LC6 Manual - Control Panel Screen
The control panel manages all attached peripheral devices, such as sensors and power controllers. The control panel is accessed by swiping to the left from the exposures screen.
When you open the control panel, the screen will look something like the one below. Each of the six peripheral connectors is represented as a box. If a peripheral is attached, then its icon is shown and the box is coloured blue. For example, the following system has a power controller and universal attention attached.
Touch the peripheral button to show more information, and relevant control buttons.
Universal Sensors
Universal sensors are the most advanced light sensor in the Light Counter family. They can be configured to measure UV light or visible light. They have automatic gain control, so they are not overwhelmed by very bright lights, and don't lose data when measuring low light levels. They can be sampled every 20ms for total measurement accuracy.
The control panel shows the following information:
- The connector position
- The current light measurement in µW/cm2 and in units
- The threshold, below which measurements are ignored
- The calibration state of the sensor
The first control button enables/disables the sensor. This enables the LC6 to work with sensors installed in different light units.
The second control button opens the sensor configuration screen. There you can choose to measure UV or visible light, and set the threshold for each.
The calibration button starts the automatic calibration process. This is described below in the calibration video.
The fourth button allows you to measure the light across an area, and calculate the dynamic range in stops. Simply move the sensor slowly across the entire area, and the LC6 will automatically calculate the dynamic range.
Sensor Calibration
This video explains how to calibrate the universal sensor. The process is the same for earlier generations of UV and visible light sensors.
Power Controllers
The LC6 can use multiple power controllers for different tasks. For example, one to control the lights, one to control a vacuum frame, and one to switch on fans if the unit gets too hot. They are configured from the control panel.
The new generation of power controllers are highly configurable. You can switch them on/off based upon three modes, each triggered by different event:
- Time – the switching triggers are the start and end of an exposure. The power controller can be configured to switch on or off at the switching trigger, and it can be set to switch before, on or after the trigger
- Temperature – the switching trigger is the temperature crossing the configured threshold. This requires a suitable sensor
- Humidity – the switching trigger is the humidity crossing the configured threshold. This requires a suitable sensor
In 'time' mode, the power controller can be configured with different scopes:
- Each Exposure – the switching triggers are the start and end of each exposure in the plan
- Exposure Plan – the switching triggers are the start and end of the complete exposure plan. Transitions between individual exposures in the plan will not trigger the power controller
This allows an incredibly wide range of actions to be automated. For example, an LC6 system could be set-up to manage all of the following events:
- Switch on/off UV lights at the start and end of each exposure in a plan
- Switch on a vacuum frame 20 seconds before the exposure plan starts, and off 10 seconds after it completes
- Switch on the light unit's fans if the temperature within it exceeds 35 ºC
The power controller default, however, is to simply switch on/off at the start/end of every exposure in the plan. If this is all you need, then you can simply plug in the power controller and start using it.
Older generations of power controller can only work in the default configuration. They can be upgraded if required.
The first control button enables/disables the power controller. This enables the LC6 to work with power controllers for different light units.
The second control button opens the power controller configuration screen.
The third button allows you to switch on/off the power controller manually.