sCMOS Cameras & Power Surges

[Neil Anthony]

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Hi all, I hope the scopes treat you well.

I was wondering if anybody has seen issues with sCMOS cameras degrading due to power surges.  We've had a number of sCMOS camera's go bad, whereby many pixels will become a lot darker then the others (lower gain I'm guessing) and even form into clusters of a few surrounding pixels that are bad.  I've refered to thses before as pepper'd, but in some cases it looks like the grinder has been set to course and there are many chunks of pixels that are darker.

We're looking into a UPS system to protect the cameras in case that's the issue, and I was hoping to get your thoughts and experience on camera issues of this sort and power surges.

To reverse the question, could I maybe ask what scope and hardware damage you've seen from power surges in general?  And what the verdict is on the necessity for UPS's?

Thanks in advance for your time.

Neil





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[Michael Giacomelli]

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Hi Anthony,

I have never had a camera damaged by a power spike, but usually the labs
I've been in have pretty clean power.  In general, CMOS devices sit behind
regulated power supplies that provide a constant voltage independent of the
wall voltage up until the point where you blow up the power supply's
transistors.  If you really do get a serious voltage spike, I would check
that the power supply voltage is ok, and probably try and alternate.  Power
supplies are really cheap compared to cameras.

Mike

On Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 10:23 AM, Anthony, Neil <[hidden email]> wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Hi all, I hope the scopes treat you well.
>
> I was wondering if anybody has seen issues with sCMOS cameras degrading
> due to power surges.  We've had a number of sCMOS camera's go bad, whereby
> many pixels will become a lot darker then the others (lower gain I'm
> guessing) and even form into clusters of a few surrounding pixels that are
> bad.  I've refered to thses before as pepper'd, but in some cases it looks
> like the grinder has been set to course and there are many chunks of pixels
> that are darker.
>
> We're looking into a UPS system to protect the cameras in case that's the
> issue, and I was hoping to get your thoughts and experience on camera
> issues of this sort and power surges.
>
> To reverse the question, could I maybe ask what scope and hardware damage
> you've seen from power surges in general?  And what the verdict is on the
> necessity for UPS's?
>
> Thanks in advance for your time.
>
> Neil
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of
> the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged
> information. If the reader of this message is not the intended
> recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution
> or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly
> prohibited.
>
> If you have received this message in error, please contact
> the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the
> original message (including attachments).
>

[michael]

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Hi Neil,

I have seen the pepper artifact you mention on cooled cameras that had the seal around the sensor compromised.  Condensation would form, with the symptom of this being what you describe.  The amount of "pepper" would increase over time, some times beginning at the periphery and working inwards

[Neil Anthony]

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Thanks Mike, you make some good points to consider.


-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Michael Giacomelli
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2017 10:37 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: sCMOS Cameras & Power Surges

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Hi Anthony,

I have never had a camera damaged by a power spike, but usually the labs I've been in have pretty clean power.  In general, CMOS devices sit behind regulated power supplies that provide a constant voltage independent of the wall voltage up until the point where you blow up the power supply's transistors.  If you really do get a serious voltage spike, I would check that the power supply voltage is ok, and probably try and alternate.  Power supplies are really cheap compared to cameras.

Mike

On Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 10:23 AM, Anthony, Neil <[hidden email]> wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Hi all, I hope the scopes treat you well.
>
> I was wondering if anybody has seen issues with sCMOS cameras
> degrading due to power surges.  We've had a number of sCMOS camera's
> go bad, whereby many pixels will become a lot darker then the others
> (lower gain I'm
> guessing) and even form into clusters of a few surrounding pixels that
> are bad.  I've refered to thses before as pepper'd, but in some cases
> it looks like the grinder has been set to course and there are many
> chunks of pixels that are darker.
>
> We're looking into a UPS system to protect the cameras in case that's
> the issue, and I was hoping to get your thoughts and experience on
> camera issues of this sort and power surges.
>
> To reverse the question, could I maybe ask what scope and hardware
> damage you've seen from power surges in general?  And what the verdict
> is on the necessity for UPS's?
>
> Thanks in advance for your time.
>
> Neil
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of
> the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged
> information. If the reader of this message is not the intended
> recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination,
> distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is
> strictly prohibited.
>
> If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender
> by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the original message
> (including attachments).
>

________________________________

This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of
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[Steffen Dietzel]

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I heard reliable stories that CCD Cameras can be killed by the spike
generated by switching on a mercury lamp. But then the camera is
completely dead, and not partially. Plus, that happened in the 90ies and
doesn't seem to be an issue any more in the last 15 years. Either the
cameras (or the Hg lamp power supplies) are better shielded these days,
or users are all careful not to switch on the mercury lamps when nearby
electronics is already powered on. (ok, the latter doesn't sound very
likely. We surely were, but *all* users?)

Steffen


Am 28.11.2017 um 16:23 schrieb Anthony, Neil:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Hi all, I hope the scopes treat you well.
>
> I was wondering if anybody has seen issues with sCMOS cameras degrading due to power surges.  We've had a number of sCMOS camera's go bad, whereby many pixels will become a lot darker then the others (lower gain I'm guessing) and even form into clusters of a few surrounding pixels that are bad.  I've refered to thses before as pepper'd, but in some cases it looks like the grinder has been set to course and there are many chunks of pixels that are darker.
>
> We're looking into a UPS system to protect the cameras in case that's the issue, and I was hoping to get your thoughts and experience on camera issues of this sort and power surges.
>
> To reverse the question, could I maybe ask what scope and hardware damage you've seen from power surges in general?  And what the verdict is on the necessity for UPS's?
>
> Thanks in advance for your time.
>
> Neil
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of
> the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged
> information. If the reader of this message is not the intended
> recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution
> or copying of this message (including any attachments) is strictly
> prohibited.
>
> If you have received this message in error, please contact
> the sender by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the
> original message (including attachments).
>

--
-- ----------------------------------------------------------

Steffen Dietzel, PD Dr. rer. nat.
Head of the Core Facility Bioimaging at the Biomedical Center
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Walter-Brendel-Zentrum für Experimentelle Medizin

Address:
Biomedical Center
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Phone: [phone]
skype: steffendietzel
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--
------------------------------------------------------------
Steffen Dietzel, PD Dr. rer. nat
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Biomedical Center (BMC)
Head of the Core Facility Bioimaging

Großhaderner Straße 9
D-82152 Planegg-Martinsried
Germany

http://www.bioimaging.bmc.med.uni-muenchen.de