Ice Tube clock not lighting

[chetwisniewski]

I am not sure where to start with troubleshooting this, so hopefully you can guide me in the right direction.

Test 1 gives 9.87 and 5..82 (and slightly rising)

Test 2 gives 10.57 (with the chip inserted)

Tube board

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BoardFront.jpg (666.71 KiB) Viewed 503 times

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[adafruit_support_bill]

Test 1 gives 9.87 and 5..82 (and slightly rising)

These numbers sound suspiciously high. Make sure that your meter has fresh batteries and check it against a reliable source voltage.

Test 2 gives 10.57 (with the chip inserted)

What does it read without the VFD chip inserted?

[chetwisniewski]

Replaced the battery, good call

Got 9.11 and 5.02 on test 1/

Got 11.43 without VFD chip on the right side of the Diode. Seems when I did the test while building I got the proper voltage? Which component is likely wrong/broken/mis-soldered?

Thanks so much for your help!

Chester

[adafruit_support_bill]

Sounds like you are getting some boost, but not as much as you should. Check the soldering on all the boost components: L1, Q2, D3, C5, C6, C7.
This tutorial covers most of the common issues: http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-guide-excellent-soldering/common-problems

[adafruit_support_rick]

You might want to start with these. They look a little iffy in the picture:

icetubesolders.png (430.87 KiB) Viewed 432 times