HEX. ALPHA //The following ALPHA element is defined below.
ASCII Programming Example This programming example shows reading and writing dynamic ASCII data to a tag. ~CREATE;READTAG //Create a form named READTAG. RFWRITE;RF3;8;AT1; //Write Tag with data from dynamic RFID element 3. //Length of data is 8. ALPHA //The following ALPHA element is defined below. //It will print the contents of the tag.
Chapter 3 RFID PPI1 Commands RFID PPI1 Commands Get Tag Unique ID Purpose Read the unique identification number of the RFID tag (embedded in the smart label). Format ^RI x Comments The PPI1 only supports Alien Technology Class 1a tags, which do not have the unique identification numbers.
Read Tag Purpose This command allows data from the RFID tag (embedded in the smart label) to merge into any previously defined dynamic data field. It is equivalent to the Field Number command (^FN) except that the data come from the RFID tag. Format ^RT x , start , length , hex , retries , motion , reserved Read Tag command.
Set this flag to 1 to read data from the tag without moving the label. The printer may adjust the label position while it reads data from the tag, but this adjustment will reverse before any subsequent normal label movement.
Even if this flag is set to 1, other commands (i.e., alpha or barcode) may move the label. protect This flag indicates whether the data should be protected from being overwritten later. The default is 0, meaning the data are not protected. Other acceptable values are 1 to 255, meaning the data are protected using this number as the LOCK password.
Chapter 3 RFID PPI1 Commands EPC Programming Example //Begin ZPL form. ^WT0^FH^FD_68_65_6C_6C_6F_74_61_67^FS //Write Tag with data = “68656C6C6F746167” //(hex format). ^RT1,0,1,1^FS //Read Tag into data element 1, 16 characters long //(hex format). ^FO100,100^A0N,60^FN1^FS //Print data in element 1. //End and print label.
RFID tag. Data written to the RFID tag is right justified and zero padded. Checksum data calculated by the printer is not encoded onto the tag. Bar code data beyond the 16th digit is truncated without an error message.
Page 66
EAN8: Copies data from an EAN8 bar code to an RFID tag. EAN 8+2 and EAN 8+5 variants are both supported. Data written to the RFID tag is right justified and zero padded. Checksum data calculated by the printer is not encoded onto the RFID tag. •...
8. Press ↵ to select it. 9. Press ↓ and ↵ at the same time to lock the ↵ key, then press PAUSE to take the printer offline. 10. Press PAUSE again to put the printer online. Selecting The Tools...
Error Messages The RFID encoder can detect a number of errors. When one of these errors occurs, the RFID encoder alerts the printer to perform the currently selected error action (see “Error Handling” on page 51) and display the appropriate error message on the control panel’s LCD (see Table 2).
Tag failed Inconsistent results Solution 1. Make sure the serial interface adapter and the serial cable are plugged into the printer. See “Installation” on page 21. 2. Make sure Reader = Enable in the RFID CONTROL menu. 3. Use the RFID Test option in the RFID...
Page 70
Chapter 3 Troubleshooting Table 3. Troubleshooting the RFID Encoder Symptom The RFID encoder works, but it does not meet expectations Solution Make sure that both Error Handling and Label Retry are set to desired values in the RFID CONTROL menu.
Page 71
Auto Calibrate option, 45 running, 36 Auto Retry, 54 Barcode demo test, 37 Characteristics, smart labels, 13 Clear Tag Stat, 52 Configuration, saving, 37 Control panel, 22 Control panel error messages, 68 Custom Pwr Set, 55 Custom Tag, 54 Custom Tag Class, 55 Custom Tag Len, 55 EPC programming example PGL, 58...
Page 73
Tag R/W Err x / Check media, 53 Tag Type, 54 Tag Write Cnt, 52 Tags, RFID See Smart labels Troubleshooting, 69 Unpacking the printer, 19 Ver Image Shift option, 42 Web links, 17 Write Tag PGL command code, 56 Write Tag PPI1 command code, 62 Index...
For technical assistance, contact your Distributor/VAR/Reseller for service. For further assistance, contact the Printronix Customer Support Center. Printronix Customer Support Center Americas Europe, Middle East, and Africa Asia Pacific Web site: http://www.printronix.com/public/servicessupport/default.aspx Printronix Supplier Center Americas Europe, Middle East, and Africa Asia Pacific Web site: http://www.printronix.com/public/supplies/default.aspx...
Need help?
Do you have a question about the T5000e Series and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers