idle 454 ?

[geevom]

Hello 454 users,

I have few questions regarding saving power and operating 454 in an environment-friendly way

1. Is it wise to shutdown the idle 454 machines?
2. Does shutting down (in idle time) often, result in inconsistencies of sequencing runs?
3. Does it affect the lifespan and performance of the CCD Camera and laser beamer?

These questions also holds good for solexa machines as well.

Thank you in advance for your time and answers,

YK

[martin2]

I had a lot of similar questions around, it seems that the camera housing has some fitting which "might" be optimized for cooled temperature. The camera itself is an "ordinary" astronomical camera. ;-) When a machine is left in a package in room temperature (like a year or so) the vacuum will drop. However, Roche engineer can come and re-new the vacuum in there. Another reason I was told is that the 4 peristaltic pumps move all the time a bit back and forth. When turned off, maybe they will have a bit problem to move smoothly after startup, or the tubing will harden meanwhile and crack. The camera should not be creating much heat and the cooling is advantageous to minimize the noise while capturing data.

Personally, I doubt it matters.