Application: The Seiko DPU-414 that is sold by Fluke Biomedical when printing from our VT PLUS HF, cannot output graphic data. This is especially bad for displaying HOFV data (or lack of it). Can you suggest portable printers that are good to use for the VT PLUS HF?
Recommendation: The VT PLUS HF, like the VT Plus has a printer menu that allows the printer type to be selected, and whether the print will be text only or graphics.
Press SETUP > SYSTEM > PRINTER OPTIONS
| Printer Type: | |
| ASCII 80 Char | (for text only printing) |
| ASCII 40 Char | (for text only printing) |
| None | (no printer connected) |
| HP PCL3 | HP graphic printer (may or may not be available on open market; not sold by Fluke Biomedical) |
| EPSON ESC P1 | Epson graphic printer (may or may not be available on open market; some printers can be set to emulate EPSON; not sold by Fluke Biomedical) |
| Graphics: | |
| Text Only | Use this setting when the printer type is ASCII 40 or 80char) |
| Graphics | Use this setting when an HP or EPSON graphic printer, or other equivalent graphic printer is connected. |
Fluke Biomedical has not qualified new printers for direct connection to VT PLUS HF. There are too many printers on the market and they go obsolete far too quickly for us to keep up with. The customer is free to try out printers to verify whether and how well they work. They can do this by selecting the Printer Type and Graphics settings that most closely match the printer they have connected.
Example:
- We connected a Canon BJC-80 Color Bubble Jet Printer directly to VT PLUS HF via the parallel printer port on the back of the VT PLUS HF
- We set the printer menu to EPSON ESC P1 and the Graphics to graphics
- We connected a Datex Ohmeda Capnomac Ultima ETCO2 sidestream sample pump to the Low Flow inlet of the VT PLUS HF
- We had previously allowed the VT PLUS HF to warm up and zeroed the pressure and flow
- We turned on the power to the Capnomac Ultima and allowed it to go through its power-up self check
- We measured the suction flow of the Capnomac Ultima and pressed the printer button on the front of the VT PLUS HF
- We attempted to print the Low-Flow display showing the waveforms and their numeric values
- Our results were perfect. The printer produced a printed page that showed the Low Flow display screen of VT PLUS HF at the top, and all ventilator parameter numerics at the bottom (see example attached)
We also strongly recommend the use of VT Plus for Windows PC Software for printing and saving test results files. VT Plus for Windows PC Software makes good use of the printer drivers developed and maintained by Microsoft, Inc. in their Windows operating system. Customers will have much more satisfying results over a much broader range of printer types than with direct-connection of printers.