5973 Fastscan Sideboard Conversion

Discussions about GC-MS, LC-MS, LC-FTIR, and other "coupled" analytical techniques.

8 posts Page 1 of 1
Well, I did it. I ordered the 5973 FastScan Sideboard PN G3169-65015 for my 5973 inert/6890N GC-MS. I also had to order the fast electronics log amp PN G3170-65001. As it turns out, my system was actually never a fastscan system. But I was fooled into thinking it was when I had my sideboard fail and the new sideboard claimed there was a mismatch with the log amp. I had assumed this was because I had swapped away my fastscan board and had a slower sideboard.

So, I was surprised when I put in the brand new fastscan sideboard and it did not like the log amp, nor could it control the quads. As it turns out there was a second generation of sideboards that did not like the oldest generation of log amp but would still function. The tech support at Agilent kindly explained the generation problem to me and then assured me that the fast log amp board was the only additional bit of kit that I would need. I have them now and will hopefully be putting them in this weekend.

The tech also assured me I would need to make new methods from scratch, retune, and recalibrate because the peak counts and areas would be different than with the old sideboard and log amp.
The new boards went in without a hitch. We got the old ones out and the new ones in before the turbo finished spinning down. We let the source regain temperature and vacuum and waited an hour. The RF coil balancing came out to 55mV at 100amuand 371mV at 650amu. Air and Water check had 18 @1% and 28 at 2%. I ran ATUNE and pulled the focus out to 140 afterwards and then saved it as the method tune. Purged and ran a CCV. Upon evaluating the Continuing Cal report, it was spec on Internals, Surrogates, and 67 out of 69 compounds. Most had %Dev of less than +/- 10%.

I assume that I must put on a new calibration curve because of the hardware changes. But it sure is pretty.
My next task is to make a small SIM/SCAN method and see if it works. If anyone knows where I can find an e-method for Chemstation E.01.01 for method 524 SIM/SCAN please link it. Otherwise I will be reading the Agilent docs to see if I can make a small one from scratch.
Making one from scratch is not a problem, I did all of mine that way. The only one I had a headache with was doing an 8260 Appendix 9 one with over 100 analytes, now that was a headache.

I believe you can run your list full scan then use the AutoSIM in data analysis to get you close, though I usually just do it by hand. For 524 you mainly need SIM for the EDB/DBCP only so that is pretty easy.
The past is there to guide us into the future, not to dwell in.
James_Ball wrote:
Making one from scratch is not a problem, I did all of mine that way. The only one I had a headache with was doing an 8260 Appendix 9 one with over 100 analytes, now that was a headache.

I believe you can run your list full scan then use the AutoSIM in data analysis to get you close, though I usually just do it by hand. For 524 you mainly need SIM for the EDB/DBCP only so that is pretty easy.
Since I run my BTEX-MTBE from the same conditions as my 69 compound 8260. I saved the BTEX version to a new name and used the AutoSIM to convert it. This was successful and I see that resulted in a 40-100% increase in areas and counts. Unfortunately, when I did the same with my 8260 method, it gave an error message about something being <1ms and terminates.

I think this may be due to my habit of including in the 3rd and 4th qualifier ion slots an ion from a nearby peak that might interfere. It makes it easier to see the actual quant ions in context with nearby peaks. But I think AutoSIM sees it as peak overlap. So, I must trim off those extra ions and try that process again.

Also, I am going to trim down my 524 method to only the analytes that my state requires. Its a substantially shorter list.

I don't need SIM for vinyl chloride?

I tried importing this 8260 SIM/SCAN method from Agilent. That crashed my system pretty hard. I had to reboot before my instrument software would come up again. I guess that must be why there is no http://www.agiilent.com/chem/eMethods website. I was only able to find 3 eMethods on Agilents website. The P&T 8260 eMethod from Agilent #5989-3347EN was the bad actor.
Is it necessary to use RT-locking for a SIM/Scan method? Also, How do you make sure the SIM masses do not drift? Is a Quicktune sufficient the day of analysis?
LALman wrote:
Is it necessary to use RT-locking for a SIM/Scan method? Also, How do you make sure the SIM masses do not drift? Is a Quicktune sufficient the day of analysis?


If you are checking tune with BFB then you should know if it will drift out or not. I think the mass looks at either a -.3 to +.7 or -/5 to +.5 window around the mass you use so the drift shouldn't be a problem. RT drift is worse, but as long as you are not changing flows or trimming column a lot, which isn't normally done often with Purge and Trap that should be ok also. I try to look for the little gaps in the peaks where none are eluting to set my SIM group switches if possible, or include the ions from any that fall near the switch in both the preceding and following group.

The <1ms window would happen if there are too many masses being looked at at once. You may have to make a quant method with fewer analytes, and do the autosim a couple times then merge the sim groups into one method.
The past is there to guide us into the future, not to dwell in.
James_Ball wrote:
Making one from scratch is not a problem, I did all of mine that way. The only one I had a headache with was doing an 8260 Appendix 9 one with over 100 analytes, now that was a headache.

I believe you can run your list full scan then use the AutoSIM in data analysis to get you close, though I usually just do it by hand. For 524 you mainly need SIM for the EDB/DBCP only so that is pretty easy.

Oh I see, I can do the autoSIM to get the table and then cut out all the rows except for the ones containing EDB and DBCP.

Can the autoSIM table be shared with another method that has identical GC/MS parameters but fewer analytes? I have my BTEX method set up so I can either run it stand alone or I can reprocess the full 8260 analysis and pull out just the BTEX results. It also saves on calibrations. I calibrate a full 8260 method and then I reprocess the data files with my BTEX method to get my BTEX subset calibrated.

I suppose its not possible to get identical behaviour for a subset of peaks because they will get different integration times because of less peaks. So, I had better keep my overlapping methods for SCAN mode only.

James_Ball wrote:
LALman wrote:
Is it necessary to use RT-locking for a SIM/Scan method? Also, How do you make sure the SIM masses do not drift? Is a Quicktune sufficient the day of analysis?


If you are checking tune with BFB then you should know if it will drift out or not. I think the mass looks at either a -.3 to +.7 or -/5 to +.5 window around the mass you use so the drift shouldn't be a problem. RT drift is worse, but as long as you are not changing flows or trimming column a lot, which isn't normally done often with Purge and Trap that should be ok also. I try to look for the little gaps in the peaks where none are eluting to set my SIM group switches if possible, or include the ions from any that fall near the switch in both the preceding and following group.

The <1ms window would happen if there are too many masses being looked at at once. You may have to make a quant method with fewer analytes, and do the autosim a couple times then merge the sim groups into one method.

Yes my system is very solid for mass accuracy and upon checking I see that SIM does indeed use a range about each SIM mass. I copied and pasted the quant and qualifier ions out of a method report sheet so I have a crib sheet to make my SIM groups.

Thank you very much for being so helpful.
8 posts Page 1 of 1

Who is online

In total there is 1 user online :: 0 registered, 0 hidden and 1 guest (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
Most users ever online was 1117 on Mon Jan 31, 2022 2:50 pm

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

Latest Blog Posts from Separation Science

Separation Science offers free learning from the experts covering methods, applications, webinars, eSeminars, videos, tutorials for users of liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, sample preparation and related analytical techniques.

Subscribe to our eNewsletter with daily, weekly or monthly updates: Food & Beverage, Environmental, (Bio)Pharmaceutical, Bioclinical, Liquid Chromatography, Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry.

Liquid Chromatography

Gas Chromatography

Mass Spectrometry