Merman signal issues

[Mr.H]

I had bought a tester kit from Fuzz Dog, and received it today.  I was excited, and got it put together.  I went to separate the main board from the switching board, and had accidently removed 3 trace pads from the PCB, and cut into a 1n5817.  I guess from this point I just need to buy another PCB and start over.

[jimilee]

I had bought a tester kit from Fuzz Dog, and received it today.  I was excited, and got it put together.  I went to separate the main board from the switching board, and had accidently removed 3 trace pads from the PCB, and cut into a 1n5817.  I guess from this point I just need to buy another PCB and start over.

Nah, run some jumpers, you'll be ok.


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[Mr.H]

Would I start from the lifted pad then go to the next pad in the same trace?

[jimilee]

Yep, whatever is disconnected, reconnect it.


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[Mr.H]

Good news!!! I was able to hook up the main board to my new "simple tester" board from Fuzz Dog, and the circuit works great!  I was also able to use the IC that I had replaced earlier without issue.  Also, none of the trace pads were removed, like I originally thought. 

I hooked up the main board to the switching board, and all the problems returned.  Not sure where to start with the switching board to resolve that.

Now I can say I truly appreciate "rock it before you box it!"

[jimilee]

If you haven't done anything to the switch board, check your values on your trannies, and reflow the solder, it should flow through the board, a lot of the pads look barren on the top side.


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[Mr.H]

I reflowed the solder joints, and tried using the pedal again, and still have the same problems.  Also, I started getting another problem with the pedal not engaging unless I had pressed on the switching board.  When it engages and works, there is a loud "ping" thru my amp that is produced.  Could these problems be because of the switching relay, or the MCU not working correctly?

I measured the trannies:

LP2950
1. 5.018
2. -0.6
3. 7.59

BS170
1. 13.6
2. -0.2
3. 0

J175
1. 0.5
2. 4.732
3. 0.1

[Mr.H]

Since I was able to test the main board successfully, I had thought maybe I could have burnt out something on the switching board, so I bought another board, and brand new components, and tried replacing it.  The pedal is still displaying the same behavior.  Not sure what to do next, or how to troubleshoot and resolve this in order to get a working pedal.  Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[Mr.H]

Anyone have any advice on how to resolve this issue?

[Aentons]

Pin 2 on the switch controller (IC1) looks a little crispy, not sure if that matters since the schematic shows it as disconnected. Are you using a new chip there too? Could you show us a picture of the new switch board connected to the effect board?

[Mr.H]

All the parts on the switching board are new, except the switch.
Haven't had time to get the pics yet, but I was wondering something; is it possible to use a 3PDT instead of the soft switch, and ditch the switching board all together?  The board operates successfully on my tester, but when connecting the SB, the pedal squeals when turning the knobs again.

[Mr.H]

So I put this issue on the shelf for a while and took some time to think this through.  I kept coming back to the fact that the circuit worked with the tester.  Since the problem was appearing when the switching board was connected to the circuit, I thought about replacing the switching board.  I got a 3pdt switch and a PCB for it and installed that.  The pedal now works normally.  Issue resolved.

[jimilee]

Nice!


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