Zeiss510: argon laser's current and output

[G.Liu]

Hello Listers,

In last few days, the argon laser in our Zeiss 510Meta encountered twice the shutdown problem during operation: the readings of laser current became -0.2A (output at about 75% position). When dragging back to 25% output, the current become normal (4.5A). Those happened, at one time, during "Reuse"ing the configuration of an old image; and at other time, during switching users.

Is this problem caused by inappropriate operation or Argon laser's lifespan is almost reached, or other reasons? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Guosheng

[Julio Vazquez]

-

Hello Guosheng, 

It may not be possible to give a definitive answer to your problem without further testing. Zeiss LSM configurations sometimes do get corrupted, leading to strange behavior of the instrument. If your configuration is suspect, I would create and save a new one from scratch and see if the problems continue. If you can not repeat the problem with the new configuration, discard the old configuration. If the laser problems continue and are limited to the 488, then I would think something may be wrong with the laser. However, if the laser was getting old, I do not think that you could get it back just by changing the settings in the software, but I could be wrong. You could also have an issue with the laser's power supply, or with the communication interface between the LSM software and the laser. So I would suggest:

1) create a new scan configuration and see if the laser problem keeps happening

2) with the new scan configuration, try running the Argon laser at about 30-40% output or around 4-5 Amps. This should be enough power for most applications See if the problem keeps happening. There aren't too many situations where you need to run the Argon laser at 75% or higher... this is a lot of power and will shorten your laser's lifetime. 

If problems persist, it may be time to contact a Zeiss service engineer. 

--

Julio Vazquez, 

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Seattle, WA 98109-1024

http://www.fhcrc.org/ 

On Sep 16, 2009, at 10:18 AM, G.Liu wrote:

Hello Listers,

In last few days, the argon laser in our Zeiss 510Meta encountered twice the

shutdown problem during operation: the readings of laser current became

-0.2A (output at about 75% position). When dragging back to 25% output, the

current become normal (4.5A). Those happened, at one time, during "Reuse"ing

the configuration of an old image; and at other time, during switching

users. 

Is this problem caused by inappropriate operation or Argon laser's lifespan

is almost reached, or other reasons? Any advice will be greatly appreciated! 

Guosheng

-- 

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[Mark Cannell]

Sounds like it may be a laser power supply problem .

My 2c

Cheers

G.Liu wrote:

> Hello Listers,
>
> In last few days, the argon laser in our Zeiss 510Meta encountered twice the
> shutdown problem during operation: the readings of laser current became
> -0.2A (output at about 75% position). When dragging back to 25% output, the
> current become normal (4.5A). Those happened, at one time, during "Reuse"ing
> the configuration of an old image; and at other time, during switching
> users.
>
> Is this problem caused by inappropriate operation or Argon laser's lifespan
> is almost reached, or other reasons? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
>
> Guosheng
>  

[Alison J. North]

Hi Guosheng,

We find the same problem occurs with our Zeiss 510Meta if you turn up
the power on the argon laser too quickly - it just cuts out.  So, if you
hit the re-use button while the laser is on standby or minimum power,
this could certainly cause it to cut out.  Likewise, if you change users
the power will have switched back to standby when the first one logs
off.  The critical thing seems to be to turn the laser from standby to
on, and then to slowly increase the power click by click, rather than
dragging it up fast with the slider.  I wonder whether you will find you
solve the problem by turning up the power on the laser BEFORE clicking
on the re-use button?

Of course, if you've never encountered this problem before, it is more
likely to be that the laser is simply getting old...

Best,
Alison

G.Liu wrote:

> Hello Listers,
>
> In last few days, the argon laser in our Zeiss 510Meta encountered twice the
> shutdown problem during operation: the readings of laser current became
> -0.2A (output at about 75% position). When dragging back to 25% output, the
> current become normal (4.5A). Those happened, at one time, during "Reuse"ing
> the configuration of an old image; and at other time, during switching
> users.
>
> Is this problem caused by inappropriate operation or Argon laser's lifespan
> is almost reached, or other reasons? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
>
> Guosheng
>  

--
Alison J. North, Ph.D.,
Research Assistant Professor and
Director of the Bio-Imaging Resource Center,
The Rockefeller University,
1230 York Avenue,
New York,
NY 10065.
Tel: office ++ 212 327 7488
Tel: lab     ++ 212 327 7486
Fax:         ++ 212 327 7489