Agilent 1100 and external contacts

[randy]

I am trying to find a way to send a TTL signal from an 1100 to an external detector at the end of a sequence. Online help says I need a BCD/external contacts board to do this, but the autosampler already has a 9-pin connector at the rear labeled "Remote". Is this connector for something else?

Anybody out there know how I can send out this signal? I don't see any macro commands to do this. The 1100 doesn't appear to play well with others, as this is the first LC I've come across that made it difficult to send out relay signals. I've worked with Waters, Rainin, Varian, and DIONEX and they all do this no problem. With the Agilent it's like trying to solve a mystery.

[rhaefe]

randy,

My 1100 also needs a BCD/external contact board installed and since I don't have it the external contact command in the auto sampler configuration is not available. The "Remote" connector in the back is to connect the A/S to other Agilent products.
If you have a 35900E A/D converter box available than the set up is pretty straight forward. We use them to control several multi position valves.

[Consumer Products Guy]

I DO have the Agilent external contacts set-up accessory on two of my 1100 systems (and pump and injector modules on 1050s had them as well). I think it was only about $300 then, installed myself, plugs into back of module, then a wiring harness with maybe 12 color-coded wires comes off it. Once this is installed, then there appear options in the software menu; I'm not at work now, but believe it is under Instrument, Autosampler, More (or might say contacts). We use this to send a "closure" to an external detector to balance it, and used to operate the flush valve on a 1047A this way. We also use one with an Alltech ELSD. You could take your Method, add in that contact step, save that Method as a different name, then have that method (with no injection, if you like) as last line in your Sequence Table. I use the Post-Command box in Sequence Parameters to shut off the pump and lamp after the Sequence).

[randy]

OK, we do have a 35900 ADC box, but it sounds like we still need the G1351 ECI board.

Once that's installed and the menu is available, does the menu then allow you to specify which leads send the TTL signal?

[rhaefe]

Once the 35900 is configured in Chem Station you can use all available contact closures for a variety of things. We use the digital I/O on the back. With a couple of adapters we are able to feed them directly into our Valco switching valves. Not sure how the actual wiring went, it has been quite some time but I think I can dig up the documentation.

[rnelson]

You may be able to do what you want with the remote connection. You said you wanted to send a signal at the end of your sequence, what exactly is the signal going to do, and do you really mean a signal at the end of each injection?

We currently use the remote cable to interface our 1100's with another vendor's acquisition system. The remote connection allows us to force the 1100 autosampler to wait on a ready signal from the acquisition system, but then also indicates to the acquisition system when the injection starts.

Your 1100 manuals should have a pin-out diagram of what each of the 9 pins are used for, although they aren't terribly descriptive or helpful.

[Bruce Hamilton]

The details of the remote cables ( and thus the remote connector pins ) can be found in the Agilent manuals, or online....

http://www.chem.agilent.com/Library/Sup ... A03669.pdf

In my experience, when 1100 modules are interconnected by HPIB ( and perhaps CAN ) cables, then some remote functions are disabled on some of the modules.

From memory, the remote start connections on the pump and the detector are active, however the specific modules are listed in the 1100 Manual ( which I don't have handy ) - in the part about setting up.

If you plug into the remote connections on the column heater module, the start signal will not appear - can be very confusing.

Please keep having fun,

Bruce Hamilton

[randy]

OK, here is exactly what I am trying to do:

I want to use a DIONEX conductivity detector for anion and cation analysis in the suppressed mode. However, one cannot maintain current to a DIONEX suppressor without eluent flow. DIONEX CD20 and ED40 detectors, in addition to providing conductivity detection, also control the suppressor current. TTL inputs on these detectors allow a user to turn the current on and off.

At the end of a sequence, I'd like the 1100 to send a signal to the detector TTL input to turn off the suppressor current flow. I didn't see any commands that could be added to the "Standby" post-sequence macro to send this signal in addition to turning off the pump and other 1100 components, so I figured that I would need to create a method to use in the last line of the sequence that would send the signal shutting off the suppressor before the sequence ended and the "Standby" macro took effect.

I am curious about Bruce's comment on the remote connections to the column heater module. Three of our four 1100s have the column heater module connected to the 35900. All 4 seem to start runs OK, even the one without the heater connected, so I'm wondering if I can disconnect the modules from the 35900 so that I can use the remote terminals on the 35900 to control the detectors.

[Bruce Hamilton]

I suspect your more modern A>D is getting the start signal from the remote connection, regardless of 1100 module, possibly indicating that your systems are CAN rather than HPIB, or perhaps a different 1100 generation to mine.

