XY-stage on Zeiss LSM 510 - connection to PC

Hardware
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Hi everyone!

I’m operating a Zeiss LSM 510 confocal on the Axiovert 200M stand and using the ZEN 2009 software. The system is equipped with a Märzhäuser Wetzlar “EZ 130x85 mot. Tango CZ EMV” XY-stage, which is recently acting up. Unfortunately, support for the system has long run out and spare parts are hard to come by, so I’m turning to you here for help :slight_smile:

Tile scans or positions have recently stopped working since it appears the software doesn’t receive feedback from the stage position. When I move the stage, the X/Y values displayed by the software under “Stage” won’t change - so if I register a position, move the stage and register another position in ZEN, it won’t be recorded since ZEN thinks they are identical. Tile scans also don’t work since they’ll always start from the stage’s zero position. Every time the software communicates with the stage, two error messages show up in the error log:

  • COMUSB_CAN/CanServer (USB CANConverter for E-mot ) not expected Answer 10 26 5F 05 00 (PID=00)
  • COMUSB_CAN/CanServer (USB CANConverter for E-mot ) not expected Answer 10 27 5F 05 00 (PID=00)

Interestingly, communication from ZEN to the stage seems to work. I can use the digital joystick under “Stage” and if I set the zero position anywhere, move the stage and click “Move to zero”, it will move back to the exact position. The actual joystick also works fine.

The problem should not be with the stage, as I’ve just recently sent that to Märzhäuser for a complete check-up and overhaul and they were unable to identify any problem with the stage.

The stage has two connections, one wider one that connects to the joystick, and one Zeiss CAN cable (looks like RS232?) that connects to a Zeiss USB-CAN converter. This converter is powered by a 24V power supply (that also supplies power to the stage, I guess?) and is connected to the microscope computer via USB. Unfortunately, replacements seem to be completely unavailable, so I’ve been suggested to replace the converter with a USB-RS232 converter. I’m currently waiting on that to arrive, on the other hand, I’ve been thinking if that adaper will be able to supply power to the stage at all from a normal USB port?

Do you have any suggestions on what could be causing this problem, and what I could try to get the stage to communicate to ZEN 2009 again?

Thanks a lot in advance :slight_smile:

1 Like
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Welcome Yassin!

Contact Steve Clow at https://www.arcroyal.com/ - he offers service on older Zeiss instruments and is a great former Zeiss factory technician with tons of experience with these systems.

1 Like
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Thanks a lot, Jason! I will reach out to him :slight_smile:

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Have you tried moving the stage with the MTBApi which is what the Zen software uses to communicate with the microscope? I have created a software for Zeiss microscopes which uses the MTBApi.dll found in program files of Zen program I have tested it and it works with the latest version of Zen. Here is a link to it: GitHub - BiologyTools/BioImager: A .NET microscopy imaging application based on Bio library. Supports various microscopes by using imported libraries & GUI automation. Supports XInput game controllers to move stage, take images, run ImageJ macros on images or Bio C# scripts. Hopefully it may work with the older version of Zen as well.