We are having an issue with our CSUX1-based system in which the CSUX1 shutter is “sticking”; specifically, it’s not opening 100% of the time that it should be. When capturing a multipoint image or a multi-timepoint image, some positions or timepoints will completely lack excitation in all channels. The shutter doesn’t appear to be open during these times (no illumination of the shutter LED on the CSUX1).
I am controlling it using µManager, with the core shutter property set to CSUX1 shutter, core timeout to 30ms and shutter timeout to 30ms. Is there anything else I can change in µManager to make it work reliably?
Additionally, I naively didn’t realise there was a 60,000 cycle limit to the shutter’s lifetime; I think we’ve blown past that very quickly because of opening and closing the shutter between each timepoint and each Z-position. I don’t see how anyone who owns one of these units for a few years can avoid getting through 60,000 cycles! Has anyone had the shutter replaced in their CSUX-1? Was it expensive? Who performed the work?
yeah, the physical shutters in the CSU-X1 is more of a “safety” shutter. We typically have it open when the software launches, and close on shutdown (definitely not as an active shutter during the experiment … the is more than sufficient for that)
that said: you don’t technically “need” it at all! If you’re not still under warranty, you can simply remove it from the light path. this requires remove the screws holding in the laser fiber launch, where the fiber enters the CSU unit, then remove the tiny little chip and shutter and put the fiber launch back on… do be careful not to adjust the alignment/tuning screws, just the mounting screws. (I don’t have a photo of that to end at the moment)
Thanks for the quick and encouraging response! It works 100% of the time when the manual button is clicked, so I’ll leave it in the light path for now, but it’s great to know that I can cut it out if it fails completely.
In your message you say
definitely not as an active shutter during the experiment … the is more than sufficient for that)
oop! Sorry to leave you hanging there
the sentence was supposed to read “the AOTF is more than sufficient for that” … so, i was making the assumption that you are using a laser launch that has some way to turn lasers on/off, usually an AOTF. and that is the typical way to shutter light going into the CSU unit, and the physical shutter in the unit is generally a safety that stays open for extended periods after launching the software
Thanks, I thought that was what you were going to say! Frustrating, because I don’t have an AOTF in this light path (which is why it was set up with theCSUX1 shutter as the main control), but I can deal with it by setting a blank channel in my acquisitions that has all of the lasers shutters off.
I’m hoping to set this up with NIDAQ triggering in the next couple of months, so that should also bypass the need for this “blank” channel.
