6. Routine Maintenance and Trouble Shooting
No routine maintenance is required. There are no user-serviceable components or sub-assemblies
in the RETRA (L) Light Engine. Opening the light engine enclosure will void the manufacturer’s
warranty. In the event that the light engine fails to perform in accordance with the specifications
listed on the certificate of conformance, please contact Lumencor Technical Support for assistance,
as directed in Section 7.
7. Customer Support
For technical support of the RETRA (L) Light Engine, please contact Lumencor by phone at
503-213-4269 or through e-, mail at [email protected]. Please be prepared to provide
the 4- or 5-digit serial number of the light engine. Any light engine returned to Lumencor for repairs
or upgrades requires a pre-issued return material authorization (RMA) number. To request an RMA
number, fill out and submit the online request form. It is the customer’s responsibility to properly
package and safely ship products to Lumencor. Instructions for shipping will be provided in the e-
mail giving notification of the RMA number.
Troubleshooting Procedures
Problem
Check the following
No response to serial (USB or
RS-232) commands
Check that the LEGACY or STANDARD command mode selection (GUI
Settings; Figure 5 [right]) is compatible with the software driver.
No response to TTL trigger
commands
Check that
TTL inputs
are ENABLED (GUI Settings; Figure 5 [right], 12) and
that the
TTL polarity
setting is consistent with the trigger inputs. Also
check that all serial ON/OFF controls are in the OFF state.
No light output in response to
source
ON
command (serial or
TTL).
There are 4 interlocks that need to be closed, check all of these:
1. Control key must be inserted in front panel and turned to “on” position
¹
.
2. Liquid light guide must be inserted in light output receptacle
¹
.
3. Remote interlock jumper must be inserted in rear panel
¹
.
4. External gate jumper must be inserted in front panel (Figure 3).
Unusually weak fluorescence
signals across all detection
channels
Weak fluorescence in all detection channels (DAPI, FITC, TRITC, Cy5 etc) is
likely to be due to poor light transmission by the liquid light guide, the
collimating adaptor or another distal component of the microscope optical
path and not to abnormally low light output from the light engine.
Unusually weak fluorescence
signals in a single detection
channel (e.g. DAPI)
1. Check that the light engine power output reading in the Web GUI (Figure
4) is normal.
2. Check that the dichroic beamsplitter and emission bandpass filter in the
microscope are compatible with light engine excitation filter
specifications shown on the certificate of conformance (Figure 1)
𝟤
.
High, spatially uniform fluorescence
background
Check that the dichroic beamsplitter and emission bandpass filter in the
microscope are compatible with light engine excitation filter specifications
shown on the certificate of conformance (Figure 1)
𝟤
.
¹
Open interlocks for these conditions will be indicated by a red status indicator in the lower right corner of the
GUI control screen (Figure 5).
²
Excitation filters are installed in the light engine. Excitation filters installed in the microscope cube are generally
redundant and it is recommended that they are removed.
RETRA (L) Light Engine Manual 57-10025
18
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