Miniscope V4 Coaxial Cable Tangling During Recordings

[Shion Yuki]

Hi all,

I noticed that the Miniscope V4 coaxial cable tends to get tangled during behavioral and neural recordings in freely moving animals. By the end of the 10-minute session, the animal was even starting to be lifted up because of the cable tension. Since I’m planning to use three chambers and run longer recordings in the future, I’m hoping to find a good solution for this issue.

Thank you!

Shion

[Daniel Aharoni]

Hi Shion,

There are now quite a few good commutator solutions for the Miniscope. I would highly suggest checking out OEPS's no-torque commutator (https://open-ephys.org/commutators/coaxial-commutator) as I have only heard great things about it. LabMaker also sells a commutator that should work, https://www.labmaker.org/products/open-mac-commutator.

We have also used a range of passive commutators in the past from DragonFly (I don't think they sell them anymore) and some DIY options.