Stereomour LED lights, plus soldering question

[kopprasch]

I've finished my Stereomour kit and have been listening for a few days with a pair of Orca speakers. Everything seems to be working fine but I have a couple lingering questions. First, when I ran through the voltage check I didn't see the little LED lights come on. Would it be pretty obvious if they were on or are they dim? And if the amp seems to be working OK, what does it mean that the lights aren't on?
Second, I'm a beginner and I had some trouble getting the solder to flow onto the PC boards rather than just ball up on the leads. I didn't have any trouble with any of the other soldering in the kit (...I don't think) but I noticed that most of the holes in the PC boards have some sort of non-metallic looking material surrounding them and it seemed to me that this material is harder to heat up than the leads. I'm just curious why they're built that way. That question probably doesn't make any sense but I thought I'd give it a try.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
Mike

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Hello Mike,

Did you, by chance, use lead free solder on your kit?

How were the voltages at OA/OB? 

With a lot of light in the room, it could be difficult to see the LED's, but a good set of voltages will indicate proper operation.

-PB

 

[kopprasch]

Hi PB,
Thanks for your reply. The voltages at OA and OB were 195 and 199. I little low but I figured it was in the ballpark so I didn't worry about it..
And I used 60/40 "Super Solder" which generally seemed to work OK.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[Paul Birkeland]

At 195/199, the LED's should be visibly lighting, it might just be an ambient light issue.

-PB