Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hello, all!

I built a BYOC Trem pedal and am having a strange problem. Everything works great when the battery AND the ac are attached. However, if I take the battery out and use only ac the pedal does nothing. No lights, nothing. Any ideas?

Thanks a ton.
a

the jack is most likely wired incorrectly. the riveted terminal is ground, the next clockwise is the 9v from the adapter, next clockwise is the battery return. if your ground is good, try switching the other two.

+1 on above!

I solved that problem to the source with my builds, no battery snap.....

thanks so much everyone! i'll check it out

thanks again,
anna

anna huh? sup

haha.. sorry

Simmer down, Spanky.

The last girl that hung here was named Anna as well. Weird.

i tend to frequent boards where females are few and far between. in no way was i creepin. inside joke with myself, heh.

I know you were joking....I was joking about your joking.

And yes, females are few and far between here, too. Sadly, bass players out number women here.

Well, there's a stunning revelation!

That is real bad................

i was joking because i knew you were joking about my joking, just wanted to make sure the lady knew i was joking.

lol that was quite the tangent there...
now I feel bad, representing the minority as incompetent in the ways of the tremolo! :/

So, I switched the leads and that wasn't the answer. Now I'm back to my original problem. Any other ideas? I can post more pictures if that would help.

Thanks to all for any ideas!
anna

maybe some better pics of the 9v jack and input jack. and thier corresponding connections to the board

I should clarify: I can post more pictures of the trem pedal

you'll fit in here just fine, ha

photos galore!

and yes, that is electrical tape. no, i don't want to talk about it.

last one

Ok the way the jack is wired now in the pic above is correct. Let's go from there. The shots of both sides of the board are a little blurry, so it's hard to say for sure, but a quick glance shows all caps and transistors oriented correctly and in the correct locations (well, assuming the transistors are in the correct locations - there are two each of two different trannies). THe board soldering looks, again from the fuzzy pic, okay. The jack soldering though - and I know its definitely tougher to get right than with the board - looks less so. Nice and shiny anyway, so it appears youre getting enough heat in, but you're using too much solder. Those blobs like thatmake it tougher to know if you have a good connection or not. I'd reflow those and in the process remove some of the solder. Do you have desoldering braid, or a solder sucker/bulb?

so its working fine when both the ac and battery are installed, nothing if you take out the battery. what about when you remove the ac adapter?

i'm sure its not, but the pic makes it look like battery return could be hitting the ground rivit on the ac jack.

^good catch. Even if it's not, it looks like it might be close enough there that when installed in the enclosure could move around and ground out.

is it just me or is this an odd symtom? almost like the battery and ac are in series. i don't know what it could be other than a short since the audio path does work. I'm super noob at troubleshooting pedals as i am only a few months in, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

are you using the proper polarity on the ac adapter? just trying to eliminate the variables.

Hello, all!

Apologies for the delayed response, I was in the midst of flying back overseas for my second semester of my Master's.

Now that I'm settled back in I thought I should send an update: after a suggestion from one of my professors, I connected the 9v and battery return terminals, first by alligator clip and then actually wiring. I don't know enough to eloquently describe why he thought this would work (something about drawing power from both the ac and the 9v simultaneously?) but I do know enough to say that it solved the problem and the pedal now works as intended.

Does this make any sense? Although I feel as thought I've cheated my way around this problem, at least the damn thing works for now.

Again, I can't thank you enough for your help and kindness!
sincerely,
a

P.s. getting that thing through international airport security was *quite* the experience! A couple of tips for anyone attempting this (this is my experience, so please follow suggestions at your own risk):

1. I decided to put the pedal in my carry-on luggage. I've heard stories of people recommending putting it in checked luggage with a note and documentation, but I wanted to be able to explain the thing to people if need be. I packed it with everything put together, loosely screwed, with all of the documentation/instructions. NO BATTERIES!!

2. Find a TSA person at every security check, pull them aside, and tell them you're traveling with a guitar pedal and if there is anything you need to do for security. No need to tell them it's homemade unless they question you further.

3. Send it through the scanners outside of your luggage (e.g. with your laptop or shoes).

4. Be a girl, apparently. You'll find yourself in amazing situations such as:

Me: Hi! I'm traveling with a guitar pedal, do I need to do anything special for security?
TSA guy: Oh really? What kind of guitar do you play??
Me: Uhh...I don't, actually, I made it as a present for someone.
TSA guy: NO WAY. How did you do that??
Me: Um...lots of patience and soldering?
TSA guy: WOAH. You need to teach me how to do that sometime!!
Me: *blank stare* Riiiighhhhht...

I also had the lovely experience of being flagged for item inspection, and the man that was called over to inspect the pedal actually didn't see it and proceeded to assume that he was supposed to test my hand lotion for chemicals. It was amazing. I just smiled, scooped everything up as quickly as possible, and hoofed it out of there.

Anyway, hope that is helpful for someone in the future.

ah, the TSA. Keeping us safe from hand lotion, and ignoring home-made electrical devices. I feel better already!