Beginner's problems

Technical Support and Questions

Default avatar

Kaija Porkka

May 2017

Hi! We have just received a new MultiSpeQ and are learning to use it. When I try to take measurements with Getting Started with MultiSpeQ Tutorial Project after answering all the questions and clicking "Take Measurement", text "PHOTOSYNQ beta Measurement started" appears, but nothing happens after that, no results can be seen. There is bluetooth connection between the device and the desktop, and the ID code of the device can be seen in the settings view. The battery has been charged. What is the problem? We are going to measure mainly grasses. Is the 3 mm x 3 mm mask already available, which you mentioned in Technical support and Questions (Clip sensor dimensions) one year ago? If not, how do you recommend to perform the measurements of the thin leaves with the 25 mm wide physical case?

Default avatar

Sean

May 2017

P.S Soon as we get this all squared away, I can send you the files we use to laser cut the masks for your tiny leaves! :D

Default avatar

Sean

May 2017

Hey Kaija! Glad to hear your MultispeQ arrived safely and you are taking steps to learn about it! It is too bad you are having some issues with it, but I am confident that with some information and testing we will get you working in no time! First and foremost, when you are clicking "Take Measurement", are you opening and closing the jaw of the device? This project uses our most popular protocol that will not initialize unless the jaw has been opened/closed. If you ave done this, can you see lights flashing from the nose area? Next, when you are stuck at the "PhotosynQ Measurement Started" screen, there will be a button on the top bar that says "Output", could you click on this and get us a screenshot or tell us what this says? This is basically showing the conversation between your device and the computer and could give us a good look at what is going on. Finally, would you mind both taking a measurement over your provided USB cable to the desktop app and double checking that works, as well as taking it over bluetooth with your phone? All these things will help us to understand what is going on in your situation.

-Sean at PhotosynQ

Default avatar

Kaija Porkka

May 2017

Hi and thank you for the fast reply. I probably hadn't opened and closed the jaw enough, because today the flashes and results appeared. Still another question about making the measurements when the device is connected to desktop with USB, which would be more practical while testing the equipment here. After clicking Take Measurement, screen with text "PHOTOSYNQ beta Measurement started" only flashes very quickly and the view returns to the previous question page. Also the connection goes off every time and Teensy USB Serial (COM4) option changes to Communications Port (COM1), which always has to be changed back. I read the info about letting the battery drain down a little, but it didn't help. Please remember also to give us the information of the masks for tiny leaves.

Default avatar

Sean

May 2017

Kaija,

Glad to hear that you got things up, running and starting to take measurements. Since we know the device is alive and well, it gives me confidence we can solve this next issue quickly too! When you have the device plugged in via USB, and click on settings, it will bring up a menu, with console options, disconnect/reconnect, etc... but also near the bottom near the word connect will be a battery symbol and a percentage, can you double check what percentage your battery is charged up to? I know you said you let it drain a bit, but it might not have been quite enough. I just tried it here at my desk over USB with a device at 91%, and it worked. Let me know what your battery was at, perhaps we will have to drain it a bit more, or it could be something else, but eventually we will get you going!

I have attached to this the files needed to make a mask for your device. We use thicker black paper, and just fold and insert the tabs between the light guide and the rubber seal. There should be two files, both the same, one is a .pdf, the other a .bmp

Enjoy!

Sean at PhotosynQ

Hi, Sean! Please send me a mask for my device also. Thanks!

Default avatar

Sean

May 2017

Here is the image we use for the masks, sorry thought it attached in the last post ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry, but i don't see attached files.

Sean : Here is the image we use for the masks, sorry thought it attached in the last post ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Can you send me to the mail?

Default avatar

Sean

May 2017

Andriy Herts, Nataliia Herts: Sorry, but i don't see attached files.

Andriy, Nataliia and Kaija!

Having some technical difficulties uploading the image :'( I will have our support team email each of you with the files so that you can have them! Sorry for the wait and thanks for being patient

-Sean at PhotosynQ

Default avatar

Kaija Porkka

May 2017

Sean : Kaija, Glad to hear that you got things up, running and starting to take measurements. Since we know the device is alive and well, it gives me confidence we can solve this next issue quickly too! When you have the device plugged in via USB, and click on settings, it will bring up a menu, with console options, disconnect/reconnect, etc... but also near the bottom near the w...

