Instruction manual

6 Input and Output 87
Figure 6-5: Burst of pulses separated by Inter Train Durations.
Constant
Voltage
Protocol
Selecting the Constant (voltage) option on the Stimulator page of the Preferences dialog
window disables the entry boxes for all stimulus parameters except Amplitude and Delay. When
the Record button is clicked, the voltage set on the Stimulator page is delivered to the low
voltage output of the WPI unit. The voltage output terminates when the recording is stopped.
Step Mode Step mode is used almost exclusively for voltage clamp protocols. In Step mode, the
amplitude of stimulator output can be increased or decreased in a step-wise manner, and the
user can specify the following parameters: Delay, Start Amplitude, Stop Amplitude, Number
of Steps, Step Width, Time off (or Inter Step Width), Repeat Count, Interprotocol Duration
and Holding Potential
Figure 6-6: The parameter boxes on the Stimulator page set for Step mode.
Building Output
Protocols in Step
Mode
The amplitude of each individual step in the protocol is determined by the DataTrax2 program
with the Starting and Ending Amplitudes and the Number of Steps entered on the Stimulator
page. The equation used to do this calculation is:
(
Start Amplitude - End Amplitude) = Voltage Increment
Number of Steps