My instrument has returned after Certification service and my numbers seem different to what they were before?

If you find that your results are different since your instrument has returned from service, then there are a number of steps you can take to resolve this.

Firstly, do not panic. This is fairly common and is often resolved by checking your measurement settings and conditions.

Take note of the following:

1. Did you note your settings prior to Certification? They could be saved within your software measurement files. If you did not note your settings, this can be done in future HERE.
2. Measurement settings and conditions are important to receiving repeatable results as these settings define the conditions under which the sample is observed.
   You can read more about this in this blog.
3. During Certification, the software that is used, restores your instrument to the original factory settings needed for service. This is often different to how your instrument was set before.
4. Check that all settings are the same as they were before Certification. If they are not the same, change them to the previous settings and perform a measurement using your Green Tile and compare the results. If all settings are the same, the results will be remarkably close.

What are the measurement settings and conditions that need to be checked?

There are about a dozen different measurement conditions that will influence the results. Some of these we can change, while some are inherent in the device and cannot be changed.

For this topic, we only need to focus on the conditions that we can change. Typically, we need to check the following settings:

1. Measurement Type : Reflectance / Transmittance / Petri / Liquid
2. Measurement Area/Aperture : 30mm / 8mm / 3mm
3. Specular Component : Specular Component Included (SCI) / Specular Component Excluded (SCE) / SCI + SCE
4. Illuminant : D65 / C / F11 / A / D50 / …
5. Observer Angle : 2° / 10°
6. Colour Space Used : L*a*b* / L*C*h / Lab / …

One also needs to ensure that sample presentation and preparation follows a consistent process to create the most repeatable process.

It is also important to note that the measurement conditions and settings will change depending on the instrument and your own standards. Some instruments may offer more aperture sizes than others and some may not offer Specular Component settings.

How can the settings be changed if needed?

Settings can be changed on the instrument itself or using SpectraMagic NX software.

As the instruments might have different interfaces, how to find the settings changes depending on the instrument. Contact us if you need assistance in finding your measurement conditions.

If you are using software, follow these steps to find your instrument settings:

After opening SpectraMagic NX and connecting to the instrument:

• Click “Instrument” tab and open the “Instrument Settings” menu from the dropdown.
• Note the measurement settings or change them here is you know what the settings should be.
• Click “Data” tab and open the “Observer and Illuminant” menu from the dropdown.
• Note the observer and illuminant settings.

Tips and Hints regarding instrument settings:

• Always note your own settings before sending your instrument to our Narich (Pty) Ltd service centre – this is YOUR information and YOUR data. Narich is not responsible for knowing your settings.
• If you choose to book your instrument in for Service using our online form, it will ask you to note your settings. If you do this, our technicians will be able to revert the instruments back to their orignal settings. Please note that different samples require different settings and we will not be able to revert all of these. Please select the setting which is either most commonly used or was used when measuring the Green Tile.