Thanks again for the information. Yes, at 91 % it works (at 94-95 % doesn’t), though it’s not very handy now when the same cable takes care of the charging and data transfer. Soon the battery will be too full again. Can the constant technical error alarms (in addition to proton motive force signal too low –alarms) be caused just by too low light intensity in the testing environment of the office and non-photosynthetic test plant, or is there some other obvious reason for them? I noticed lights flashing in light guides of both upper and lower jars (first and more in upper, later in lower). Shall I install the mask on the light guide of the upper jar?

Thumb sam 0645   copy   copy  2

Dan TerAvest

May 2017

Kaija,

Hopefully we will be able to push a firmware update that will fix this problem very soon. If you need to collect a lot of data in the meantime there are a couple of options: 1) if your computer has bluetooth, you can connect to the desktop app via bluetooth and you will not run in to this problem (check out a few hints here, you can use the mobile app, or you can modify a usb cable by cutting the power wire on the cable so that the cable is only transmitting data.

Yes, low light intensity is the main cause of the 'proton motive force signal too low' messages. If you are working on small leaves and are planning on using a mask, you need to make sure to mask BOTH the upper and lower light guides.

Default avatar

Kaija Porkka

May 2017

Hello again and thank you for all the advise I have got! I finally got the lasercut masks to be fitted onto the light guides of the MultispeQ, but I have technical difficulties to attach them. We used thick black paper as you advised, but the mask fits only onto the lower jaw which has small holes in both sides. In the upper jaw there is no room around the light guide where to push the projections of the mask. I also tried normal thinner paper, but it doesn't fit there either. The light guide is mounted very tightly to its surrounding. Any suggestions how to solve the problem? There is very little room to work with tape and my fingers are too big :) Masks seem to be quite difficult to change in field conditions, if they fall off, because I needed forceps to work with them even in the office. I am also wondering why the two edges of the mask opposite to the widest projection where round in the file I received, though the corners of the light guide are sharp. It looks like the light could pass the mask next to the round edges. We planned to measure only cereals, and barley leaves covered the light guide even without the mask, but wheat leaves are much thinner and really need the mask.

Default avatar

Sean

May 2017

Kaija, Thanks for all your testing and for putting up with all these pitfalls you've come across, but your feedback is super valuable. so keep on sending it! To address you questions concerning the mask in it's current form, there are a few workarounds to get it going. First, if you cut off the front and side tabs, you just have to worry about shoving the bigger back tab near the light guide. After this, taking some tape and putting it down on the front and far side of the mask, this will secure it down tight . You are also very correct that getting those masks in is very hard, and if you were in the field, near impossible! I sorta cheat and unscrew the backside of the device, allowing the jaws to come undone. I can send you a quick slideshow tutorial later of what I am doing, but this is also not a great solution because the screws going in and out can wear down the plastic! So I think to sum things up, the current mask design, how to put it on, and its durability is not good! But your problems are my problems and we have made it a mission here to create a better solution for making a mask for the device! We have some ideas cooking right now about how the mask should go on, and how it could be prepared. If you have any ideas from your experience we would really appreciate your input!

-Sean at PhotosynQ

Default avatar

Kaija Porkka

May 2017

Hi! I attached here pictures of our light guides with masks. I cut the front and side tabs off from the upper mask as you advised. As you can see it seems that the masks don't cover the area in the corners. Also the front tab of the lower mask should be taken away. The masks have been lasercut exactly according to the file we received from you. Why the edges are round? Will the open corners cause problems and should we redesign the masks?

Thumb img 20160320 094226

Meera L Sethi

Jul 2017

Sean : Andriy, Nataliia and Kaija! Having some technical difficulties uploading the image :'( I will have our support team email each of you with the files so that you can have them! Sorry for the wait and thanks for being patient -Sean at PhotosynQ

Hi Sean,

could you email me the current version of the mask files for small leaves? Thanks so much!!