Setting Up Electrical Bays

For WinEDR

The software is free and regularly updated. Download the latest version and its instruction manual here.

You will need:

  • An Amplifier e.g. Axopatch 200B (Molecular Devices)

  • 5 BNC cables

  • A digitizer e.g. a 1440A Digidata (Molecular Devices) OR an NIDAQ-MX with a BNC 2090(A) and the cable that connects them (National Instruments)

The manual describes how to connect the devices. Here is the short version, which aplies to using either of the digitizers mentioned above with WinEDR V3.3.4:

FIRST (Digidata 1440A only): install pClamp by inserting CD. Connect digidata to computer via grey USB cabel (Must go into a USB 1.1 socket, not 2,0). Insert Blue dongle into another USB socket. You can take the CD out now, but the dongle must stay.

1. Download and install WinEDR

2. Plug in the BNC cables as follows:

3. Select digitizer under Setup -> Laboratory Interface Setup

4. Assign and scale channels under Setup -> Input Channels & Amplifiers Setup. If Axopatch 200B is not on the menu (the 'B' is important) then you will need to select Manual gain entry and enter the scaling factors (see PDF for screenshot)

5. Check Holding Levels are set to 0 under Setup -> default output settings.

6. Open 'record to disk' and set Number of channels to 2 (see PDF for screenshot).

7. Run a protocol and check the values are correct.

For pClamp

1. Install Clampex 10.2 by inserting the pClamp CD. Connect digidata to computer via grey USB cabel (Must go into a USB 1.1 socket, not 2,0). Insert Blue dongle into another USB socket. You can take the CD out now, but the dongle must stay.

2. Set Plug in BNC Cables as follows:

3. Assign Channels and set scaling factors under Configure -> Lab Bench. The manual (attached below) has a very good guide for this if you're not completely sure.