Leica SP5 issues (AOTF, EOM)

[Alessandro Esposito]

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

Dear all,
   I work with Leica SP series from many years and I am still a very
satisfied user. I must also add that I am very happy for our local sale and
engineering support. However, we have three recurrent issues that we are not
able to fix and I was wondering if you had similar issues and you were able
to fix them.

1.) We often have to restart the SP5 twice as at the first start (~50% of
times) the lasers do not switch on. AOTF board have been already changed,
wiring checked and software updated to the last version.

2.) After one year with no problems, the EOM control on our multiphoton
system is givin some problems. At start all fine, but after a few tens of
minutes the EOM controller does not respond any longer. No problems with the
half plate to control power, but it is not enough to cut all power provided
from the Chameleon Vis2. After a full mic restart the problem disappears.

I leave the third to a separate post.

Any similar experience? Leica already changed several boards/controllers.
After a software update both issues seemed to be solved, but to than come
back in a couple of weeks, but this could have been just a coincidence.

Cheers,

Alessandro

[George McNamara]

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****

Hi Alessandro,

1. Leave everything on 24/7 (until Leica gets all the "issues" figured
out, assuming they do, they don't introduce new problems, and you or the
SP5 don't retire first). Yes, that means everything - especially keeping
LAS AF running (until LAS 64-bit comes out - hopefully soon and with a
new kick butt PC).

2. Replace all the EOM stuff with devices Leica has verified work
correctly.

A friend of mine gleefully pointed out that the time Danaher purchased
Beckman Coulter that Danaher would come in and "six sigma" BC. Danaher
has owned Leica for several years. Perhaps Danaher is a but more hands
off on this "six sigma" stuff than he (and I) thought, or that Leica is
still stuck at "one sigma".

George
p.s. My thanks to Leica, Zeiss, Huron Technologies and Photometrics for
exhibiting at ABRF. Congratulations to Leica on getting its new STED to
40x40 nm XY resolution. The hardware was at the exhibit booth - I was
too busy explaining that they really should not have to move the
motorized stage over the full distance every time (my point; should not
need to move at all) every user starts the software. Too bad they
"missed the landing" - twice! - by not improving Z-resolution (vs
confocal with same excitation wavelength, same objective lens, same
emission range) and took the cheap approach of continuing to use the CW
592 nm laser for depletion instead of a laser pulsed from ~5 ps to ~300
ps after the excitation pulse leaves. Instead they just time gate the
new FLIM HyD (on ~500 ps to a few ns after excitation pulse).


On 3/19/2012 4:16 AM, Alessandro Esposito wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> *****
>
> Dear all,
>     I work with Leica SP series from many years and I am still a very
> satisfied user. I must also add that I am very happy for our local sale and
> engineering support. However, we have three recurrent issues that we are not
> able to fix and I was wondering if you had similar issues and you were able
> to fix them.
>
> 1.) We often have to restart the SP5 twice as at the first start (~50% of
> times) the lasers do not switch on. AOTF board have been already changed,
> wiring checked and software updated to the last version.
>
> 2.) After one year with no problems, the EOM control on our multiphoton
> system is givin some problems. At start all fine, but after a few tens of
> minutes the EOM controller does not respond any longer. No problems with the
> half plate to control power, but it is not enough to cut all power provided
> from the Chameleon Vis2. After a full mic restart the problem disappears.
>
> I leave the third to a separate post.
>
> Any similar experience? Leica already changed several boards/controllers.
> After a software update both issues seemed to be solved, but to than come
> back in a couple of weeks, but this could have been just a coincidence.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alessandro
>
>    

--


George McNamara, Ph.D.
Image Core Manager
Analytical Imaging Core Facility (AICF)
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine

http://www.sylvester.org/AICF   (AICF home page)
PubSpectra data (XLSX file inside)
    http://www.sylvester.org/documents/PubSpectra.zip (download 2000+ spectra)
    http://works.bepress.com/gmcnamara/
PubSpectra / UA Graphing Site
     http://www.mcb.arizona.edu/ipc/fret/index.html   (Carl Boswell, now retired)
New UA Spectra Database Site
     http://www.spectra.arizona.edu/                  (Urs Utzinger)
UMiami Scholarly Repository "selected works"
     http://works.bepress.com/gmcnamara
Care to link?
     http://www.linkedin.com/in/georgemcnamara


Ready for imaging in 2012? Check out:


Miami 2012 Winter Symposium: Nanotechnology in Biomedicine
February 26-29, 2012, Miami, FL
Nature Publishing Group / University of Miami / Scripps Florida
http://www.nature.com/natureconferences/miami/mws2012/speakers.html

Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF)
International Symposium
March 17-20, 2012, Orlando, FL
http://conf.abrf.org/index.cfm

Biomedical Optics 2012 (OSA BIOMED) - Optical Society of America
April 29-May 2, 2012, Miami, FL
http://www.osa.org/meetings/topical_meetings/BIOMED/default.aspx



"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." - Douglas Macarthur.
"Old antibodies die, please throw them away." - GM.

“Well of course you can’t understand your data, you have too many controls” - Anna M. Wu, quoted in Andreas Markus Loening, Ph.D. dissertation, UCLA, 2006.
"If you do all the controls, you'll never publish." - GM.
"If you don't do the controls, you shouldn't publish." ... alternative: "If you don't do the controls, don't waste everyone's time in lab meeting." - GM.