Newland FM3281 Grouper setup: USB, placement, NFC and test

The FM3281 Grouper is a compact fixed-mount 2D scanner. It sits on or in a counter, kiosk or gate with its window facing up, and it reads any bar code held over it, from paper or from a phone screen. This guide connects it by USB, places it, tests it and switches on NFC card reading.

Before you start

Newland ships the FM3281 ready for most uses. Out of the box it works as a USB keyboard (Newland calls this USB HID Keyboard), so it needs no driver: whatever it reads is typed where the cursor is. It starts in Sense Mode, which means it wakes up by itself when a bar code appears over the window.

All settings are changed by scanning programming bar codes from the FM3281 User Guide. Newland's factory default is that programming bar codes are ignored until you scan Enter Setup. Every page of the guide prints Enter Setup at the top and Exit Setup at the bottom. The pattern is always the same: scan Enter Setup, scan the setting, scan Exit Setup.

Connect the scanner by USB

1. Connect the USB extension cable to the interface connector on the scanner's cable. Newland calls this connector the RJ50 port.
2. Plug the USB connector into a USB port on the PC or POS terminal. The PC powers the scanner over USB.
3. The scanner sounds its power-on beep. Windows installs it as a keyboard with its built-in driver.

The same connector also carries RS-232. For a serial POS system you need the RS-232 cable and power adapter, which come in the -28 kits. When both USB and RS-232 are connected, the scanner uses USB.

Place the scanner

The FM3281 reads upwards through its window. Place it on the counter, or build it into a kiosk or gate using the mounting holes on the sides of the housing. Newland's FM3281 User Guide (chapter 2, "Mounting") has the mounting drawing with all dimensions.

• Keep metal away from the NFC area. Newland asks for no metal or magnetic material within 5 cm of an NFC version, or card reading suffers.
• Leave air around it. Do not wrap the housing in insulating material. Long periods in Continuous Mode warm it up, and heat lowers image quality.
• Watch the lighting. Normal room light helps the scanner, but fast-pulsing light can reduce performance.
• Outdoors or semi-outdoors: the FM3281 is rated IP67, but Newland still advises against exposing the window directly to the weather. Add a cover against rain, tilt the window slightly downwards if you can, and seal the cable connector against moisture.

Test a scan

1. Open Notepad or any empty text field and click into it.
2. Hold a printed bar code over the window. You do not need to press anything.
3. The scanner beeps, the light by the logo lights green, and the data appears as typed text.

Hold the code still and move it slowly closer or further away if it does not read. Newland quotes reading from the window up to 270 mm for a 20 mil QR code and up to 290 mm for a standard EAN-13, measured with the illumination brightness at Level 2. The factory setting is Level 1, which gives a shorter maximum distance. For more range, scan Level 2 in section "Illumination Brightness" (chapter 8). The code does not have to lie flat: the scanner tolerates up to 60° of tilt.

Codes on phone screens

The FM3281 reads QR codes, Data Matrix and other codes from mobile phones and displays. Its factory scanning preference is Screen Mode, which suits screens. Turn the phone's brightness up and hold the screen face down over the window. If most of your codes are printed on paper labels instead, Newland offers Normal Mode in the same section, "Scanning Preference" in chapter 8.

Two things to check during the test:

• Enter after the scan. Newland's factory defaults list a Return as the terminating character, so the cursor should move to the next line. If it does not, see our FM3281 programming guide.
• Wrong letters or symbols. The scanner assumes a U.S. keyboard. With an Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Finnish, Polish or Czech layout on the PC, set the keyboard as described in the same programming guide.

Choose sense or continuous mode

Newland documents three scan modes in chapter 8, section "Scan Mode":

• Sense Mode (default): the scanner watches for a bar code using its IR proximity sensor and image changes, reads it, then waits for the next one. Best for counters, kiosks and gates.
• Continuous Mode: the scanner starts one read after another without pause. Use it where items pass by constantly. It keeps the scanner warmer.
• Level Mode: reading starts on an external trigger signal. This is for integrators who wire the trigger input or send serial trigger commands.

To change the mode, scan Enter Setup, then Sense Mode or Continuous Mode, then Exit Setup.

In Sense and Continuous Mode, Reread Timeout stops the same code being read twice while it stays in view. It is off by default on the FM3281. If a phone held over the window produces repeated scans, scan Enable Reread Timeout (section "Reread Timeout"). If the scanner wakes up too easily or too late, adjust Image Change Trigger Sensitivity or IR Proximity Trigger Sensitivity in the same chapter.

Set up NFC card reading

Our kit is the NFC version: it reads contactless cards, tags and NFC phones held 0 to 30 mm from the window, according to Newland's product page. NFC is off by factory default.

1. Scan Enter Setup.
2. In chapter 8, section "NFC Function", scan Enable NFC Function.
3. In section "NFC Mode", scan Mode 0. In this mode the scanner searches for cards by itself and sends the card number to the PC.
4. Scan Exit Setup.
5. Hold a card flat on the window. The NFC light shows blue while NFC is working and turns cyan when a card is read. The card number appears in Notepad.

Newland lists MIFARE Classic, Plus, Ultralight and DESFire cards, NTAG tags, ICODE and FeliCa among the supported types. By default the same card is not read again within 5 seconds (section "Timeout between Decodes (Same NFC Card)").

Fine-tune with EasySet

For more than a few settings, use EasySet, Newland's configuration software for Windows. It shows the scanner's settings, writes changes, updates firmware, saves configurations for further scanners and prints your settings as programming bar codes. Newland's EasySet 2.0 user guide lists Windows 7 and 10.

1. Install EasySet and select the installer option Install ufcom. It adds Newland's USB virtual COM port driver.
2. Newland lists serial, USB CDC and HID POS connections for EasySet, and USB keyboard mode is not among them. Scan Enter Setup, then USB CDC (chapter 7, section "USB CDC"), then Exit Setup.
3. Open EasySet. The scanner appears under Online Devices. Double-click it to open the settings.
4. Change what you need and select Save to write it to the scanner.
5. Switch back for daily use: scan Enter Setup, USB HID Keyboard (section "USB HID Keyboard") then Exit Setup.

Care and cleaning

Keep the window clean and do not scratch it. Wipe it with a soft cloth, such as a glasses cloth, and do not spray liquid on it. For visible dust, Newland suggests a blower first, then a cloth lightly moistened with alcohol. Keep the cable connector dry. You may see faint oily-looking patches when you look at the glass at an angle. That is Newland's anti-fog treatment and does not affect reading.

All guides for this scanner are on our FM3281 page.