Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hello Board Members. This is my second kit build so I still very much don't understand what I'm doing BUT I spent the entire day yesterday building this kit. I took my time and triple checked every step. I soldered carefully and made sure there were no bridges and that the PCB was lifted about 1/16" away from that pesky B100k that I've read can cause a short. I did try the business card trick just in case. Here's what happened: I finished the build, plugged it into a 1spot. It worked but there was a "fizzy" sound that accompanied the sound when pedal was engaged. No fizzy sound when bypassed. I switched amps, guitars, and cables to see if it was one of those. After a couple minutes and when I plugged in the second guitar it completely stopped working. I still get bypass guitar but nothing when engaged except for the LED lighting up. When I removed it from the enclosure and tried again I did notice that the 7660 IC gets REALLY hot while the other ICs stay cool. I took a bunch of photos. Does anything appear to be troublesome? Hoping this Imgur link is sufficient: https://imgur.com/a/lKWIP9c

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Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

Sounds to me like a shorted charge pump IC. The socket soldering looks very good, so the shorting is most likely internal. Please contact sales@buildyourownclone.com and request a new one.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Thank you! I enjoy the soldering part.

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Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

Well... I'm sad to say the new charge pump IC piece did not make it functional. Still no sound at all when engaged. It did notice that it does not heat up, though. Any ideas what I should try from here? Could that socket piece be the problem?

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Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

Do you have access to a multimeter and know how to measure DC voltage with it?

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

I'm visiting my father tomorrow and I know he's got one if you don't mind telling me what and where to measure.

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Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

I'd like you to measure & report the 8 pin voltages on each of the three IC's. Here's how:

Set your multimeter to the DC voltage mode, indicated by a solid line above a dotted one. Use the 20VDC range setting if it's not an auto-ranging meter. Your power source needs to be connected and there needs to be a cable in the input jack. If the pedal is assembled into the metal enclosure, put the black probe into one of the corner screw bosses of the enclosure--this is your ground connection. If the "guts" are out of the enclosure, use the sleeve tab of the input jack for the ground connection. Then touch the red probe to each point that you want to measure. See left side of the image below for the numbering of the pins.



Here are the pin voltages on my own fully functional Silver Pony. Note that some of the voltages are NEGATIVE, so pay attention to that possibility on the meter display:

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

My father wanted me to ask you if E.S.D. protection is a concern when building pedals. He's retired from the phone company and did a lot of electronics work. He was telling me that when AT&T started sending out chips similar to these little IC chips to install in cell phone sites, they were having a 50% failure rate. Eventually they figured out it was Electrostatic discharge causing just enough charge to ruin the chips.

As for the measurements, I wasn't sure if the chips should be in or out so I took measurements for both. Voltage seemed more accurate when they were out, though.

NO CHIPS
Lower TL072
1) 4.68
2) 4.68
3) 4.27
4) 0
5) 4.67
6) 4.68
7) 4.50
9.39

Upper TL072
1) 4.59
2) 4.52
3) 4.68
4) 300 mv
5) 4.69
6) 6.68
7) 4.55
8.78

Charge Pump
1) 9.39
2) 3.38
3) 0
4) -120 mv
5) 40 mv
6) 1.2 mv
7) 1.0 mv
9.38

WITH CHIPS IN
Lower TL072 with chip
1) 6.35
2) 6.35
3) 5.64
4) 0
5) 6.36
6) 7.12
7) 7.13
9.38

Upper TL072 with chip
1) 7.13
2) 6.46
3) 6.37
4) 6.97
5) 6.39
6) 6.43
7) 7.14
8.40

Charge Pump with chip
1) 9.39
2) 9.39
3) 0
4) 6.92
5) 6.91
6) 9.38
7) 8.85
9.39

Not sure why the number eights are showing as sunglasses emoji face haha

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Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

Unfortunately, your voltage readings show that charge pump is bad, as well. Please contact BYOC Sales again and request a tested replacement. We have seen a rash of charge pump failures lately, something we really haven't encountered much of previously. Keith/byoc and I have corresponded about this and he is implementing additional controls at their end, though they already have ESD controls in place for their own parts handling. At this point, the reason for the failure rate is not clear. It could be bad IC's as received by BYOC, or the problem could be post-shipment handling. ESD is certainly a strong possibility, and would be expected to be worse during these cold dry months in parts of the US. Then again, we have those conditions every winter, and I don't recall seeing these number of failures in past years. In any case, it pays to be careful in handling them once received, so you may want to use an electrostatic discharge ground strap as suggested in THIS POST.

I haven't run into this problem personally, but then again I keep my "man cave" humidity at or above 45% throughout the cold months using an evaporative humidifier (THIS ONE, for anyone interested). I do that primarily to protect my guitars from drying out, but it also drastically reduces static charging.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Thanks for all the help. I'll contact them again. And I'll see about getting one of those ESD straps. The good news is my enclosure is looking fancier and fancier with the extra time to paint it, etc. Also I'm just noticing your location. We lived on Steuben St right near the capital until one year ago. Now we're farther north- greetings from Galway!

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Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

I received a new charge pump chip, which I believe they tested before sending out. With all knobs at noon I got a very loud overdriven crackly sound for a few seconds. Turned pedal off, then back on and now nothing. Also the charge pump chip was hot afterward. Any guidance, Duhvoodooman?

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Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

Pull the charge pump out of its socket, power the pedal back up and take a set of DC voltages on the socket itself. Then reinsert the charge pump and take a full set of pin voltages on that. Yeah, I know--this is getting tiresome. But hang in there and we'll figure this out.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

OK here are the voltage readings:
WITH CHIP
1 +9.4
2 +9.3
3 -000.1 mV
4 +9
5 +8.9
6 +9.3
7 +9.3
8 +9.4

NO CHIP, Socket only
1 +9.4
2 +800.0 mV (steadily declines)
3 -000.1 mV
4 +300.0 mV (steadily declines)
5 +6.7
6 +001.2 mV
7 +001.2 mV
8 +9.4

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Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

Socket voltages look good, chip voltages definitely not. Shouldn't get uncomfortably hot, either. Sadly, another bad charge pump.

As I commented in another thread, we are seeing a LOT of these lately, even though it's been a fairly uncommon problem in the past. Don't know what the cause is, but with all the supply chain problems going on in the world these days, you have to wonder if sub-standard quality chips are being produced and shipped.

I'll make sure that Keith/byoc knows of these repeated failures, though I think he's already well aware of the situation.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

OK thanks. Should I email again or just stand by for a while? Also, I just received an analog chorus kit. Do you know if these kits are having any problems?

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Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

I have an email in to Keith and would like to get a response from him before directing you further.

Not aware of any trending problems with the AC. No charge pump in that kit, so that's a plus right now.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

We definitely tested the replacement charge pump in circuit before sending it out. Please email keith@buildyourownclone.com

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*patience is a virtue*

Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com

This latest charge pump has got the pedal working. However, there's now a fizzy sound I'm getting. I tried a different power supply, cables, and a different amp. I get it even at low volumes and with the gain knob all the way down. I know there's some chatter in another thread about using different ICs. Should I give that a try? It's frustrating because I can hear a great sounding overdrive through that fizziness. It's hard to get it to come through on the iPhone but here are two videos with the gain all the way down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGqUGAMt3LA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaA8YUqWIxg

_________________
Tommy
Playing currently with Great Mutations and Kimono Dragons

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2