Ocean Optics Red Tide User Manual

Red Tide
USB650 Fiber Optic Spectrometer

Installation and Operation Manual

Document Number 170-00000-RT-02-1109

Offices: Ocean Optics, Inc. World Headquarters

830 Douglas Ave., Dunedin, FL, USA 34698

Phone [phone]
Fax [phone]

8 a.m.– 8 p.m. (Mon-Thu), 8 a.m.– 6 p.m. (Fri) EST

E-mail: [e-mail] (General sales inquiries)

[e-mail] (Questions about orders)
[e-mail] (Technical support)

Additional
Offices:

Regional Headquarters
Maybachstrasse 11
73760 Ostfildern

Phone [phone]
Fax [phone]
E-Mail [e-mail]

Ocean Optics Asia

666 Gubei Road, Kirin Tower, Suite 601B, Changning District,
Shanghai, PRC. 200336

Phone [phone]

Fax [phone]
E-Mail [e-mail]

Ocean Optics EMEA

Sales and Support Center
Geograaf 24, 6921 EW DUIVEN, The Netherlands

Phone [phone]

Fax [phone]
E-Mail

[e-mail]

Copyright © 2009 Ocean Optics, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from Ocean Optics, Inc.
This manual is sold as part of an order and subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or
otherwise circulated without the prior consent of Ocean Optics, Inc. in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

Trademarks

All products and services herein are the trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks or registered service marks of their respective owners.

Limit of Liability

Every effort has been made to make this manual as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty or fitness is implied. The information
provided is on an “as is” basis. Ocean Optics, Inc. shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or
damages arising from the information contained in this manual.

Table of Contents

About This Manual......................................................................................................... iii

Document Purpose and Intended Audience..............................................................................iii

What’s New in this Document ................................................................................................... iii

Document Summary..................................................................................................................iii

Product-Related Documentation ............................................................................................... iii

Upgrades....................................................................................................................... iv

Chapter 1: Introduction .....................................................................1

Product Overview .......................................................................................................... 1

Features ........................................................................................................................ 2

System Requirements ................................................................................................... 2

EEPROM Utilization .................................................................................................................. 2

About SpectraSuite.................................................................................................................... 3

Sampling System Overview....................................................................................................... 3

How Sampling Works............................................................................................................3

Modular Light Sources and Sampling Accessories ..............................................................3

Shipment Components .................................................................................................. 4

Additional Equipment Needed ....................................................................................... 4

Other Accessories Available.......................................................................................... 5

Chapter 2: Installing the Red Tide .................................................... 7

Overview ....................................................................................................................... 7

Red Tide Installation...................................................................................................... 7

Connect Spectroscopic Accessories.............................................................................. 8

Chapter 3: Troubleshooting..............................................................9

Overview ....................................................................................................................... 9

Red Tide Connected to Computer Prior to SpectraSuite Installation.............................. 9

Windows Operating Systems .................................................................................................... 9

Remove the Unknown Device from Windows Device Manager ...........................................9

Remove Improperly Installed Files........................................................................................10

Mac Operating Systems ............................................................................................................ 10

Linux Operating Systems .......................................................................................................... 11

170-00000-RT-02-1109 i

Table of Contents

Appendix B: Specifications...............................................................13

Overview ....................................................................................................................... 13

How the Red Tide Works............................................................................................... 13

Red Tide Components Table..................................................................................................... 14

Red Tide Specifications................................................................................................. 15

CCD Detector Specifications ..................................................................................................... 15

Red Tide Spectrometer ............................................................................................................. 15

10-Pin Accessory Connector Pinout .............................................................................. 17

10-Pin Accessory Connector Pinout Diagram ........................................................................... 17

10-Pin Accessory Connector – Pin Definitions and Descriptions.............................................. 18

Index ................................................................................................... 19

ii 170-00000-RT-02-1109

About This Manual

Document Purpose and Intended Audience

This document provides the users of Red Tide Spectrometers with instructions for setting up and
performing experiments with their spectrometer.

What’s New in this Document

This version of the Red Tide USB650 Fiber Optic Spectrometer Installation and Operation Manual
removes references to RS232 pins.

Document Summary

Chapter Description

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Installing the Red Tide

Chapter 3: Troubleshooting

Appendix A: Specifications

Contains descriptive information about the Red Tide
Spectrometer and how sampling works. It also provides a list
of system requirements, interface options, and shipment
components.

