ALPHA 215C Technical Specifications

The Alpha 215C scrolling LED sign is 28.9" long, 2.1" wide, and 4.5" high. The power supply, sign, and remote weigh in together at about 6.25lbs.

The display area is 27" by 2.1", providing a 90x7 matrix of red/green LEDs. Each character array is 5x7.

Red/Green LEDs can be oscillated to produce yellow, and by changing the ratio of red to green, it is possible to produce oranges and browns along with different intensities.

This allows the sign to produce 8 colors and 3 rainbow effects.

The sign can display 30 characters in condensed mode and 15 in all other modes. It can produce serif, sans serief, upper/lower case, slim and wide characters.

The sign I used for testing reports 8K of ram when it starts, however the marketing material reports the ALPHA 215C can hold 6000 characters in display memory (the 215 model holds 7000). A memory upgrade brings that up to 30,000 characters suggesting a total of 32K.

Supposedly the sign can retain a message for a month when powered off.

The sign allows for 81 independant messages to be stored and displayed. It contains a realtime clock which holds the date and time (in 12 or 24 hour) and is fairly accurate without power for 30 days.

A serial interface can control the sign using RS232 and RS485. In theory, multi-drop networking can be used to control up to 255 displays.

Effects are Automode, Hold, Inerlock, Roll (in six directions), Rotate, Sparkle-On, Twinkle, Spray On, Slide Across, Switch, Wipe (in six directions), Starburst, Flash, Snow, and Scroll in a Condensed Rotate.

It allows continuous data entry, auto centering in any mode, programable graphics, and five scroll speeds.

Built in animations consist of Cherry Bomb Exploding, Don't Drink and Drive, Fireworks, Slot Machine, No Smoking, Running Animal, Moving Auto, Welcome (in script), Thank You (in script).

The transformer is 40 Watts in-line, produces 120VAC (+/- 10%) with a 10' powercord.

The handheld infrared remote is large, easy to read, and is very well laid out, providing an international character set as well.

The sign claims to operate between 32F and 120F within 0%-95% non-condensing humidity.
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