Ice Tube Clock

[ericyeh]

I recently assembled my ice tube clock, and the leftmost two digits seem to always show up as 8's... is this a common problem? Does anybody know what might fix it?


Thanks!

[adafruit_support_bill]

the leftmost two digits seem to always show up as 8's

That is most likely a soldering problem - somewhere between the VFD chip and the tube itself. If you post clear photos of the soldering on the main and tube boards we'll take a look.

[Livids]

Step 28 of the assembly instructions calls for plugging in the board and measuring the voltage output at the end of a diode. When I do this I'm seeing not 60 VDC, but closer to .6 VDC (I've checked the scale of my mulimeter several times). Up to this point everything has seemed to work correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[adafruit_support_bill]

Did all the previous voltage tests & the beep test pass? If you post photos of the front & back of the board we will check your assembly so far.

[Livids]

yes- all previous tests passed. Though step 11 (voltage regulator) now does not pass - (a clue??)

trying to post photos...

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[Livids]

more photos

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[adafruit_support_bill]

Though step 11 (voltage regulator) now does not pass - (a clue??)

What voltages are you seeing on the output of the voltage regulator?
Do you still get the beep on power-up?

[Livids]

I'm no longer getting a beep on power up
The voltage on the bottom most (if the plug is on the top of the board) pin is .91 v
middle and top pin are essentially zero

[adafruit_support_bill]

That means you probably have a short circuit somewhere. It looks like Q2 might be installed backwards. The two pins that are bridged together should be on the side closest to the diode:

[Livids]

You are good! I think that you are right - I completely misread the step 23 instructions (I won't elaborate on how I interpreted them - it seems pretty ridiculous in retrospect). I'll be unsoldering and resoldering later today - I'll let you know how things work out. Thanks!!

[Livids]

The high voltage transistor did not survive (at least it's not looking good) the surgery. Is it possible to order a new one? Is it a fairly standard part (available at the local radio shack), or would I be best off purchasing directly from adafruit (or, third option, specialty electronics supply house in/around SF, CA??)

[adafruit_support_bill]

We don't have them for individual sale, but we have a couple of sources listed in the parts finder : http://www.ladyada.net/wiki/partselector/transistors?s[]=irfd110#mosfet

I'm sure that there are some local sources in the SF area too.

[ericyeh]

Here are some photos:

http://imgur.com/AcGul
http://imgur.com/xilT1




Thanks!

[adafruit_support_bill]

@ericyeh - We need to see more detail on the soldering. Some close-ups of the boards like the ones Livids posted earlier in this thread would be ideal.

[Livids]

going back a few posts - I purchased a new high voltage transistor from mouser, and all looks good so far!! Thanks so much for your help!! (it beeps when plugged in, and we are seeing the described voltage behavior in step 28.