ANY-maze Help > I/O devices supported by ANY-maze > The ANY-maze interface device family > The ANY-maze Synchronisation interface > Connecting an ANY-maze Synchronisation interface to your electrophysiology system and testing it

Connecting an ANY-maze Synchronisation interface to your electrophysiology system and testing it

Introduction

You can connect the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface ports directly to TTL compatible inputs and outputs on your electrophysiology system using a BNC cable.

In fact you can also use the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface ports as generic inputs and outputs although you should take care when doing this.

Testing

After you have connected your ANY-maze Synchronisation interface ports to your electrophysiology system, you will of course want to test them. This is easily done using the I/O page.

Open the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface in the list on the left side of the I/O page.

Select the interface's Output switches, again, in the list on the left side of the page (if there is no entry for Output switches it means none of the ports is configured to be an output.)

The right hand side of the page will show those ports that are configured as outputs, these will all be inactive (shown in red - see figure 1, below).

Click one of the ports and it will become active and will be shown in green. Check in your electrophysiology system that the input (to which the output is connected) is detected as being active.

Click the port again and it will become inactive. Check in your electrophysiology system that the input is now detected as being inactive.

If the electrophysiology system detects the outputs as being active when they are inactive and inactive when they are active, then you should change the output's active state using the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface configuration window.

If your electrophysiology system only seems to detect very short pulses when the output changes state, then it probably means it is either AC coupled (it should be DC coupled) or it is set to be edge triggered - refer to your electrophysiology system manual for guidance on how to address this.

Figure 1. Testing the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface outputs on the I/O page. Here ports 1 - 3 have been configured as outputs and ports 1 and 2 are active.

Having tested the output ports, you should then test any input ports. Again this is done using the I/O page.

Open the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface in the list on the left side of the I/O page.

Select the interface's Input switches, again, in the list on the left side of the page (if there is no entry for Input switches it means none of the ports is configured to be an input.)

The right hand side of the page will show those ports that are configured as inputs. These should all be shown as inactive (i.e. in red - see figure 2, below).

Do something in the electrophysiology system to make one of the ports active and check that it is then shown as active on the I/O page; when active it will be shown in green.

If the inputs are shown as active when they are inactive and inactive when they are active, then you should change the input's active state using the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface configuration window.

Figure 2. Testing the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface inputs on the I/O page. Here ports 4 - 6 have been configured as inputs and port 5 is active.

Using the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface ports as generic inputs and outputs

It is possible to use the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface ports as generic inputs and outputs although some caution should be exercised when doing this.

Inputs

The ANY-maze Synchronisation interface inputs are pulled up which means that if you connect a switch between the input and ground (i.e. between the central pin and shield of the BNC connector) then closing the switch will cause the input to switch from high to low - this can be used to interface levers, step down platforms, rocking floors, etc., to ANY-maze through the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface. Note that this is not the intended use of the interface and if this all you want to do, then you would do better to use the ANY-maze Digital interface which is designed expressly for this purpose.

Outputs

The ANY-maze Synchronisation interface outputs can provide 6mA of output current which means they can be used to drive low current LEDs, solid state relays, etc. If you want to use an output in this way then be very careful that you do not exceed the available current as the outputs do not include any current limiting and drawing too much current could damage the device. Note that this is not the intended use of the interface and if this all you want to do, then you would do better to use the ANY-maze Digital interface which is designed expressly for this purpose.

Connecting an ANY-maze Synchronisation interface to your electrophysiology system and testing it

Introduction

Testing

Using the ANY-maze Synchronisation interface ports as generic inputs and outputs

Inputs

Outputs

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