I'm not sure why my older model A>D only starts from the Pump or Detector remote, but it does that on two 1100 systems, maybe it has different thresholds.

I wonder if you could use the analogue pressure output of the pump to trigger detector shutdown through a relay. You could look at the inputs onto the dionex, it may have a shutdown option.

Bruce Hamilton

[randy]

The system is interconnected by CAN, and then connected to the 35900E by TCP/IP.

I connected the 9-pin remote connection at the back of the 35900E to the detector. I set up the method so that the 35900E would start external devices with a High state pulse at 0.1 min after injection.

Nothing.

Neither a multi-meter or an oscilliscope read any voltage pulse at 0.1 min.

How is the Digital I/O controlled? I don't see any control menus for it in Chemstation. Or have I been barking up the wrong tree? Does the ADC Timed Events menu with the output control deal only with the Digital I/O connector? I am beginning to think this is the case.

[Consumer Products Guy]

I DO have the Agilent external contacts set-up accessory on two of my 1100 systems (and pump and injector modules on 1050s had them as well). I think it was only about $300 then, installed myself, plugs into back of module, then a wiring harness with 8 color-coded wires comes off it. Once this is installed, then there appear options in the software menu; I'm not at work now, but believe it is under Instrument, More Autosampler, Contacts. We use this to send a "closure" to an external detector to balance it, and used to operate the flush valve on a 1047A this way. We also use one with an Alltech ELSD. You could take your Method, add in that contact step, save that Method as a different name, then have that method (with no injection, if you like) as last line in your Sequence Table. I use the Post-Command box in Sequence Parameters to shut off the pump and lamp after the Sequence).

There are four pairs of contact closures in the 1100 Autosampler module if you have that accessory. If you have this accessory, then Contacts appears: under Instrument, More Autosampler, Contacts. You can choose one to four of the contact pairs to operate, and that is saved as part of the Method.

[SammyD]

As far as the Digital I/O, it is controlled in the Agilent configuration editor under "Instrument" not in chemstation. The events are defined as Pins 2-9, Low or High, but you can rename them whatever you want and use them however you want in your method. The wires on the 9-pin connector are predefined and in the 35900E manual. My only suggestion is to pick a pin in configuration editor and to energize it XX minutes after the run ends in the ADC events of your method.

It sounded like you were planning on doing it with a little separate method. You cannot directly run a method from another method as far as I know. You will be able to load all the files, but when you use the RunMethod or RunSequence commands chemstation will return a "Method already running" error. I'm no expert, but the way that I have seen to get around it is with some creative coding in the post run macro. Look in the UCL directory on your chemstation CD at the sequence chaining macro. But if you figure out a way to start the method from the post run macro I would be very interested to know how.

[rhaefe]

Once the 35900 is configured the Timed Events Table is available through Chem Station. It is part of the method set-up, just like the pump, auto sampler or detector. It is of course method specific.

[randy]

SammyD, I have the menu in the ADC portion of the method that should allow me to send the TTL signal at a given time before, during, or after a run. I've set the method and the connections up correctly, but I haven't had success in turning off the external detector.

I discovered this morning that the Digital I/O contacts are in the High state by default. That is, with the instrument idling/pumping, the voltage I read from pin 2 and ground is ~4V DC. I set the method to send a TTL Low pulse at 0.1 min after the start of the method. I started the method but didn't see a change, but I found out that a 120msec pulse would not register on the multimeter.

After discovering that the TTL default state is High, I realized that I may not have the detector set to receive the correct signal. The DIONEX has four choices for TTL input: Normal Edge, Normal Pulse, Inverted Edge, and Inverted Pulse. With the Agilent TTL output going from High to Low, I think I'll need the Inverted Pulse setting.

Now I need for the other analyst to finish with the instrument, so that I can test with the new settings.

If they work, I can create a separate method that stops the pumping and sends the signal to turn off the detector. I'll just put this method in the last line of each sequence to turn off the instrument.

[cyanogen78]

We had the same situation with one 1100s which we wanted to produce a start signal to Knauer SP3000 sample preparation system (one pump with 2 6-port valves) to begin its program. The problem was solved by bying and installing a new BDC board from Agilent and after that "Contacts" menu in the ALS menu became available. In this menu you can setup the contacts closures of the BDC board> But I don't remeber how the Agilent technician connected the wires. I remember that this was the only one way to have an outgoing start signal from the 1100 ALS to another external device. I think that this depends on the type and brand of the external device too and may it will be best for you to call both the Agilent and Dionex service engineers to solve the problem.