The USB-Ampel is a simple but very effective signal device that is controlled by the PC. It looks like a traffic light with three light areas in red, yellow and green. The light areas consist of seven superbright LED with about 200 mcd each. The USB-Ampel could also be configred to operate as a watchdog. The name of the device is USB-WatchLight in this case and when started the red light is turned on. In any state only one light is turned on and the two others a turned off. The size of the device is about 40 x 90 x 23 mm. The valid temperature range for using the USB-Ampel is -20° to +80° C. Using the device outside this range may destroy it. When temperature falls below 0°C, the USB cable should not be dejected to avoid damage of the cable cover. The usage of the USB-Temp is strictly prohibited when the failure of the sensor will harm people. Up to 127 devices may theoretically be connected to a PC using several HUBs. When using the USB devices it is not neccessary to install device drivers. The standard USB drivers are sufficient. So the system stability will not be harmed. The USB-Ampel will be delivered with the software Control for displaying and managing the lights. The software is running with all USB enabled versions of Windows®. (® Microsoft Windows is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation). No special device drivers are neccessary to use the Cleware USB devices. The already installed device driver are sufficient. The USB-Ampel may also be controlled via the network. The connection is established with the TCP/IP protocol. On the remote control PC the USB-Ampel appears like a local device and could be handled the same way. An application program interface (API) to drive the USB-Ampel from customer programs is part of the delivery. The API bundles some very simple functions for controlling the device. The complex USB device handling is hided. An ActiveX-DLL is available for use with VisualBasic. Linux support is also available. Every USB-Ampel own its unique serial number. This make it easy to identify the devices even when the USB plug position changes or new USB devices are connected. The serial number is accessible through the API and could therefore be used as a simple dongle. The product USB-Ampel comes with a 2-year software update service via Internet free of charge.
