Interfacing an Agilent 1100 G1315B DAD to an Advantec CHF122SC Fraction Collector

Dear All,

I am new to HPLC kit but am trying to help a colleague with the above but we are not making much progress. 

So far I have made up a cable to connect the DAD's 'APG Remote' port (9-way D-sub connector) and its detector analogue O/P (BNC connector) to the CHF122SC's 12-way terminal block interfacing connector.  Just 3 signals are connected; the detector analogue O/P, the START signal and the STOP signal, which AIUI should be sufficient.  However the fraction collector does not respond when a run is performed on the Agilent 1100.

Measuring the analogue voltage (set to 1V range on Chemstation application software) being sent to the fraction collector with a DMM shows it rising from a background level of typically 50-60mV to e.g. 0.5V on the larger peaks of the chromatography spectrum, which I am assuming should be OK for the (suitably configured) fraction collector.

Measuring the START signal (which should be a TTL level according to the manual) from the DAD shows a constant voltage of ~3V which does not change when a run is started, which does not look right.

Unfortunately the documentation that came with the fraction collector is quite unclear and Advantec have not responded to my email request for help.

The other thing I am unclear on, is whether the Chemstation S/W needs to be configured to produce the required START and STOP signals for the fraction collector -- and if so, how.  We did try configuring it for an Agilent G1364C but it complained it could not connect to that instrument.  Checking the G1364 series manual afterwards shows the detector to G1364 interfacing is via the Ethernet/CAN bus cable and not via the APG Remote port, which must explain why it looked for but could not see the G1364.

I suspect we are going the wrong way about this.  Can anyone with an Agilent 1100 stack and an Advantec fraction collector give some tips on how to interface them?

Many thanks

Tom Crane

  • Hey,

    No, the start stop signals for the external modules are not configurable in the chemstation software. The pulse could be edited in the lab advisor software. I would recommend however to first try to change the apg remote location to the autosampler instead of the detector as this is the module "starting" the run typically.

    The G1364C needs a CAN connection to the bus and will then be configurable in the chemstation software. No additional connections would be needed.

    Hope that helps.

  • Hi kbusch,

    Thanks for the follow-up.  Following your tips we tried monitoring the START signal line from the autosampler's 'APG Remote' port (9-way D-sub connector).  As with the DAD's one It has a quiescent voltage level of approx. 3V but this time we did see a brief negative going pulse to approx. 0V when the run started which is progress.  The negative going pulse does tally with the Remote Cables section of the G1313A manual which lists the START and STOP signals as 'TTL active Low' but the voltage level looks wrong -- I would expect a +5V or close-to 'high' level.

    We also tried plugging the STOP START signal cable I made into the CHF122SC's 12-way terminal block interfacing connector and started a run on the Agilent 1100 but the CHF122SC did not respond.  I am thinking that either; The 3V ->0V pulse  is insufficient for the CHF122SC to see the pulse, it is expecting a positive rather than a negative going pulse, or is does not expect a voltage pulse at all, but a volts-free continuity pulse (e.g. relay contacts).  I wonder if the other possible explanation for the 3V rather than 5V levels is that the DAD/AS is expecting its 'APG remote' START and STOP signal lines to be pulled-up to +5V -- i.e. as with an open-collector type output...? The section of the CHF122SC's manual that I have is unclear on this.

    We did have a browse around the Lab Advisor application's menus but could not see where edit those pulses.  Could you provide some pointers?

    Any other thoughts?

    Many thanks

    Tom

  • Hey,

    You can change the pulse duration, but not voltage. Maybe something with the timing is wrong. It can be found in lab advisor under instrument control and configuration. An example shown below.

  • Hello Tom,

    As i know this fraction collector used with Waters instruments with other name Waters Fraction Collector -II or III as OEM products , and connected by terminal strip which is a 12-way block 

    I check a Waters manual for detector  which also has a 12-pin module and found it  

    Maybe it help for you 

      

  • Hi kbusch,

    Thanks again for the follow-up. We have done some further investigations. I discovered the APG Remote bus START and STOP signals are expected to be connected to an open-collector / pulled-up voltage source, which explains the strange 3V quiescent voltage levels measured with the autosampler's outputs unconnected.

    We connected those lines to the CHF122SC and monitored the START and STOP signals going into the CHF122SC with a DSO.  Here is an example.

    Pulse from ALS

    It is a nice clean pulse with amplitude approx. 7V and width 125mS.  However it does not trigger the CHF122SC to run its start sequence.

    We also tried disconnecting the CHF122SC from the Agilent 1100 stack and manually trying to trigger the CHF122SC start sequence by momentarily touching a low value resistor (820R) across the START and GND input terminals on its 12-way terminal block.  This worked nicely. So we monitored the START and STOP signals again to compare the pulses with those from the autosampler.  Here is an example,

    Pulse from resistor

    The amplitude is less and the resistance results in a significant DC offset too, so it looks like a poorer quality pulse.  However, it is significantly longer which leads me to suspect that insufficient width is the problem with the autosampler's pulse.

    We tried looking in the lab-advisor menus as you showed above, for the 'remote pulse duration' setting but without success.  We could not find it in the DAD or the ALS sections.

    Here are some screengrabs from the configuration menus of Lab Advisor,

    ALS menu

    DAD menu

    Here are some screengrabs showing the S/W version details.

    Lab Advisor version

    Chemstation version

    Any thoughts/suggestions?

    Many thanks

    Tom Crane

  • Hello shivilik,

    Thanks for the follow-up. I looked at some on-line photos of the front of the Waters Fraction Collectors and they do look very similar to / same as our Advantec one but the terminal block connections on the back are completely different; 2 x 10-way terminal blocks?) c.f. 1 x 12-way one with completely different pins-outs too, e.g. from the CHF122SC manual,

    CHF122SC 12-way terminal block pinouts

    Best regards

    Tom.

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