Made a big mistake with the main power supply :'(

Caucasian Blackplate said:
The LED was probably OK until it was removed. Unless an LED is visibly broken, we don't advocate removing it.

The issue you describe is likely either a bad solder joint on the center leg of the MJE350 or the wrong resistor installed at R1.

If both LED's on the nine pin socket light, I would think the wrong resistor to be more likely.

Hi again blackplate, was gonna check it this morning but when i turned it on this morning there was a nice loud crack (pun intended) coming from the powersupply and our main circuit breaker in our apartment released. Unplugged the crack and switched the power back on. Flipped it over and shook it and a tiny piece of solder fell out, this probably was the culprit of the short and i plugged it in again and turned it on. Now all leds are dead but both tubes are glowing. Only getting 6VDC on T1/5 and 225VDC pretty much everywhere else. Including the metal base plate?! So i figured that i unplug it again before i get myself killed :P
Anyways had to go to work so did not have any more time to work with it. My guess is that something have shorted, thing is how do i find it without tearing the whole thing down again.

Edit: Looks like it shorted between the main AC tab on the transformer and the 270 ohm resistor above. Measured it and it gave 265ohm back.
 
Ah man forum seems to have been rolled back :( My last two posts are gone.

Anyway to sum it all up.

I have removed the large PCB from the speedball upgrade. And tested with the 6080 removed.
T1 - 75V
T2 - 206V
T4 - 206V
T5 - 195V

Is my new tube broken as well? It seems like the second triode does not draw any power (if this is how it works?)
The two smaller PCBs was removed and resoldered and still the same issue. I switched the boards positions and the problem moved from T1 to T5 instead. Which leads me to belive the issue is with that PCB or an component on it.
The center leg on the MJE350 gives my 195V on the "broken" side and 75V on the left side if that is of any importance.
 
fissure said:
The two smaller PCBs was removed and resoldered and still the same issue. I switched the boards positions and the problem moved from T1 to T5 instead. Which leads me to belive the issue is with that PCB or an component on it.
The center leg on the MJE350 gives my 195V on the "broken" side and 75V on the left side if that is of any importance.
Yeah, there's an issue with your smaller PC board.  That kind of voltage on the center leg of the MJE350 is nearly always a bad solder joint on the board (or potentially you have a 2N2222A on that board).

Sorry about the forum posts, we are wrapping up some website work. 

-PB
 
Have resoldered the MJE350 several times without result but will try again. I double checked the two small PCBs and both have the 2907A.


Edit: Resoldered 3 times now and it still does not work.
When the 12AU7 lights up i notice that both of the square metal parts emit light from the top so the heating seem to be working.
But i also noticed two blue glowing things on one side of the tube that seemed to be coming from triode 2 in the tube. But i can not see any such thing on the other side. Just a side note, note sure it is of any importance.
 
What's important is that the voltage issue follows one of the boards. 

We can send you a replacement board, transistors, and resistors if you like.

-PB
 
Caucasian Blackplate said:
What's important is that the voltage issue follows one of the boards. 

We can send you a replacement board, transistors, and resistors if you like.

-PB

Thanks! But i have ordered replacement parts today for one board from Elfa here in Sweden so i will have the parts on monday don't have the patience to wait +1 week ;P was not more than 10$ anyways. If the PCB itself is faulty i might have to get a replacement but if that's the case i will be in touch, or i might just use a lab board for it.
 
Ok so i received some replacement leds a couple of days ago. Replaced the Leds on one of the small boards. Hooked it up and plugged in the power. Now i have 80V on T1/T5 and 205V on T2/T4 so it appears to have been faulty leds that were the problem there (though no visual damage to them).
So i soldered back the big PCB again and hooked it up. Plugged in the Crack again and all leds turned on nice, was gonna measure but then i heard a whizzing sound for a couple of seconds and then a small pop. Turned it of as fast as i could and saw on the big board that the small 31,6kohm resistor had popped and also one of the leds on the board (was visually broken, cracked in half).
Will have to replace the broken components and double check my wiring this time. Any ideas what could have caused this?
 
So just an update on the build. Got some pieces today that i switched (the popped resistor among them) and soldered it back together. Noticed that when i popped the resistor on the big PCB i probably had switched the place of two of the black cables (ooops).
Anyway it is all together now and there is sound ! :D
Sounds really nice in the mid and high end (had a small headroom amp before) though i feel that it is lacking a bit in the low end in comparison, could be a bit beefier. Not sure if the small tube needs to be played in or something (the one i replaced with a new "premium" tube).
There is also zero noise so i am very pleased with that as well.

Thanks for all the help here and for a nice DIY product, was really fun to build :)
 
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