Build Your Own Clone Message Board

with the two 1n4001's, with the other 1N34A in the jumper position. I obviously dont know what I am doing. and my friend convinced me to do so.

So, it worked for about 30 minutes. THEN, the next day when I plugged it in, it no longer worked.

Did I blow something else up?

I just last night replaced the Diodes correctly, with new 1N34A's, and the 1N4001 in the jumper position.

Now, it bypasses, the LED turns on, but there is just silence.

Any ideas?

I'm working on pictures, if anyone needs them....

Please and Thanks!

-M.A.

Yeah, post some pix!

A diode swap won't cause the pedal to go silent--there's something else going on. Definitely need to see photos.

I'm sure that I should have cut the Diode legs off better, but I couldn't find my snippers....

the pics are a bit small, but I don't see ANY 1N4001's on that board. Just one 1n914/4148 and a pair of what look like 1n34A's. I'm not familiar with this board, so I didn't look at the other components for proper placement, etc.

did you use lead-free solder? many (most) of your solder joints look pretty dull, rather than shiny like they should be. Have a look at the sticky called "Stephen's Tips for a Successful Build". Lots of great photos of what your soldering should look like. You may want to employ duhvoodooman's "shotgun" technique, and reflow all your solder joints to eliminate the possibility of "cold" joints. The good news here is, if it worked before, getting it to work again should be a piece of cake! good luck

Looks like you used 1N60's--also a germanium diode type, a wee bit different than a 1N34A. Definitely clip the leads off--they could short your signal if they touch a grounded surface. And bending the PCB up out of the enclosure to work on it can stress the wire connections at the edge of the board, so check to make sure that you haven't broken one of them.

BYOC no longer sells the 1n34a's, so they suggested I get the 1n60's.

and, I sure hope I used the right solder! that'd be some sort of disappointment if I didnt! haha.

well, let me see what I can do with these pieces of advice, and see what I get going.

Thanks so much.

So, putting the wrong diodes in initially, wouldn't have caused harm to any other components?

It appears as if everything seems pretty solid. to me, at least....

do both sides of the component holes in the board need to have solder on them?

Nope.

No. You just want to be sure that whatever side is soldered (generally the back), you have the eyelet hole completely filled with solder and the solder pad on the PCB completely covered. Exampe:

AWESOME! that might actually make a difference!


THANKS!

Ok, I resoldered just about every point on the board, and double checked the wiring and the components.

Still no luck.


Any other suggestions?


What would have made it stop working after using it for just that initial 20 minutes?

The wrong diodes would not have made a difference, someone said, up top, so is there anything else that might have>?


should I take some more, and better closer up pics?

please and thank you, guys!

Do you have a multimeter available to be able to check point-to-point circuit continuity?

And I still don't like those leads sticking out, they can short something and make the pedal non-functional...have you clipped them yet?

Yes, I clipped the leads now. I imagine that could be problematic, but nonetheless, it didnt help.

I do not have a multi-meter. I wouldnt mind going to buy one.

Can I get away with a cheap one? or should I make sure to get a decent one to ensure quality?

If you're sure you'll be getting some ongoing use from it, get a better quality one. But you might want to start with a "cheapo", which should certianly be adequate for this use. Harbor Freight has 'em for under $10.

ok, I got a cheapish $20 Radio Shack one.

Am I just checking for active energy of whatever measurement off of every single component? or is there something more specific that I should try?

Let's just make sure you have continuity in the signal path from the input jack to the signal in on the PCB, and from the PCB signal out to the output jack. With the footswitch engaged, use the DMM's continuity mode and place one probe on the input jack tip and the other on the IN eyelet on the PCB. Take a second continuity measurement with one probe on the output jack tip and the other on the OUT eyelet on the PCB. Report results back here and we'll decide the next step.

If your DMM cdoesn't have a continuity mode, turn it to the lowest range of the resistance settings (usually 200 ohm) and measure as described above. When there is good continuity between the two test points, the resitance reading is generally only a few ohms at most, and often only a few tenths of an ohm.

Here is a whole lotta pictures, that I hope might help....

....and yes. Both IN and OUT appear to be working just fine, in continuity mode.

To paraphrase a line from Crocodile Dundee, "That's not a picture....THAT'S a picture":



My point is that itty-bitty photos taken with a cell phone are of little use to us. We need to see be able to see detail. Photos should be large, well-lit, well-focused close-ups of the PCB, switches and wiring.

OK, now let's make sure you're not shorting the signal to ground somewhere. Test for continuity between ground (the metal enclosure itself should work well--I just stick one probe into one of the cover screw bosses) and either of the two jack tips. There should be NO continuity (i.e. infinite resistance) between them.

If that looks OK, then let's check the voltages on the opamp pins next. Set the meter to DC voltage (20V range if not an autoranging DMM), ground the black probe, and touch the red probe to each of the pins. The #1 pin has the square pad and is at top left. The rest of the pins are numbered going CCW around the perimeter of the chip:

1......8
2......7
3......6
4......5

Report the voltages here.

how do you get the photos so big!? is there a trick to it!?

I'll get out my other camera. I totally forgot it even existed.

Sorry!

ok, I am definitely not getting ANY reading from the opAmp, at all, whatsoever....


but yet, I wasnt able to decipher the entire instructions for the Jack Ground test.

I should ground the black, and touch the red to the Jack hole? the two labeled JACK?

I am getting a 0 Ohm reading, not infinite. is that right? or is that me doing it wrong?