STEP 1

Unboxing your EPOC Flex kit

Remove the sleeve from the box. When you open the box, you will find the following:

EPOC Flex controller
Universal USB receiver dongle
FlexCap
Sensors (gel or saline)
Micro-B to USB charging cable
Tagger tool, pins and cable ties
80 x felt pads (saline only)
34 x silicon skirts (saline only)
Earclips (gel sensors only)

STEP 2

Charging your EPOC Flex controller

Your EPOC Flex controller is charged and tested before shipping — so you can start using it straight away.

To charge your EPOC Flex, plug the USB charging cable into the USB port located on the bottom of the controller. Then, connect the other end of the USB charging cable to a power outlet or PC/Mac.

STEP 3

Inserting the sensors to the FlexCap

Find the hole that you would like to position your sensor on the FlexCap. Stretch the material so that it’s taut, then allow the sensor body to pass through the hole from the outside of the FlexCap and then let the material go so that it goes slack and fits in the groove. Repeat this step for each sensor placement.

STEP 4

Positioning control box on the FlexCap

There are two places on the FlexCap that the EPOC Flex can be positioned – at the top (Cz) or at the rear (lz) on the FlexCap.

If you’re doing a sleep study or your participant needs a headrest (e.g. they use a wheelchair), we recommend that you position EPOC Flex at the top (Cz) of the FlexCap.

Securing the control box in place

With the EMOTIV logo facing outwards and the on/off switch and USB port at the bottom edge, feed the controller into the pouch and then stretch the large hole in the fabric around the groove of the circular part of the control box. Doing this will secure the control box in place and give you access to the power button and USB port.

STEP 5

Tidying the sensor wires

Once you’ve inserted all of the sensors into the FlexCap, we recommend that you use the tagger pins and tagger tool to tidy up the wires by ‘sewing’ them into place. Another option is to place another FlexCap over the top of the wires to keep them secure.
Securing the wires in place will reduce any movement artefacts from being picked up by the sensors.

STEP 6

Connecting the wires to EPOC Flex

Insert the white connector, attached to all the red wires, into the port on the right-hand side of EPOC Flex.
Repeat this process for the blue wires on the left-hand side of EPOC Flex.

STEP 7

Turning you EPOC Flex on

To turn your EPOC Flex on, press and hold the power button for two seconds.

STEP 8

Connecting your EPOC Flex

Plug the USB receiver dongle into your computer or EMOTIV Extender. One LED will light up on the USB receiver dongle.
Next press the power button on your EPOC Flex. The LED next to the power button will turn blue. A second LED on the dongle will start flashing — indicating connection / data transmission.

Different steps for saline or gel sensor set up start here. Please choose:

Saline sensors
Gel sensors

STEP 9

Hydrating the saline sensor felts

Before you start a recording session, you’ll need to hydrate the sensor felts before fitting them to the FlexCap.

To hydrate the sensor felts you’ll need:

a glass; and
saline solution.

Then follow these steps:

Place the sensor felts into a glass and then soak them with saline solution.
When they are fully hydrated, squeeze each one gently to remove any excess fluid.
Fit the hydrated sensor felts into the sensor locations on the FlexCap.

STEP 10

Fitting the FlexCap to your participant’s head

Fitting the FlexCap to your head is similar to a swimming cap.
Start by placing the front of the FlexCap over your participant’s forehead, then stretch it to the back of their head, pull it down and insert their ears through the ear holes.

When fitting the FlexCap, always make sure that the rear pocket is at the back of your participant’s head.

Always ensure that position Cz is in the middle of the FlexCap and the sensors are symmetrical.
Positions Fp1 / Fp2 on the FlexCap should be directly above the eyebrows.

STEP 11

Setting up the saline sensors

Saline sensors can dry out while you’re fitting the FlexCap to your participant’s head. This is due to absorption from your participant’s hair and scalp. To ensure the best contact quality during your recording session, please follow these steps.

When the FlexCap is fitted to your participant’s head and you’re ready to start recording, you must do the following:

Open the contact quality map in EmotivPRO and ensure that your EPOC Flex is connected.
The contact quality map will show you the contact quality for each sensor. Each sensor should show as green on the contact quality map. Starting with the references DRL/CMS, top up sensors with saline solution (as required) until each sensor turns green. The contact quality should be 100% and green on all channels.

If the sensor felts dry out during your recording session, or you have a long recording session, you can re-hydrate them through the hole at the top of the sensor.

When you see the contact quality change from green to orange in EmotivPRO, it’s time to top-up the saline solution.

STEP 9

Fitting the cap to your participant’s head

Fitting the FlexCap to your head is similar to a swimming cap.
Start by placing the front of the FlexCap over your participant’s forehead, then stretch it to the back of their head, pull it down, and insert their ears through the ear holes.

When fitting the FlexCap, always make sure that the rear pocket is at the back of your participant’s head.

Always ensure that position Cz is in the middle of the FlexCap and the sensors are symmetrical.
Positions Fp1 / Fp2 on the FlexCap should be directly above the eyebrows.

STEP 10

Setting up the gel sensors

To hydrate the gel sensors, you’ll need:

isopropyl alcohol;
cotton buds;
abrasive gel (optional);
electrolyte gel; and
a syringe with a blunt needle.

When the FlexCap is fitted to your participant’s head and you’re ready to start recording, you must do the following.

Open the contact quality map in EmotivPRO and ensure your EPOC Flex is connected.
To prepare your participant’s skin for the gel sensors and to minimize skin contact impedance, use a cotton bud to move your participant’s hair away from the sensor opening so it can make good contact with the scalp.
Clean the skin below the sensor opening with a degreasing agent, such as isopropyl alcohol. To do this, dip a cotton bud into isopropyl alcohol, then degrease the skin by rotating the cotton bud inside the sensor opening.
This is an optional step but doing it will improve contact quality. Dip another cotton bud into the abrasive gel, then gently rotate on the skin so that it abrades the skin in that sensor location. Take care not to rub the skin too hard.
Once you’ve cleaned and abraded your participant’s skin, you then need to fill a syringe with electrolyte gel. When you’ve filled the syringe with electrolyte gel, insert the syringe tip into the sensor opening and fill the gap between the scalp and sensor completely with electrolyte gel. Start by filling the CMS and DRL sensors with electrolyte gel first. You should see the contact quality map in EmotivPRO turn green for these sensors.

Repeat steps 2-5 for each sensor placement. Once you’ve prepared each sensor, check the contact quality in EmotivPRO. The contact quality should be 100% and green on all channels.