The high voltage control interface is designed to load user values into its local data base from either a text file or user input. The local database serves as a check buffer to ensure that only those channels corresponding to the selected detector are affected by voltage commands, as well as to ensure that requested voltages do not exceed control limits and correspond to the correct polarities of the 1443/1444 high voltage cards.
To load a voltage file from disk use the ``(L) Load File'' menu option. A dialog box will appear to allow for input of a valid file name.
The configuration file is self documenting and consists of lines for each channel listing the mainframe number, high voltage card slot, high voltage channel, demand voltage, backup voltage and current trip limit. This format is shown below:
################################################# # This is an input file for HV1440 voltages # Format of the file is: # # # 1 3 12 1232 1232 1 # | | | | | |- Trip Limit # | | | | |- Backup Voltage # | | | |- Voltage # | | |- Channel # | |- Slot # |- Mainframe # # Lines starting with a pound # character are treated as # comments # # Begin Voltages # # Mainframe 1 - HV Card 8 1 9 0 -1200 -1500 0 1 9 1 -1200 -1500 0 1 9 2 -1200 -1500 0 1 9 3 -1200 -1500 0 1 9 4 -1200 -1500 0 # END OF FILE #################################################
Once a set of voltages is loaded from a file into the local database, it must be programmed into the actual Lecroy 1440 before any voltage changes are registered. This behavior is designed to prevent accidental changes to the detector voltages and allows for local database checks to prevent requested voltages from exceeding hard limits1.3
Once a file has been loaded it can be programmed into the 1440 mainframe by using the ``(P) Program 1440'' option from the main menu. For each channel set in the local database, the control interface will sequentially go through and first reset the demand buffer for that channel to zero and then reprogram the new value into the demand buffer. When reprogramming is complete, if the current power state of the 1440 mainframe is OFF, the control interface will prompt the user for whether to turn on the high voltage for all channels.
Note: This prompt is only displayed if the mainframe is OFF. Turning on power will affect ALL channels of the 1440.