MULTICOLOR SCROLLING LED DOG TAG

Multicolor Scrolling LED Dog Tag, retail $16.25
Manufactured by (Unknown)
Last updated 02-03-11




The Multicolor Scrolling Dog Tag was purchased on Ebay, simply because I thought that it was cool (or "kool" or "kewl").

The Multicolor Scrolling Dog Tag seems remarkably easy to use at first, but looks can be deceiving. It should be comparable in ease to entering your initials after reaching a high score on a coin-op arcade video game like they had in the 1980s and 1990s - and probably the early-2000s too; though I have not played one of the coin-op arcade video games from this decade so I cannot confirm how high score monitoring is performed on modern equipment. But the buttons are so difficult to press, that its apparent ease soon turns into a painful lesson in patience.

It has 7 rows of 17 columns of small colored LEDs (119 lamps total); these little LEDs are remarkably bright for chip-type LEDs with no lenses over them.

You can store up to six messages of 255 bytes each (characters, numerals, punctuation, symbols, and spaces) in this badge.


SIZE



This badge is so darn diddly-arn difficult to program that the best thing I can do is to refer you to the instructional materials furnished with the unit.

Not only are the buttons hard to press, this badge requires a modicum of precision in button presses to change modes, and it has shown to be rather difficult to reassemble after programming and even something that would normally be simple...like...o I don't know...turning it on & off!!!
3-3=0 I guess.

Hang the Multicolor Scrolling Dog Tag around your neck with the included 16" chain.

The badge can display uppercase letters A-Z, the numerals 0-9, plus most symbols & punctuation characters, and special characters like a heart and a smiley face.



To remove the batteries, slide the grey part of the badge out of the metal frame, and remove the circuit board from the grey tray. Use a ballpoint pen or similar instrument, and push the cell out from the long side of the badge (from the side of the board opposite the side with the arrow silkscreened on it next to each battery carriage). Once it's out enough, grasp the cell at the edge of the badge and pull it straight out; dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.

To insert the batteries into your badge, turn the unit upside-down so the circuitry faces up. Turn the unit so the switch buttons face forward. Slide a CR2032 lithium coin cell into each carriage, (from the side of the board with the arrow silkscreened on it next to each battery carriage) flat side (+) positive up.

Place the badge's circuit board back into the grey tray, and slide the tray back into the metal frame.
"Slide" may be wording it incorrectly here; I found it very difficult to slide it back into the frame.

Unable to measure current usage due to how the unit was constructed and how it functions.



This is a digital scrolling badge, not a flashlight meant to be carried around, thrashed, trashed, and abused, so I won't try to drown it in the toilet tank, bash it against a steel rod or against the concrete floor of a patio, let my housemate's citty kats go to the litterbox on it, run over it with a 450lb Celebrity motorised wheelchair, stomp on it, use a large claw hammer in order to bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoņata (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piņata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout, with a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; and the cannoņata is only used to shoot piņatas to piņata parties away from picturesque Piņata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analysis, or perform other indecencies on it that a flashlight might have to have performed on it. So this section of the web page will be significantly more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.

One of the first things I do when I test a programmable message thing is to see if there's an onboard censor, and this badge is so darn diddly-arn difficult to program that I did not do this.

(Edit 02-03-11: I did do this; please see the 02-03-11 update below.
Short version: No censor!!!)


Photograph of the badge hung around my neck, as it might normally be used.

This evaluation resemble the one I made for the White LED Badge (2)?
Thought you'd say so. It's because I used it as a template for this one because they're rather similar in the way they're programmed, and unfortunately, their difficulty of use as well.

This badge has four display modes:
  • Down-to-up scrolling (as you might expect)
  • Flicker of four letters
  • Left-to-right scrolling of four letters
  • Right-to-left scrolling of four letters
And it has space to input six messages of 255 bytes (letters, numbers, symbols, and spaces) each.

This badge is so darn diddly-arn difficult to program that if you purchase one, please be certain to purchase a gun and some bullets for it too so you can hose yourself down with it after being frustrated with dealing with the very difficult-to-press buttons and the asinine disassembly/reassembly procedure you need to do just to turn the silly thing on & off.

