Sutter instrument filter wheel controllers can run a wide array of devices. Using a Sutter 10-3 it’s possible to run 3 wheels, and 2 shutters. all on a single controller. now when it comes to connecting things, there is one way you can wire the shutters up that will cause damage to the controller. Ask me how I discovered this…:-)
So – normally, the reason one might have two shutters is to use one in the excitation wheel, and the second in the transmitted lightpath. With the excitation shutter, most people will have the shutter mounted inside of a wheel, so that there is only 1 cable connection required, to run both th shutter and the wheel. The second shutter is a bit trickier. Sutter provides a cable, (Part # CIQ-2) that allows a connection from the 25 pin (parallel) port on the 10-3, to the 9-pin shutter. This cable is normally too short for normal imaging applications.
How do we run an extension to the shutter? Well, using a standard (not a “Null Modem”) Male to Female Serial cable, we can connect one end to the 9-pin side of the shutter cable, and the other end to our actual smartshutter. The key here is that you CANNOT use a parallel extension cable, to connect between the 25-pin side of the CIQ-2 cable, and the sutter box. Doing this will blow out the shutter/wheel card in the 10-3 controller AND cause the controller not to boot, which I discovered after attempting this 🙂
I should note this is addressed in Sutter’s manual, but who reads the whole manual?!?!
– Austin