Memmert Incubators - Cuddington-Lab/documents GitHub Wiki

More recent repair history

Incubator status May 1, 2024

Inc #1 = equipment does not turn on; LED plugged to incubator

Inc #2 = Celsus is showing a "power board defective" error for Incubator# 2. This incubator is not following the set temperatures during some time periods; LED plugged to incubator

Inc #3 = working normally; LED plugged to incubator

Inc #4 = working normally; LED plugged to wall plug

Inc #5 = working normally; LED plugged to incubator

Inc #6 = working normally;; LED plugged to wall plug

see quote here (not final invoice) repair quote

From: Dominic Chamberland Charest <[email protected]> Sent: May 1, 2023 4:16:30 PM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Subject: RE: Incubator #6 test

We were able to fix Incubator 6 and it was able to maintain 20C while we were on site (with the lights on).

I’ll complete a quote for the repair of Incubator 1 and will check with Antoine if he can quote you a new unit to compare repair cost to what a new unit would be

Incubator status April 6, 2023

Inc #1 = equipment does not turn on; LED plugged to incubator

Inc #2 = working normally; LED plugged to incubator

Inc #3 = working normally; LED plugged to incubator

Inc #4 = working normally; LED plugged to wall plug

Inc #5 = working normally; LED plugged to incubator

Inc #6 = output temperatures are deviating from programmed temperatures; LED plugged to wall plug

See repair invoice for this item subsequent repair invoice

De : Tien Wong <[email protected]> Envoyé : October 20, 2022 3:23 PM Objet : Re: Incubator 6 bricked, Incubator 4 power board defective

Here is a summary of my findings from yesterday’s visit: Incubators #4&6: Memmert IPP 500 Report of temperature instability in both units. #4 will not reach low temperatures and gives an error “Main board faulty”.

#6 subsequently failed to turn on.

Troubleshooting revealed the unit 6 requires a new transformer, and confirmed the error message on unit 4, I.E., the main board is faulty.

The transformer from unit 4 was temporarily moved to unit 6 for troubleshooting purposes. This revealed similar findings to unit 4, I.E., the main board is faulty.

Suggested next steps are to replace both main boards and the transformer on unit 6.

From: Dominic Chamberland Charest <[email protected]> Sent: October 19, 2021 2:27:05 PM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Recap of the visit for today:

1: changed one capacitor on the power board and replaced the ethernet converter

2:changed the ethernet converter

3:we did not touch it

4:changed one capacitor on the power board and plugged the ethernet converter into the wall instead of the power bar inside of the incubator

5:we did not touch it

6: we have plugged the ethernet converter in the wall instead of the power bar inside of the incubator. The voltage in the 115V outlet is more stable and closer inside tolerance of the device.

We can communicate with all 6 incubator from Celcius on the lab computer.

Repair status as of Summer 2021

The original unit that could never communicate with the computer still doesn't (this is the one that the dealer was supposed to modify so that it could communicate (see attached).
All units that could communicate would experience constant but intermittent outages of about 1 hr from their very first use
As of Feb 2020, two of the units don't work at all. The screens just flash and there is no communication.
The remaining 3 units that were able to intermittently communicate with the computer, now (as of December 2020) experience simultaneous communication outages of 24-72 hours which render them useless, and for which we cannot find any internet nor computer issue.

I also note that since the units never worked properly, they were never used very much (i.e. some years they weren't used at all). So in spite of their age (9 years), I was surprised that they would all stop working in the same year.

Incubator status Summer 2021

1 malfunctioning since Feb 2020... flashing lights etc

2 has never communicated via ethernet since purchase in 2012

3 working but problems as described above

4 malfunctioning since May 2019... flashing lights etc

5 replaced ethernet connector August 2021... difficulties connecting to Celsius since then, but works once connected

6 working but problems as described above

6 Memmert IPP-500 Purchased 2012

original purchase quote CFI quote

Instructions for using the Memmert incubators.

Network Information

There are 6 network-capable incubators, they are numbered 1-6, incubator 1 is in the bottom-left corner of the matrix, 3 is on the bottom-right, 4 is on the top-left, and 6 is on the top-right. Their networking information is currently (April 2014) taped to the front of each incubator. Here is that information once more (Incubator # | MAC address | Assigned IP|Serial No.):

1 | 08 BB CC 05 28 9D | 129.97.24.194| R511.0128

2 | 08 BB CC 05 28 A4 | 129.97.24.191| R511.0127

3 | 08 BB CC 05 28 A5 | 129.97.24.189| R511.0129

4 | 08 BB CC 05 28 9F | 129.97.24.198| R511.0379

5 | 08 BB CC 05 28 9E | 129.97.24.197| R511.0123

6 | 08 BB CC 05 28 A3 | 129.97.24.195| R511.0378

Each networking card's interface can be reached by going to their IP address in a browser on campus, and entering the relevant password.

