Thermo Trace Ultra: Temperature Zone Error on ECD removal

Discussions about GC and other "gas phase" separation techniques.

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I purchased an older Thermo Trace Ultra with DSQ mass spec and combipal. The person that sold it to me (unbeknownst to me) removed the ECD before shipping it. That's a separate issue. What I want to know here is how to tell the GC that the ECD isn't really there anymore.

On power-up it all checks out OK then throws an error: Temperature zone(s) exceeded the allowed hardware limit(s) and I have to hit config to get it to respond. It thinks a detector is present but the hardware is all gone, the control card, detector stack etc are gone. When I press "Left Detect" I can see it measuring a "temp" for the detector in the menu (-273!?) and it has all the settings available but in the config menu its just says left detector "none".

The jumper on the motherboard was in the wrong position so I fixed that and thought I was saved - but nothing changed. I did find this passage in one of the manuals:

"The temperature sensors in the TRACE GC Ultra create a closed circuit. If a sensor fails, the circuit opens and the hardware initiates thermal shutdown. This shutdown can also happen if hardware containing a temperature sensor, such as an ECD, is removed. The missing temperature sensor opens the circuit and the hardware initiates thermal shutdown. You must connect a plug to the temperature sensor cable to close the circuit when an ECD is removed from the system."

Now I'm stumped because I don't see any temp sensor cables ... and what kind of plug? Just something to short the circuit? Can I reset this thing's brain?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Yes , simply short circuit the unused sensor socket(s).
There are ready made plugs for this, from Thermo ,but they are hard to find parts.
Thanks. So it turns out they are a standard micro electronics item and my local store had them. I created a jumper and it worked. Now all the thermocouple sockets either have a jumper or a thermocouple plugged in. It's still failing. I ran the temp diagnostics and it claims "Aux Det A" is "Open" but all other channels are OK, Closed or Not Used. I can't find any jumpers for this or any direct settings for an Aux Detector. Anyone know what that means?
There is a hidden configuration , press '' config '' and write '' 2000 '' immediately.
From there , you can chose '' aux '' zones as '' none ''
This is quite odd because I am having literally the exact same problem. It appears that the ECD was just torn off before shipment; mine still has the board for the ECD in the side as well as the pneumonic-board-gas-inlet thingy in the back that feeds the nitrogen makeup gas to it. All that was left is the FID hanging there by the hydrogen tubes. It isn't even attached on to the stack, and I am having quite a hard time figuring out how it goes on.

I removed the ECD card board from the side of the instrument. That was easy, but I am having a difficult time removing the makeup gas board thing I described because it appears to have tubes that go from the module to UNDER the column base body. Should I even bother taking it out or should I unplug it?


I really think it may be good to just use the FID as the 'right detector' by switching the board positions, changing where the ribbon cable in the pneumonic module is plugged in, and changing the config.

Did you have any luck getting yours to start without the ECD? I'm assuming it has to be removed before shipping because of the radioactive isotope.
Super late reply - but I did get it to work. The jumpers for the thermocouples were causing problems with my unit - one was missing. I made a jumper to short the connection and it worked. Also the MS interface thermocouple was causing issues. I had to just disconnect it from the board since I was only using the FID. This was all on the main board that you can access on the right side of the unit. The thermocouple connections are at the rear.

Also I had to disable the AUX zones in the "secret" menu.

Finally - there is a jumper under the ECD board - (if it was present it would be under). It is on the main board right next to the long connector for the detector boards. I think each detector slot has one. IIRC they are labeled like J6, J7 and J8. For the FID they need to be jumping the bottom two pins. I think the ECD uses the top two pins. This was killing me for the longest time.
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