Measuring Voltage

The Miniscope v4 has a required operating voltage as specified in the following table.

Parameter	Value	Min	Max	Unit/ Type
Supply Voltage	4.2	3.8	5.5*	Volts

Warning

*Do not exceed 5.5 VDC at the coaxial input to the miniscope. Make sure you make this measurement at the miniscope as explained below to account for a potential voltage drop in the tether. Exceeding this voltage can permanently damage the miniscope.

Note

The lowest voltage that provides stable functionality should be used to avoid excessive heating of the electronic components.

The supply voltage required at the Miniscope DAQ to maintain the miniscope within its operating range depends on the user’s setup and settings configuration such as tether length and diameter and LED brightness. The 5V supplied by USB power should be sufficient in standard calcium imaging applications (maximum LED Brightness setting of 50) with the standard 1.1 mm diameter mini-coax tether of 1.5 m in length supplied by Open Ephys. Longer or thinner tethers, or non-standard settings such as high LED brightness can require externally adjusting the power supplied to the Miniscope DAQ, as discussed in the External Power section, while carefully monitoring the voltage at the miniscope as explained below.

To determine the supply voltage reaching the miniscope, power the miniscope and use a multimeter to probe the two points marked below: the ground pad and the voltage supply pad.