If you press the ARC switch, the CID will display the deployment cycle duration with the operating mode icon. In the CID shown below, the Warning Arc display has been in effect for 3 seconds. The Semi-Automatic mode icon displays, and the battery is 81–100 percent full.
The trigger and ARC switch work slightly different in the Manual mode than they do in the Semi-Automatic mode. In Manual mode, pulling the trigger does not advance cartridge selection. Instead, the ambidextrous ARC switch is used to select the Smart cartridges. By default, the left cartridge (or the first available cartridge, from left to right) is selected automatically. (This is the left side from your perspective, while pointing the CEW.) Pulling the trigger deploys the left cartridge. Pressing and releasing (quickly tapping once) the ARC switch selects the next available cartridge. An additional trigger pull is required to deploy the next selected cartridge.
A sustained press of the ARC Switch for approximately ½ second or more energizes the front of the cartridges without deploying (discharging) them. See Warning Arc Display for more information. If you have already deployed cartridges, pressing the ARC switch and holding it down supplies energy to the deployed cartridges without deploying any un-discharged cartridges. If you have engaged a target with the first cartridge and contact is good, you can apply additional cycles to a continually resisting subject, if needed, without deploying the remaining cartridge. Holding the ARC switch down continually will arc the CEW until the ARC switch is released or the PPM is depleted, whichever happens first.
Because the ARC switch is ambidextrous, you can press from either side as you hold the CEW in a two-handed grip