Note that incubator #2 is unreachable in the Celcius software. The IP responds to pings, and the network interface can be reached by going to the IP address in a browser, but Celcius cannot connect to it. There is probably a problem with the connection between networking card and incubator hardware.

In April 2014, Paul Miskovic and Tasker reconfigured the Incubator network so that it would work properly with the University of Waterloo network. The IP address for each incubator is statically assigned by IST right now, this seems to have stopped/considerably reduced the number of dropouts when monitoring with Celcius. As stated previously, incubator #2 is still not setup, the network card is properly connected to the network, and can be accessed at 129.97.24.191, but the incubator is not setup with the network card. This could be because of the frequent changes the networking card in incubator #2 has undergone.

A Memmert technician installed a new networking card, which Paul Miskovic and Tasker could not even get the university network to recognize, so that card was replaced by the older networking card (same exact model as all other 5 incubators). The card which the network would not even recognize is currently on the shelf above the Celcius-monitoring computer (Won's desk).

Interacting via Celcius

The IPs given above are currently entered into Celcius, but if you need to change the IP address of any machine, you'll need to let Celcius know before you try connecting. Under Settings->Options... you can add/change IP addresses. In the Options... window, click LAN... Currently, incubators 1-6 are set up as the corresponding LAN1-6. Note that Celcius has room for 16 LAN connections. If you'd like to tell Celcius that incubator #2 has a new IP address, select LAN2 from "Short Name" dropdown, and edit the IP address. Once done, click OK to exit each window.

Once the IP has been setup in Celcius, a connection can be made. From here temperature profiles can be launched. Establish a connection by navigating to Settings->Log-on Device. In the pop up window, select the Device No. you'd like to connect to (Incubators 1-6) and match the interface so that the correct IP is being accessed.

When the incubator is connected, a window will appear corresponding to it. In this window temperature series can be manually drawn in or loaded from a file. To load a tempering profile, navigate to File->Load Tempering Profile->From File... and select the tempering profile you'd like to run. You should now see the trajectory of the profile in the window corresponding to your opened incubator. To start the program running, simply click the green arrow in the toolbar, or go to Run->Start. If everything is setup properly, the incubator should say "USB" on it's interface, and after a short time you should begin to see a red line appearing on the cincubator tempering profile in Celcius, indicating the actual temperature in the incubator.

Generating Temperature Series

Up to now, temperature series have been created with a MATLAB script (on QNAP at '/Tasker/WonStats/Series'). See that file for instructions on using it to generate series.

Running a Temperature Series

Open Celsius
Go to Settings -> Log-on device. Select the incubator of choice (the incubator No. and corresponding LAN).
To load a temperature profile to run, go to File -> Load Tempering Profile -> From File. Select the appropriate profile file.
Go to Run -> Start
Select a location where the incubator thermometer temperature data will be saved, by clicking the `file` button under `Log file`. You may also select a start time.
To end the temperature series, go to Run -> Stop.
To export the temperature logged by the incubator and the original temperature series data in an excel file, open both files, must have both temperature profiles either open or on the same display graph. ( May have to open both. Go to File -> Load Tempering Profile -> From File. Select the appropriate profile file. Then go to go to File -> Load Protocol Data -> From File. Select the appropriate profile file, from its selected location in step 4).
Click the export data icon in the bottom toolbar. Select the time span and the columns you wish to include, then click 'ok'.
Save the file.

HOBOware

Launching HOBO

To begin temperature recording on your HOBO device:

Open HOBOware Pro Trial
Connect the HOBO via it's USB port. When the device is successfully connected "1 device connected' will appear in the bottom right hand corner of the window.
Click Device -> Launch. Select time to begin logging.

Uploading data

Open HOBOware Pro Trial
Connect the HOBO via it's USB port. When the device is successfully connected "1 device connected' will appear in the bottom right hand corner of the window.
Click on the 'Readout device' icon, found in the top left hand corner (second icon).
Change the temperature settings from Fahrenheit to Celsius.
Click `plot`.
Save the data.
Export data as an excel file by clicking the 'Export Table Data' icon on the tool bar. Save the csv. file generated.