30
The instrument will be connected to the PC and the indication in the status line of the
operation procedure window will be changed to
.
After instrument self testing, indication of its status in the status line will be changed to
and the instrument will be ready for running the amplification program.
A detailed procedure of starting and operating RealTime_PCR software is described in the
second part of the operation manual named
Software guidance
.
Indication of instrument status in the status line means:
– the instrument is on and ready for operation (green background).
– the instrument is on, however, is not ready for operation (yellow
background) – the warm-up is in progress. After warming-up (which is normally not longer
than 10 minutes since switch-on), the background color will change from yellow to green.
– the instrument is either switched off at the moment of launching
software, or is not connected to the PC via USB2.0 A-B cable or is not selected in the window
List of devices
.
Note!
Several instruments can be controlled by one computer. In this case the instruments
have to be connected to the computer via USB ports.
When working in a single-device mode, the operator connects and disconnects a selected
instrument by clicking
and
in the
List of devices
window
,
which is displayed automatically at the launch of RealTime_PCR, and while operating this
window can be opened by clicking
Preferences/ List of devices
at the menu bar.
When working in a multi-device mode, each instrument requires launching of its
RealTime_PCR software in an individual window. In this case operation of several
instruments may be controlled simultaneously.
The status line represents current date and time
, instrument serial
number and a version of optical controller firmware
.
4.2. Preparing the Instrument for PCR
The instrument readiness to run the PCR assay is checked automatically every time it is
switched on. While this radiator temperature, thermal plate temperature, and the hot lid
temperature are checked against permissible values.
4.2.1. Checkup of Geometrical Settings
Attention!
At the first switch on of the instrument after its transportation or any other change
of its position, checking the optic module’s geometrical settings is strongly recommended.
A detailed procedure of the geometrical settings checkup is described in the second part of the
operation manual named
Software guidance
.
The image of thermal plate wells outlining the boundaries of a measuring region (red circles)
has to completely encompass the light spots. If the circles are displaced relative to the light
spots, correction of the geometry of an optical image must be carried out (Fig. 22).
