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    How to change a setpoint and setpoint limits

    Changing setpoint and setpoint limits

    An Alicat can accept a setpoint from the front panel, a serial command, or an analog signal.  All you have to do is make sure the Alicat knows where to look for the setpoint.  Sometimes, you may want to limit the allowable setpoints to a specific range to avoid accidental tampering with an experiment.  The setpoint limiting feature on Alicat devices makes it possible to limit setpoints from all setpoint sources.

    See below for instructions on how to change a setpoint and set up these limits.

    Video

     

    Step-by-Step Instructions

    Tags:
    1. Press the bottom right button for “MENU” selection.
    2. Press the top left button for “CONTROL” selection.
    3. Press the bottom middle button for “ADV CONTROL” selection.
    4. Press the top left button for “SETPT SOURCE” selection.
    5. Use the up and down buttons to select your desired setpoint source.
    6. Press the bottom right button for “SET” selection.
    1. Press the top right button for “SETPT” selection.
    2. Use the up, down, and select digit buttons to set your desired setpoint.
    3. Press the bottom right button for “SET” selection.
    1. Press the bottom right button for “MENU” selection.
    2. Press the top left button for “CONTROL” selection.
    3. Press the bottom middle button for “ADV CONTROL” selection.
    4. Press the bottom middle button for “CONTROL OPTS” selection.
    5. Press the bottom middle button for “SETPT LIMITS” selection.
      1. USER MIN
        1. Press the top left button for “USER MIN” selection.
        2. Use the up, down, and select digit buttons to set your desired minimum limit.
        3. Press the bottom right button for “SET” selection.
      2. USER MAX
        1. Press the top right button for “USER MAX” selection.
        2. Use the up, down, and select digit buttons to set your desired maximum limit.
        3. Press the bottom right button for “SET” selection.
      3. Remove Limits
        1. Press the top middle button for “REMOVE LIMITS” selection.

    “Hello, I am Michael Whiteside, an application engineer here at Alicat Scientific. In this video, I am going to show you how to give setpoints to your Alicat device, as well as establish some setpoint limits. Now let’s get started.

    In order to give a setpoint to the device, we must first check the setpoint source. We do this by hitting menu (bottom right button), control (top left button), advanced control (bottom middle button), and set point source at the top left here. Now we see we have serial and front panel as well as analog. The serial and front panel is used to give setpoints over serial or just using the front display, whereas analog is used to give setpoints in analog control systems. Since we are just using the front display here, we will select serial and front panel (bottom right button for ‘set’).

    Go back to the main menu and we see the setpoint button in the top right. We will hit that, and we can give any setpoint within the 0-50 SLPM range. Say we would like to do 5 SLPM, we scroll up (top three buttons for ‘up’, ‘down’, and ‘select digit’) and hit set (bottom right button). Now we see that the setpoint is set for 5 SLPM.

    If we would like to establish some setpoint limits within this range, we will go to menu (bottom right button), control (top left button), advanced control (bottom middle button), control options (bottom middle button), and setpoint limits at the bottom (bottom middle button).

    Now what these limits do is it tells the device not to accept the setpoint if the setpoint is out of the range of these limits. Say the minimum we would like to set to 2 SLPM (top three buttons for ‘up’, ‘down’, and ‘select digit’ and bottom right button for ‘set’). The maximum we will set to say 30 (top three buttons for ‘up’, ‘down’, and ‘select digit’ and bottom right button for ‘set’).

    Now if a setpoint is given to the device that is outside of this range, the device will not accept the setpoint and come back with an error. Say we would like to send it 1 SLPM (top right button for setpoint) which was clearly outside of the range. The device will tell us that the setpoint is out of range.

    In order to remove these limits, we will go to menu (bottom right button), control (top left button), advanced control (bottom middle button), control options (bottom middle button), setpoint limits (bottom middle button), and we can just simply click remove limits (top middle button). Now the device has the 0-50 SLPM range again.

    That is how to properly send a setpoint, as well as establish setpoint limits on your Alicat device.”