The badge DOES look really nice (it reminds me of "bling bling" that rappers sometimes use), so if you can get used to the fiddly programming & on/off procedures, it just might be worth having in your arsenal.



I tried to take a photograph of the Multicolor Scrolling Dog Tag while a message was scrolling, but the scrolling speed was
fast enough and the camera's shutter speed was slow enough that the photograph did not come out well at all.

The the message below ("TIME FOR YOUR MEDS, ANGIE!")
was being displayed when this photograph was taken.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis showing the green & red LEDs in this product.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis showing the blue & red LEDs in this product.

USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.


WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the Multicolor Scrolling Dog Tag in action.
It reads "HELLO".

This is ~1.23 megabytes (1,373,020 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than five minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

That sound you might hear is an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants playing on the boob tube.
This product is not sound-sensitive; the sound may be ignored or muted if desired.





Video clip on YourTube of the badge in action.
It reads "TIME FOR YOUR MEDS, ANGIE!".

This is ~1.27 megabytes (1,330,976 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than six minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

I cannot provide either clip in other formats, so please do not ask.

That sound you might hear is an episode of Star Trek: Voyager playing on the boob tube.
This product is not sound-sensitive; the sound may be ignored or muted if desired.



TEST NOTES:
Sample of the Multicolor Scrolling Dog Tag was purchased on Ebay on 02-01-08 and was received on 02-04-08.
I purchased it simply because I thought that it was cool (or "kool" or "kewl"), not because I actually needed it.

I see now that I made the incorrect decision (it's so darn diddly-arn difficult to use that I just want to throw it on the floor, pile some of those pink uranator deodouriser mints on top of it, discharge an entire can of Tag brand "First Contact" scent aerosol armpit deodouriser spray on it, and {spoken like Beavis} THTOMP ON IT!!!).


Photograph of the badge being THTOMPED ON - minus the uranator deodouriser mints and the Tag aerosol bomb.
(No, I didn't actually destroy it - this is just a humorous photograph!)

I believe this product was made in China.
A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.

* Unit was furnished with two chains: the default one and a slightly higher-end one because I have made several purchased from the vendor in recent memory.


UPDATE: 02-03-11
I tested it for the presence of an onboard censor, and there is none. I programmed the words {vulgar slang term for intercourse} and {vulgar term for one who acts as a penis vacuum} into it, and it happily spouted off the obscenities. I did shoot a video and post it on YourTube, but it is not linked here because of the potty language clearly visible in it. If you *REALLY* must see it, go to YourTube and search for the phrase "Multicolor Scrolling LED Dog Tag Cussing" (including the quote marks), and that should bring it up...well, it was tested and I can now say, it "***WILL***" bring it up as the only video on the search page.





PROS:
No onboard censor
LEDs are bright enough to see in room light - they're really bright, actually
Enough space to input large sized messages
Batteries it needs are a bit odd, but not unreasonably so. Should be easy to find



CONS:
No onboard censor
Buttons are unnecessarily difficult to press
You must disassemble & reassemble the product just to turn it on & off


    MANUFACTURER: Unknown
    PRODUCT TYPE: Magnetic scrolling LED badge; "dog tag" style
    LAMP TYPE: Small colored LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 119 (98 red, 7 green, 14 blue)
    BEAM TYPE: N/A
    SWITCH TYPE: Small pushbutton on/off, character up/down
    CASE MATERIAL: Plastic
    BEZEL: (when assembled) Metal; plastic window protects LEDs
    BATTERY: 2xCR2032 lithium coin cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER- AND PEE-RESISTANT: Light sprinkle-resistance at maximum
    SUBMERSIBLE: NO WAY HOZAY!!!
    ACCESSORIES: 6xCR2032 cells, necklace chain*
    WARRANTY: 30 days

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Product was not intended to be used as a light source, so the conventional "star" rating will not be furnished. But if it were to receive a rating, that dreadful "uranator mint" rating might very well see use.





Multicolor Scrolling Dog Tag *






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