Liquid calibration
Solenoid valves connected to each behavior port (we recommend these for their fast action) can gate the gravity flow of liquid reward from an elevated reservoir to the test subject below. When writing your protocol, you might want to deliver a 5µl of liquid reward to a mouse - but how long should you open the valve to achieve this? The GetValveTimes() function will solve this for you, by reading from a calibration curve you create. Here's how to create and manage calibration curves:
Step 1: Launch the calibration manager.
From the Bpod console, click "Settings" (the wrench icon). You will see a settings menu:
Next, click "Liquid reward calibration" (the faucet icon on the far left)
You should now see the calibration manager:
In the left list box, you can select one of the 8 valves to view its measurements and calibration curve in the right panels.
The "Plus" button will manually add a new amount to be measured. This will appear in red as a "Pending measurement".
The "Minus" button will permanently delete the selected measurement.
The "Suggest Points" button prompts you for a liquid amount range of interest, and automatically adds the best pending measurements:
The "#Pulses / measurement" button allows you to specify how many pulses will be delivered for each measurement. Larger numbers of pulses reduce measurement error, especially when calibrating for small liquid quantities.
The "Measure Pending" button delivers pulses from each valve that has a pending measurement. You should capture the water dispensed from each valve in a separate weigh boat. When dispensing is complete, the software prompts you to measure each boat on a laboratory balance, and enter the resulting liquid weights. It then updates the calibration curve.
The "Test curve" button delivers 100 test pulses of a size you select from a valve you select, prompts for the resulting weight, and indicates whether the measurement is within a selected tolerance:
