Miraculix Photometer Kit: Assembly Instructions

The Miraculix photometer kit is designed for customers to easily build their own photometer for use with the QTest kits. The photometer kit contains all of the parts needed and will be available to purchase from our EU stores soon!

For more information on using the photometer with the quantitative QTests visit: LINK HERE

Kit Contents: each kit contains the following parts

Cuvette Holder
Adafruit TSL2591 Light Sensor Board (with indicator LED disabled)
IO Rodeo 595nm LED board
8 x 10 mm long M2.5 Phillips head screws
8 x M2.5 thin-profile square nuts
PyBadge Enclosure
Adafruit PyBadge
200 mm PyBadge Cable
Mini Speaker
Battery Holder
4 x 20 mm long M2.5 Phillips head screws
4 x M2.5 hex nuts
50 mm flexible cable
4 x 20 mm long M3 Phillips head screws
4 x M3 hex nuts
Mini screwdriver
Cuvette Cap
6 x 1.5 mL disposable cuvettes
USB cable A/micro B

Step 1: Light sensor and LED assembly

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Step 1 uses the mini-screwdriver and parts 1-5

The cuvette holder has two different sides for mounting the light sensor and LED side. You can start assembly on either side.

Lie the cuvette holder flat with the sensor-side up
Place 4 of the square nuts into the slots on the side of the cuvette holder

Place the sensor board face down in the cutout
Place a screw into one of the corner holes in the sensor board and use the screwdriver to tighten the screw
Repeat until all 3 corner screws are in place

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TIP: Use a small piece of tape to hold the nuts in place in their slots until the screws are in place

Repeat these steps for the LED side using the LED boards and remaining 4 sets of nuts and screws

Images of the final Step 1 assembled part

Step 2: PyBadge assembly

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Step 2 uses the mini-screwdriver and parts 6-12

The first step is to attach the battery holder and mini-speaker to the back of the PyBadge. The PyBadge has two spaces indicating where to mount a battery and/or mini-speaker
Remove the paper backing from the back of the battery holder and stick it to the back of the PyBadge in the indicated "Battery" position
Insert the connector from the mini speaker into the PyBadge mini connector as shown in the image below. Remove the paper backing from the oval speaker and stick it to the back of the PyBadge in the indicated "Speaker" position

Insert the large connector on the 200mm PyBadge cable into the I2C connector on the back of the PyBadge

Place the assembled PyBadge into the PyBadge enclosure

Place the PyBadge cover over the PyBadge. Place a screw into one of the corner holes and an M2.5 hex nut in the recessed hole on the bottom. Hold the nut in place and use the screwdriver to tighten the screw. Repeat until all 4 corner screws are in place

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TIP: At this point you can remove the plastic protective screen cover. If you prefer to keep it on for now just lift the green tab over the PyBadge cover

Image of the final Step 2 assembled part

Step 3: Cuvette assembly

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Step 3 uses the mini-screwdriver, assembled parts from Step 1 & 2, parts 13, 14 & 15

Before mounting the cuvette it can be helpful to do some cable management. Loop the PyBadge cable twice to form a small loop from the additional extra cable

Next place the cuvette holder onto the enclosure in the orientation shown below with the sensor board facing the PyBadge screen. Also make sure that approx. 1-2 inches of PyBadge cable is sticking out through the gap

Next, place a 20mm long M3 screws into one of the corner holes and an M3 nut in the recessed hole on the bottom. Hold the nut in place and use the screwdriver to tighten the screw

Repeat until all 4 corner screws are in place
Connect the PyBadge cable to the connector on the sensor board as shown in the image below

Connect one end of the 50 mm flexible cable to the right-side connector on the LED board

Connect the other end of the flexible cable to the left-side connector on the sensor board

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TIP: Use the end of the screwdriver to push all 3 of the cables into their connectors to make sure they are fully inserted into their connectors.

Image of the final assembled photometer

That's it, you have finished assembly! The next steps are programming and adding the QTest calibration data, and you will be ready to start measurements.

Installing a battery

The Miraculix photometer can be powered by USB or a 3.7V lithium ion battery. To use the photometer without a battery, simply plug in the provided USB cable for power.

The kit does not include a lithium batteries so you will need to purchase one if you want to use the photometer as a standalone instrument. These are readily available from Adafruit and Sparkfun. We have listed some options below.

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When choosing a 3.7V lithium battery, make sure it has a 2-pin JST-PH connector and that the polarity of the battery is correct. The polarity of the battery should match the Adafruit battery (Adafruit Product ID: 4236) shown above. Other battery brands may have reverse polarity and connecting a battery with reverse polarity can damage/destroy the battery.

Recommended battery for the Open Colorimeter

The battery we use regularly is the Adafruit 3.7V 420 mAh lithium ion battery.

This can be purchase directly from Adafruit or these other retailers:

Other retailers

To find a retailer in your area, visit the Adafruit distributo page and find the stores in your location. Search for "3.7V lithium ion battery". Below are some battery retailers from the official Adafruit distributors page:

Installation Instructions

Connect the battery and insert into the battery holder as shown in this image.