Crack Speedball upgrade help.

[kt3z]

That picture is has the 6080 tube inserted, when i take the 6080 off no LEDs on the big PC board turn on, I was just trying to show you the 3 LEDs that aren't on.

With just the 12AU7 i have the three LEDS on the 2 smaller PC boards, but one of them is off. If you look at the picture, in the bottom left, only one of the two LEDs are on on the small PC board.

 I know i placed all the LEDs in the right direction, so its either soldering or mixing up the resistors.

Also what do you mean by the LEDs on the socket

[Paul Birkeland]

Also what do you mean by the LEDs on the socket

There are two LED's on the 9 pin socket.  They will help indicate what might be going on.  Is one glowing much more brightly than the other?

[kt3z]

they seem to be about the same brightness on the 9 pin socket

[kt3z]

Are the LED's on the socket glowing?  If so, I would be suspicious that you've switched the R1 resistors between the two boards.

-PB

I did not switch the resistors; I've checked the ohms and they match up to what the directions say they should be. I even checked them all individually to see if maybe i just switched two of them, but it all checks out fine

I did not switch the transistors as I've checked the writing on it

Not all of my LEDs are on, and i assume they are supposed to be? On the Main PC board, one of the LEDs is extremely bright, the one above it off, and the two other on the other side are significantly less bright than the first one stated.

also i don't know if this helps, but most of my voltages are now reading around 70 with both the 12AU7 and 6080 plugged in it reads:

1- 75

2- 70 (incorrect, should be 170)

4- 73 (incorrect, should be 170)

5- 74

7- 60 (incorrect, should be 100)

9- 63 (incorrect, should be 100)

13- 76 (incorrect should be 170)

15- 129 (incorrect should be 185)

21- 195

[Paul Birkeland]

they seem to be about the same brightness on the 9 pin socket

With just the 12AU7 in the socket, having ~180V on terminals 1 and 5 combined with glowing LED's on the 9 pin socket is almost always switched R1 values (sending 30mA through a 12AU7 at 1.5V of bias gives you about 180V of plate voltage).

If that is not the case, then check the actual wiring of the boards to the terminal strips.

DO NOT plug the 6080 back in yet, this is just camouflaging the first problem that we need to resolve.

[kt3z]

Im sorry that i keep plugging in the 6080 I'm just excited to use it.  but the R1s are not switched, I can read a clear 31.2 and 31.4 on both of the R1s on the main PC board.  but the smaller pc boards are reading around 180-190 for about 2 seconds, then drop to 0. Still reading a 180 on both 1 and 5 with only the 12AU7 in.

Ive checked the wiring multiple times, and again. I basically have it memorized from the amount of time I've checked it. Again, one of the LEDs on the small PC board is off, just above the circular 2n2907

[kt3z]

 

 now 1u and 5u are at 0 voltage and 2u and 4 has a voltage of 245, and none of the LEDs are on on the 9 pin, which i probably shouldn't have touched but i messed it up. Im starting to want to give up this, and I'm really thinking that the speedball upgrade is not something beginners should do. If you can help thanks

[Strikkflypilot]

Paul is the one to listen to here of course.
I am just a fellow bottlehead who wants You to succeed.

It wouldn't hurt posting some detailed photos of Your curcuits from all angles.
Maybe something can be spotted.

[kt3z]

Look, my wife is yelling at me saying I lied to her because i told her id only be building the upgrade for a night or two, its been a week with no end in sight. Please don't advertise that you can build this upgrade with only the crack under your belt. Every time i make progress i notice other things don't work, and this has happened multiple times. I really want to use the product for the reviews, but the costs are starting to outweigh its benefits.

If you could tell me how to fix 1U and 5U to a normal voltage, that'd be great. If i can't finish this thing soon, my wife will finish me

[Doc B.]

We are trying to help here. It sounds like you are frustrated and need to take break from the kit for a while. I would suggest taking a night or two off. I'm not a marriage counselor and this is a bit beyond the scope of our regular tech support but it seems like it might be prudent to smooth things out with your wife. Coming back to the project refreshed usually helps to get things sorted.

[kt3z]

I know your not. I'm sorry I'm just venting because of this whole situation. Please just tell me what to do next, I have about 2 hours to myself before she gets back and I'd really like to get this thing to work

[Paul Birkeland]

If you could tell me how to fix 1U and 5U to a normal voltage, that'd be great. If i can't finish this thing soon, my wife will finish me

It sounds like you're going from very high voltage to no voltage, and never nailing down anything in between.

Since you are confident that you have the correct resistors and transistors on the boards, and have them wired properly, the intermittent nature of this may be due to a flaky solder joint.  Additionally, if you have two pins of a transistor touching on the bottom side of the board (for example, by a solder blob), then you will also run into issues like this.

-PB