Build Your Own Clone Message Board

So I finished the Compressor kit last night (ross spec) and the bypass works but if I hit the switch, no sound, no LED. But, after testing it out, I grabbed the box (without a bottom plate) and realized that the 9v battery was HOT! Is this happening because I shortened the wires from the battery snap to 1 inch long? That would make sense as to why the power is not getting to the circuit, or maybe too much power? Also, I'm not using the kit LED, I'm using a 5mm blue hi britness which is really bright. Thanks in advance.

Joe

Hi and welcome, Muse,
I don't think the length of your battery snap wires is the prob, but there IS a ground short somewhere. Have a fresh look at your wiring.

Good luck
Geek

_________________
Everyone likes sausage. Nobody wants to see how it's made.

OK, so I took another look and when testing it, I saw that the diode near the middle of the board (away from the other two diodes) was lighting up and getting super hot! This is not normal, right? I guess I'm gonna have to flip that around. Should this be the end to the problem, or do you still think it's a ground short, cause I looked and looked again at all the wiring and everything looks fine to me. It's so tough getting all this stuff crammed into such a small enclosure.

If the diode was lighting up as you say it's probably shot now.

_________________
"It’s your soldering."

Yeah, I'm gonna grab a pack of them from Radio Shack on my way home from work. So, since the diode was lit up, what does that mean? I can't see anything wired incorrectly in regards to power or the switch, so I'm stumped. I'm considering just re-doing all the wires to and from the board cause I did it in a weird way that causes all the wires to the pots to be squished together when it's placed in the enclosure.

Why don't you try getting it working outside of the enclosure first.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

By that, do you mean that the enclosure itself is causing a short?

It's a possibility. If you could post some photos of your build it might give us a better idea as to what the problem might be.

_________________
"It’s your soldering."

alright, I know it's been a while but I got fed up and put this project down for a bit. So I did what one of you guys suggested and tried it outside of the enclosure: still had that D1 diode blazing up.

I read on another thread a guy who had the same thing happen but because he plugged in a dc adapter instead of ac. Someone responded and said that what happened on his was that the power polarity was wrong so the diode acted as a fuse and lit up instead of the whole board frying.

So what is going on in mine then? I know that I have the battery and dc jack hooked up correctly. Could it be a board component? All the polarized caps are in correctly as well as the IC. I've taken the wires off of the end and re did them, same result. I'm at the end of my limited knowledge and need a clue. I tried taking pics but my digital camera can't get close enough to detail everything without getting blurry, sorry. Should I just go over all of the joints on the board again to make sure everything is soldered properly? Thanks.

I would go over the joints again, including the switch, the pots and the jacks.

You could try posting a pic as close as you could get it without it being blurry.

Did you swap out the D1 diode with a new one?

this was the best shot i could get. And forget about the solder side. I already redid the pots, jacks, and switch when I rewired the board. I guess I can replace that diode again, resolder all the component joints and try again?

I tried looking at the photo and it says the file no longer exists. Did you also install the power adapter? If you didn't the flow of the wiring is a little confusing to figure out and you may have flipped +/-. Replace the diode (make sure to orient correctly) and (i know you been over this and i'm sorry to be redundant) check the power wiring again.

if you copy and paste that link, it works for me.

Anyway, Knights', thanks for being so clear. I do know that it has to do with the power. I will try it with an adapter, but I have to get it from my practice spot tomorrow night. That would be awesome if that solved the problem cause I was planning on running it with a daisy chain like all my other pedals on my board.

I fixed the link to the pic for you.



The compressor looks to me like it is built to Dynacomp spec not Ross.

It is pretty hard to tell much of anything but the leads on the switch are too long. You want a little exposed wire as possible. That may not solve this particular problems but it is a good habit to get into.

yeah, i did change it to the dynacomp later cause I couldn't fix the real problem and I was bored. Thanks for the pointer on the switch, I do realize that that could cause some real problems if one wire touched the wrong lug. Thanks for fixing the pic, too even though it wasn't that great. I'm going to go over the board and replace the diode right now.

Ok, so I have no idea who or what the culprit was, but after replacing the diode and retouching each solder joint, it works! Except I had the pots wired backwards, so i flipped all the 1 and 3 wires for those and I had the led in backwards. So now, I'm going to swap out that resistor that limits the sustain pot cause I had that same problem that everyone else has with it getting weird in the last 1\4 turn of the knob. Thanks everyone for your input. I'll definitely be coming here next time I want an effect but it'll be awhile (boards full and wife is fed up). Take care.

Cool, congrats on getting it working. Enjoy!