How hot is too hot for the PCB on the V4 miniscope? And a bonus question about optimal length for relay GRIN lens

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Christopher Fields

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Apr 10, 2024, 6:22:59 PMApr 10

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Hey everyone,

We recently bought a pre-assembled V4 miniscope from OpenEphys and I am in the process of getting it up and running. I am noticing that the components on the PCB are getting quite hot and am wondering how much of an issue this is.

With an IR thermal camera, the hottest point (chip next to where the coaxial cable attaches) is reading 68° Celsius after just 5 minutes with the excitation light set at 50. This seems to be quite a bit hotter than what I have read other people describe as "pretty warm", and I'm worried about this causing damage to the scope especially during an actual experiment duration of >1 hour. Is this something I should be worried about, and does anybody have an idea of what might be causing it to get so hot?

I'm also wondering about the optimal length of GRIN relay lens relative to DV coordinates for subcortical imaging in mice. I know that it is generally recommended that the relay lens protrudes from the skull by 2-3mm to allow for the lens to be cemented in place, but is it an issue if the lens protrudes by a few more mm than this? Since we would then need to build up the base plate above the GRIN, I am wondering if the extra long lever arm/added torque that this situation would create would negatively impact the stability of the implant.