B&W-tech Spectrometer & 473 module: Setup+Mods+Info

[Richard A]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

Hello everyone.

I discovered this forum while looking for more info on these units and thought I'd share my experience.
I bought several of these units, and although I was mainly interested in the spectrometers, I did
get two with lasers. I haven't played with the lasers much.

At first, I tried Mosc007's program on linux using wine, but the com didn't work right.
So, I wrote a quick little program in C to talk to the spectrometers and plot a graph using Gnuplot.

Here, with this spectrum of a CFL, you can see quite a bit of variation between these three spectrometers.
Baffles have been removed.








Here's a calibrated graph of a Hg lamp. I removed the order sorting filter since it attenuates light below 520 nm.
It's more like a low-pass filter right in the middle of the spectrometer's range.
The minute bumps are probably a result of the filter removal.
I did the mods with the spec upside down to minimize dust contamination.
Various calibration sources were used to help me generate a third degree polynomial.
It's fairly close but could be improved.









Also, if anyone's interested in good deals on spectrometers, I picked up one these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-6-O...425128?hash=item2cb73771a8:g:f1kAAOSwVKRaHZka
They work fairly well. Total spectral range is about 250nm to 1100nm which is covered by three spectrometers.
There is a redundant spectrometer for each range making a total of six spectrometers. I used a dsPIC MCU I had lying around to test them.


Edit: Fixed image link

-RA

 

[paul1598419]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

Yes, I have found that these B&W Tek spectrometers aren't calibrated to be the same from one unit to the next. Interesting deal on 6 S2000 spectrometers. Those are old. I suppose they could be a good deal, but I just don't need them. I do have OEM Ocean Optics software. Thanks for showing them here.

 

[Richard A]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

Yep, the PCBs have (c) 1998 on the silkscreen, and some of the chip date codes I can see are also 1998.
So, they're basically 20 years old.
They have a few warm pixels on long integrations.

That looks like a HP 1740 in your avatar.

 

[paul1598419]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

You've got a good eye. I love these HP scopes. Used them for years. This one I went through and it works like new.

 

[chloderic]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

I tested the spectrumboard outside of the device with an external 5 V= powersupply. Inner Pin + , all roger ....

 

[paul1598419]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

I tested the spectrumboard outside of the device with an external 5 V= powersupply. Inner Pin + , all roger ....

I thought you had seen that as I posted it in a much earlier post. I use an external 5 volt supply on all of mine. It seems to work great for powering these units. Yes, the center pin is positive on the mini plug.

 

[chloderic]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

today i played a little bit with the device and tried to calibrate it with 4 pointers from 405 to 650 nm, only tor test....
I wrote the calculated datas C0-C3 to the eeprom of the spectrometer and the software loaded them together with the given serialnumber out of the memory of the spectro the next time when it was started.
here attached a spectro from a ne-bulb , not perfect, but ... step by step ...

 

[paul1598419]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

I have suspected all along that these spectrometers had an EEPROM to write the calibration data to. My Ocean Optics works that way. I haven't got back into these B&W Tek spectros yet because I've had other projects take precedence over my time.

 

[Cyparagon]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

I gave up on these long ago, since I only have a fully functional one, and not a "fresh" pull. However, a source that wishes to remain anonymous told me the newer version of spectrum studio worked for him. Can anyone else confirm?

Spectrometer Resources - Science-Surplus

 

[jnrpop]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

I gave up on these long ago, since I only have a fully functional one, and not a "fresh" pull. However, a source that wishes to remain anonymous told me the newer version of spectrum studio worked for him. Can anyone else confirm?

Spectrometer Resources - Science-Surplus

I'll be getting my couple of units soon enough, Paul kindly removed the baffles and i'm keen to see if i can set one up. Not sure if anyone's done any further work getting a unit calibrated and running?

 

[paul1598419]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

Interesting. I have a version of Spectrum Studio, though I have done nothing with it yet. I have a couple other projects that are taking precedence. I'll take a look at the updated versions when I get back into these.

 

[chloderic]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

I gave up on these long ago, since I only have a fully functional one, and not a "fresh" pull. However, a source that wishes to remain anonymous told me the newer version of spectrum studio worked for him. Can anyone else confirm?

Spectrometer Resources - Science-Surplus

Yes, the science-surplus-software is working with this unit and you are able to calibrate it by writing the vars to the flash ....
Therfore my project raman-microspope for GEMs with this parts has the first results, but the parts i got from the seller from ebay (see at the first pages) were in bad conditions , third class......, for me it seem so that these parts were preselected "the REST" ..... ?

 

[paul1598419]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

So, you have concluded that the spectrometers from the eBay batch that we got with the 473nm lasers are in a condition less than optimal? I find that to be reprehensible as these were sold on the condition that the spectrometers were of top quality. If what you say is true, we were all scammed in order to sell these off to unsuspecting buyers.

I have been too busy with another project to get back into these again, but as soon as I have some free time I will get back into them. I found one spectrometer sent to me that had a dislodged focus mirror. It came along with another one for a member here and has been sent back to that member.

 

[Cyparagon]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

...the parts i got...were in bad conditions...

Can you be more specific?

 

[jnrpop]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

Can you be more specific?

I believe he is refering to the unit he recieved that had the dislodged shielding on the motherboard, and one of my units has a dislodged focusing mirror. The original seller has two types of listings, one "working", and the other "for parts". Its possible he is selecting the units he believes aren't in optimal shape and selling them under the "for parts" listing.

I've recieved my two units from Paul, both with baffles removed. One of my units like i mentioned has a broken focusing mirror so that unit was side lined, the other is up and running, talks to the "simple spec" software and the SpectrumStudio software that was kindly linked a few pages back :beer:

I noticed on this unit that my shielding on the motherboard is also missing, and that could cause a noisy reading on the software, ill fix that up and see where im at.

Lets keep the ball rolling

Decided not to double post so here's my edit :beer:

I got the Spec up and running, and using Moscs software which i have to say is great, so easy to use , did a run with a few w/l's. Heres the result, all overlapped using paint.exe :beer:

what are your thoughts?? The w/l's read well using the Spec, they are off but in the correct order which says something. The 632.8nm was a HeNe. I'd say just a calibration is in order, anyone know the best way to do one?

J

 

[jnrpop]

Re: B&Wtech 473nm unit / Spectrometer Mods & Info

the spectrometer setup alone is only $17us now :crackup:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fiber-Opti...007479?hash=item25ee3170b7:g:8CwAAOSwvu5ZytmF