Placement and care
Within reach of the router
The ticker’s Wi-Fi radio is small, so give it a clear path to the router:
- Keep brick, concrete and stone walls, floors, and big appliances out of the line between them where you can.
- Keep it a little away from metal, mirrors, microwave ovens, cordless phone bases and USB 3 drives or hubs, all of which get in the way of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi.
- On a mesh system, near any of its units is as good as near the router.
The ticker tells you when the connection is struggling. Its signal card says Weak Wi-Fi signal, or Wi-Fi drops out when the link keeps dropping, and it repeats at most every 15 minutes. The settings page’s advice for that case is the right one: Moving it nearer the router, or a cheap 2.4 GHz extender, usually helps. See The Wi-Fi signal check.
A good cable and adapter
The ticker measures its own power supply. A thin or very long cable, a worn adapter, or a USB hub shared with other devices can sag, and the ticker shows Power a bit low when it does. The adapter and cable from the box, into a wall outlet, are the known-good pair. See The power check.
Dry and out of the sun
The ticker is not waterproof. Keep it away from sinks, drinks and plant watering, and out of direct sun, which heats the case and washes out the screen.
Brightness
Set the brightness to whatever looks right in your room. The settings page gives the reasoning: the screen's backlight is my biggest power draw and my main source of warmth, and electronics generally last longest kept cool, so mid-range makes a good everyday choice. Quiet hours can dim it overnight by themselves. See Brightness and Nighttime quiet hours.
Cleaning
Wipe the screen with a clean, soft cloth, slightly damp with water or rubbing alcohol. A microfiber lens cloth is ideal. Press lightly: the screen is a bare panel set a little behind the window, not glass. Not paper towels or tissues, their fibers scratch its soft front film, and not glass cleaner, ammonia clouds it. A soft brush clears dust from the edge of the window. The case takes the same cloth with water alone, since alcohol can lift its printed marks. Unplug it first, and never spray anything onto the ticker.
Leave it on
It is built to run day and night and draws about one watt, so there is nothing to gain by switching it off. Switching it off loses nothing either: it rejoins the Wi-Fi and carries on. One caution: switching it off and on five times in a row, each within five seconds, is the factory reset, which erases its settings. See Can it stay on all the time?.