Formats
Getting data out of your instrument
Four instruments, four export paths, and the same three traps in each: which layer you exported, which units you got, and whether the step markers agree with what the current actually did.
Instrument exports depend on software version, template and recording layer. Keep the original file and protocol, and verify the chosen text export before quantitative analysis.
Neware.ndax and .nda | Newer BTS versions write .ndax, older ones .nda. Export from the BTSDA client, picking the cycle range you need and the layer you actually want: record-level rows are the raw measurement, while step-level and cycle-level rows have already been aggregated by the instrument. Capacity columns are usually cumulative within a step and reset at step boundaries — check that on your own file, because the behaviour depends on the BTS version. Current may be in A or mA, and the sign convention for charge is not universal. |
Arbin.res and MITS Pro | Arbin storage and export formats depend on the instrument software generation and configuration. Confirm the source format and use the record-level measurement export where interval-level analysis is required. Distinguish cumulative test time from step time and retain schedule identifiers. |
MaccorMacView exports | The structure is straightforward; what bites is units and step handling. Current and capacity units depend on how the test was configured, and headers do not always state them unambiguously — a file in mA and a file in A look identical apart from a factor of a thousand, and the shape of the curve does not change. Schedules can end a step on several conditions, so segment from the current rather than from an expected pattern. |
BioLogic.mpr to .mpt | The text export opens with a long header block describing the technique and its parameters. Generic CSV readers treat that header as data unless you skip it explicitly, which yields a file that parses without error and is completely wrong. Keep the header: it is the closest thing to a machine-readable protocol any of these instruments will give you. Column names carry their units in the name itself. |
Verify
Three things to check whatever you exported
Record, step or cycle
Record-level measurements are needed to reconstruct interval-level quantities. Step or cycle summaries may answer summary questions but do not recover the original within-step trajectory. Verify the exported layer.
Amps, milliamps and the sign
Current units and charge/discharge sign conventions vary by export. Confirm both before integrating current or labeling segments.
Do they agree with the current?
Compare step markers with measured current and timestamps. If they disagree, check the protocol, sign convention, logging and segmentation thresholds before changing either record.
Start
Check your own export
The local check can flag structural issues after you confirm column roles and units. It does not verify the instrument configuration or the export against the original binary record.