diff --git a/site_ansto/instrument/util/config_edit.py b/site_ansto/instrument/util/config_edit.py
index a988e392..7cf77579 100755
--- a/site_ansto/instrument/util/config_edit.py
+++ b/site_ansto/instrument/util/config_edit.py
@@ -198,6 +198,8 @@ class InstConfigData:
     msg_index = 4
 
     def __init__(self):
+        self.file_parser = ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser()
+        self.config_filename = 'sics_config.ini'
         #configuration_dict: dict of instrument configurations as defined below,
         # {configname: {'enabled':T/F, 'cascade_list':[(option, dflt_imp)]} }
         self.configuration_dict = defaultdict(dict)
@@ -287,11 +289,11 @@ class InstConfigData:
                     print 'Add imp2opt_dict[{0}] = none'.format(sect)
                     self.imp2opt_dict[sect] = 'none'
 
-    def read_config_file(self, config_filename):
+    def read_config_file(self, **kwargs):
         """ Load and parse a sics_config.ini file """
-        self.config_filename = config_filename
-        self.file_parser = ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser()
-        self.file_parser.read(config_filename)
+        if 'config_filename' in kwargs:
+            self.config_filename = kwargs['config_filename']
+        self.file_parser.read(self.config_filename)
         self.__get_options()
         self.__get_implementations()
         self.__get_configurations()
@@ -317,7 +319,8 @@ class InstConfigData:
                 enabled = opt_desc['enabled'].__str__()
 
             self.file_parser.set(opt, 'enabled', enabled)
-            self.file_parser.set(opt, 'implementation', opt_desc['selected_imp'])
+            self.file_parser.set(opt, 'implementation',
+                                 opt_desc['selected_imp'])
             self.file_parser.set(opt, 'optype', opt_desc['imptype'])
 
         for config, config_desc in self.configuration_dict.iteritems():
@@ -593,7 +596,7 @@ def main(config_ini):
 
     # Make configuration data
     cf_dat = InstConfigData()
-    cf_dat.read_config_file(config_ini)
+    cf_dat.read_config_file(config_filename = config_ini)
 
     # Make configuration editor
     cf_man = InstConfigManager(cf_dat)