What is the watchdog timer and how do I use it?

The watchdog timer is a feature on the Brainboxes ED range that performs a specific operation after a certain period time if something goes wrong with the system and the system does not recover on its own. The watchdog timer can time out under 1 of 2 user programmable circumstances:

• Communication link- the host computer has not communicated with the ED within the timeout period.
• Hardware- the firmware inside the ED has not reset the timer.

In Brainboxes ED products there are 4 ASCII commands that deal with the watchdog.

You can also configure the safe value on the ED device's webpage.