Chromatography Forum

Hello friends. I am a total newbie to GC, but since I run an essential oils business, I have found that I must learn all that I can about GC. I purhcased an Perkin Elmer 8500 with VDU, headspace auto sampler etc. for less than 300.00 and believe it or not it all works. I also received the original manual and I know that given enough time I will figure everything out. My question is this---how would one go about hooking this beast into a computer(detailed instructions if anyone has the time), what software is needed etc. Do I need an integrator? And will it be possible in the future to link the 8500 to a MS of some sort? Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their knowledge with me.

Peak simple is the only free chromatogram software that I know of. If there are no cables that hook the GC into a computer that has the correct type of card slot you will need an integrator. they are about $2500 from SRI the company that sells the peak simple software.

Ive never used that model GC so thats about all I know.

I recommend going with the software. The integrators are "fun" and comparatively easier to connect to a GC than a computer controller, but offer little in the way of data review or live chromatogram manipulation. Unfortunately, I too have no experience with the Perkin Elmer GCs so I can't advise much except possibly contact the manufacturer for recommended software products and directions for computer connection.

I think that you could probably find a used integrator for fairly cheap.

Please do NOT employ the use of a ''data Integrator" with your GC instrumentation. The technology is very limited in that it does not allow your manually integrate the peaks or to delete baseline events or for that matter--most other commonplace user Actions typically involved in Re-processing data. Also, they often require the use of a paper spooling for the chart reader. The user is required to type in a set of arcane ''commands" to set up runs, reprocess data, or even to acquire real-time chrom (similar to typing in COBOL code). I disdain railing on the Integrator but frankly it is 1970's technology and it has more headaches than any application.

I don't have much experience with PE GCs, but I do agree with the others. Integrators are a pain in butt to use. There is no user interface, and it is all command line based. For the sake of your sanity, I would recommend some acquisition software. Do you know what kind of data cable your GC uses? It might be something standard like RS232. That's a pretty common standard. Hope this helps.

It has RS232 connection...will I need an A/D converter?

You shouldn't need one, as long as the PC has an available port, you should be good to go. If the PC doesn't have an available port, you can get a PCI card RS232. They're cheap and they install pretty easily.