{"id":2507,"date":"2018-12-18T18:07:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T02:07:13","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-01-07T11:34:30","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T19:34:30","slug":"2507","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/2507","title":{"rendered":"How can I use a photogate to count events?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A photogate can be used to simply count blocking events. This is useful for counting the number of rotations of a wind generator or motor or for counting events in an animal behavior experiment.<\/p>\n<p><b>INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING A VERNIER (BTD) PHTOTGATE<\/b><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/product\/photogate\/\">Photogate<\/a> (<nobr>VPG-BTD<\/nobr>)<\/p>\n<p><b>Logger <i>Pro<\/i> 3<\/b><br \/>\nTo set up a Vernier Photogate to count blocking events, first set the photogate up in Photogate Timing mode. Choose <b>Set Up Sensors<\/b> from the <b>Experiment<\/b> menu and select your interface. In the Sensor Set Up window, click on the photogate and select Photogate Timing mode.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"border\" src=\"\/files\/til\/images\/2507-gate_mode.jpg\" alt=\"2507-gate_mode.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Next, choose <b>New Calculated Column<\/b> from the <b>Data<\/b> menu. Name the column &#8220;Count&#8221; and insert the equation <i>sum(&#8220;GateState&#8221;)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"border\" src=\"\/files\/til\/images\/2507-calculating_counts.jpg\" alt=\"2507-calculating_counts.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To see the value for the count during the experiment, choose <b>Meter &gt; Digital Meter <\/b>from the <b>Insert<\/b> menu.<\/p>\n<p>Note: While using LabPro, data collection sometimes ends prematurely. As a workaround, manually set up the sensor as a Radiation sensor. This sensor configuration produces a column for counts.<\/p>\n<p><b>LabQuest App<\/b><br \/>\nThe LabQuest App does not have a <i>sum()<\/i> calculation, like Logger <i>Pro<\/i> 3 does. Consequently, the closest data-collection method is to manually set up the photogate as a Radiation Monitor.<\/p>\n<p>From the Sensor screen in the LabQuest App, choose <b>Sensor Setup<\/b> from the <b>Sensors<\/b> menu. The app will already show that a photogate is connected to the appropriate DIG port. Switch it by tapping on the field and selecting <b>Radiation Monitor<\/b> from the drop-down menu. Tap <b>OK<\/b> to return to the Sensor screen.<\/p>\n<p>The Radiation Monitor default data-collection method records counts during the specified data-collection duration. Change the data-collection parameters, as necessary.<\/p>\n<p><b>Graphical Analysis App<\/b><br \/>\nGraphical Analysis does not have a <i>sum()<\/i> calculation, like Logger <i>Pro<\/i> 3, nor does it allow you to set up a photogate as another sensor like the LabQuest App. The best you can do is export the data as a CSV file and use a spreadsheet to investigate the photogate Gate State data (used in all photogate collection modes).<\/p>\n<p>To export the data, choose Export form the File menu and select .CSV. Save the file to the desired location. The exported file can be opened in a spreadsheet application for further analysis.<\/p>\n<p><b>Instructions for a Go Direct Photogate (GDX-VPG)<\/b><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/product\/go-direct-photogate\/\">Go Direct<sup>&reg;<\/sup> Photogate<\/a> (<nobr>GDX-VPG<\/nobr>)<\/p>\n<p><b>Graphical Analysis App or LabQuest App<\/b><br \/>\nWhen using Go Direct Photogate, you will need to set up the sensor to use the <b>Gate 1 &#8211; Gate State<\/b> sensor channel.<br \/>\n1. Launch Graphical Analysis or turn on your LabQuest 2.<br \/>\n2. Connect the sensor to your device via USB or wireless Bluetooth connection.<br \/>\n3. Change the default sensor channel setup so that <b>Gate 1 &#8211; Gate State<\/b> is the only channel selected.<br \/>\n4. Adjust the data collection mode to Time Based.<br \/>\n5. Set the End Collection Duration as needed for your experiment.<br \/>\n6. Collect data as desired.<br \/>\n7. From the File menu, select to Export data as a CSV file (Graphical Analysis) or Text file (LabQuest App). The exported file can be opened in a spreadsheet application for further analysis.<br \/>\nAlternatively, you can export a AMBL file (Graphical Analysis) or save a QMBL file (LabQuest App) for use with Logger <i>Pro<\/i> 3.<\/p>\n<p>Related TILs:<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/til\/3328\/\">How do I set up wired Vernier Photogates (VPG-BTD) for data collection with Logger <i>Pro<\/i> 3?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/til\/3329\/\">How do I set up wired Vernier Photogates (VPG-BTD) for data collection using LabQuest App?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/til\/4313\/\">How do I set up wired Vernier Photogates (VPG-BTD) for data collection using Graphical Analysis and Graphical Analysis Pro?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/til\/4314\/\">How do I set up a Go Direct Photogate to collect data using LabQuest App?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/til\/4315\/\">How do I set up a Go Direct Photogate to collect data using Graphical Analysis or Graphical Analysis Pro?<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A photogate can be used to simply count blocking events. This is useful for counting the number of rotations of a wind generator or motor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1698,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4175,4176,4177,1281],"class_list":["post-2507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-counts","tag-events","tag-gdx-vpg-gdx-pg","tag-vpg-btd"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1698"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vernier.com\/til\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}