Provides installation instructions.

Contains recommended steps to isolate and correct common
problems.

Contains technical specifications and connector pinouts for the
Red Tide Spectrometer.

Product-Related Documentation

You can access documentation for Ocean Optics products by visiting our website at

http://www.oceanoptics.com. Select Technical → Operating Instructions, then choose the appropriate

document from the available drop-down lists. Or, use the
of the web page.

 Detailed instructions for SpectraSuite Spectrometer Operating Software are located at:

http://www.oceanoptics.com/technical/SpectraSuite.pdf.

 Detailed instructions for the Pasco Xplorer GLX are located at:

ftp://ftp.pasco.com/manuals/English/PS/PS-2002/012-08950F/012-08950F.pdf.

Search by Model Number field at the bottom

Engineering-level documentation is located on our website at

170-00000-RT-02-1109 iii

Technical → Engineering Docs.

About This Manual

You can also access operating instructions for Ocean Optics products from the Software and Technical
Resources

CD that ships with the product.

Upgrades

Occasionally, you may find that you need Ocean Optics to make a change or an upgrade to your system.
To facilitate these changes, you must first contact Customer Support and obtain a Return Merchandise
Authorization (RMA) number. Please contact Ocean Optics for specific instructions when returning a
product.

iv 170-00000-RT-02-1109

Chapter 1

Introduction

Product Overview

The Ocean Optics Red Tide Spectrometer is a preconfigured, off-the-shelf spectrometer where all of the
optical bench options such as grating, and entrance slit size are already selected. The red Tide can be used
with various Ocean optics spectrometer accessories, light sources and sampling optics to create
application-specific systems for various absorbance, reflection and emission applications.

The Red Tide is low-cost and has a small footprint, making it ideal as a general purpose instrument for
budget-conscious teaching and research labs. It has a wavelength range of 350–1000 nm and uses a
detector with 650 active pixels; that’s 650 data points in one full spectrum, or one data point per
nanometer.

Data programmed into a memory chip on each Red Tide includes wavelength calibration coefficients,
linearity coefficients, and the serial number unique to each spectrometer. Our spectrometer operating
software simply reads these values from the spectrometer — a feature that enables hot swapping of
spectrometers among computers.

The Red Tide Spectrometer connects to a computer via the USB port. When connected through a USB 2.0
or 1.1, the spectrometer draws power from the host computer, eliminating the need for an external power
supply. The Red Tide also interfaces to Pasco’s Xplorer GLX, a unique combination of datalogger and lab
analysis tool that eliminates the need for a computer.

The Red Tide, like all USB devices, can be controlled by our SpectraSuite software, a completely
modular, Java-based spectroscopy software platform that operates on Windows, Macintosh and Linux
operating systems.

Ocean Optics Red Tide Fiber Optic Spectrometer

170-00000-RT-02-1109 1

1: Introduction

Features

 Sony ILX511 linear silicon CCD array detector
 Responsive from 350 to 1000 nm
 Sensitivity of up to 75 photons/count at 400 nm
 An optical resolution of ~2.0 (FWHM)
 Integration times from 3 ms to 65 seconds (15 seconds typical maximum)
 Embedded microcontroller allows programmatic control of all operating parameters
 EEPROM storage for

 Wavelength Calibration Coefficients

 Linearity Correction Coefficients

 Other configuration parameters

 Low power consumption of only 450 mW
 12 bit, 1MHz A/D Converter
 2 programmable strobe signals
 24-pin connector for interfacing to external products
 Programmable for Standalone Operation
 CE Certification

System Requirements

You can use the Red Tide’s USB connectivity with any computer that meets the following requirements:

 Operating system is one of the following:

 Windows – 98/Me/2000/XP

 Apple Macintosh – OS X version 10.0 or later

 Linux – Red Hat 9 or later, Fedora (any version), Debian 3.1 (Sarge), and SUSE (9.0 or

later)

 Ocean Optics’ SpectraSuite software application installed and configured for use with the Red

Tide.

EEPROM Utilization

An EEPROM memory chip in each Red Tide contains wavelength calibration coefficients, linearity
coefficients, and a serial number unique to each individual spectrometer. The SpectraSuite software
application reads these values directly from the spectrometer, enabling the ability to “hot-swap”
spectrometers between computers without entering the spectrometer coefficients manually on each
computer.

2 170-00000-RT-02-1109