Chromatography Forum

Hi everyone,

I'm having trouble with an Agilent (HP) 1049A EC detector.I'm sort of a newbie in HPLC and EC detectors, so please forgive me if I don't explain myself very well.
The detector hasn't been used for about a year and now I'm trying to turn it on again.
I've cleaned the cell and assembled the HPLC system. The system is connected to a PC with Chemstation software.
When I turn on the detector it only shows the message "EC Detector 1049A (E3314)". I clicked every button without a reaction from the detector (well, some of them give the error message "illegal key pressed"). I know from my colleagues that this detector used to show other information such as current in mV; or that it was possible to turn the cell on and off from there.
I've turned the detector on and off with and without the PC turned on. Same thing.
I've read the manual but I have no clue of what the problem is.
Is it locked or something? Does anyone know how to recover control of the detector?

Thanks in advance

More details:
- I'm trying to detect catecholamines
- I'm using an aqueous mobile phase with sodium acetate, citric acid, EDTA, octyl sulfate, dibutylamine, 5% methanol
- This EC detector has been used in the past to detect catecholamines with this mobile phase and the same kind of column (successfully)
- I've already tried to turn on the cell via Chemstation and injected some standard solutions but detected no peaks (I'm suspecting that the cell is not really turned on - ?)

Hello!
Did you resolve the problem with ecd 1049A detector? I have the same problem and couldn't find how to resolve it yet( Thanks in advance

Does anyone know how to recover control of the detector?

These kind of old detectors needed to be connected to the computer using an HPIB/GPIB circuit board or external "box" (A-D box). And there HAD to be a 9-pin remote cable between the detector and the system.

Sorry, that's all I can remember...