Advanced Power Management 27
E-EQ-MX2RG-L-ARC MX2 Reference Guide
Advanced Power Management
The MX2 uses advanced power management (APM) to provide the longest battery life. Control of
the APM features is provided in the PM.COM
utility on drive B of each MX2.
This section provides additional information for getting the most power life out of an MX2 RF
unit using the RangeLAN2 wireless LAN PC card.
Batteries
For RF units, LXE recommends the use of fully charged batteries. In general, an MX2 with an RF
card should be able to get through a normal 8-hour shift before the batteries need to be replaced or
recharged.
Doze Mode
After 8 seconds without a keypress, scanner input, or other system activity, the MX2 goes into a
power-saving state known as doze mode. To maximize battery life, especially in an RF
environment, try to avoid accidental or unnecessary pressing of the keypad keys.
Auto-Off Timer
After a predetermined time without any system activity, the unit automatically shuts off. The
default auto-off timeout is 5 minutes. To maximize battery life, you can set the timeout to a much
shorter period.
The “Integrated Scanner Programming Guide for DOS Devices”, available on the LXE Manuals
CD-ROM, includes bar codes that provide auto-off settings as low as 20 seconds. You can also
use the PM.COM utility to set the auto-off timer.
Backlight
Use of the display backlight severely affects battery life in the MX2. For RF applications, do not
use the backlight unless it is absolutely necessary. If you do need to use it, you can change the
display’s auto-off timer to a setting lower than the default (15 seconds).
The “Integrated Scanner Programming Guide for DOS Devices”, available on the LXE Manuals
CD-ROM, includes bar codes that provide settings as low as 2 seconds for the backlight auto-off
timer. You can also use the PM.COM utility to set the timeout.
