Core Lessons Learned for Newbies

[frailn]

Been building my first Core module and an optimized PSU over the weekend. This has been a great learning experience, and I was hoping to make it through the process without having to post questions or issues to the board - troubleshoot and learn from my mistakes...But, I did end up having one question about voltage to the SID module being too high...in another thread in the SID section.

Lessons Learned for those truly new to electronics DIY in general and to the Core:

1. No, SmashTV did not send you an IC socket missing a leg. You broke it off when you pulled it out of the styrofoam. Don't be so rough with your IC sockets and IC's. Luckily this happened on a socket and not the PIC! I took a leg from a resistor and soldered to the broken leg, and it worked fine. A bit of a pain, but not too bad. And luckily, I was able to figure the resistor leg for an IC socket leg trick without having to ask Smash for another IC socket, which I'm sure would have not gone over well.

2. When checking voltages prior to putting in the PIC, and you don't get the correct voltages, double check your parts bag from Smash. Yes, there was one resistor left in the bag, even when you thought you went through all the parts thoroughly and finished soldering everything. Triple check your parts list! I actually soldered the diode to the 100ohm resistor area and never soldered the 100ohm resistor, it was still in the bag. Then, when troubleshooting I noticed this bare spot on the board that said "D1" - uh - what is that? Wait, I think soldered that part somewhere it doesn't belong! Now where's my dang 100ohm resistor! Oh, yeah, it's still in the pretty little pink bag. Sheesh.

3. DIL and SIL headers get HOT when you are soldering them. I was holding them to the board and adding a tack of solder to the corner so I could flip it over and then solder the complete header. Ow. Put something between your finger and that header. That crap hurts.

Okay, now I"m at the stage where I solder the LCD screen. I'm sure I'll be back with more foibles soon.

[nILS]

lol.

3. DIL and SIL headers get HOT when you are soldering them. I was holding them to the board and adding a tack of solder to the corner so I could flip it over and then solder the complete header. Ow. Put something between your finger and that header. That crap hurts.

Hmm, they do get pretty warm, but they shouldn't get "burn your fingers" hot ;)

[stryd_one]

I dunno, I burn my fingers on them, all the time (and resistors if I'm not being quick enough). Think about it...ignoring all the unrelated stuff, what you have is:

Solding iron...metal...finger

                              ______

=======>--------(______

I don't see how you could not burn yourself in that situation ;)

[nILS]

You just need SSSS (Super-Speed-Soldering-Skillzâ„¢). Available at mouser, part # 666-23-42-1337

[stryd_one]

Patience is a virtue ;)

[nILS]

Patience is for the weak-willed.

[frailn]

I'm going slow on this, my first effort. I spent approximately 24 hours out of the last three days building (rebuilding three times) an optimized PSU. I took my sweet time on my first core module. and it's turning out nice. My second iteration of the OPSU put out 5v and I was able to test voltages on my core - everything testing good! Next step is to add the LCD. Then, plug in the PIC and test her out.

But before I can do that....

Now, I'm stuck on the OPSU. The first version was just a mess, but that's okay. First time building a circuit from scratch. Second version put out 5v nicely and had much neater soldering. But the 14v line was putting out 16v sometimes. Other times it would put out 5v. After troubleshooting for hours, I just decided to rebuild because I'm using stripboard and wanted to try orienting the circuit differently on the board, reducing the number of jumper wires and thus reducing the percentage of errors. Well, now my third OPSU build is putting out 1v on all lines, even when it's switched off! Argh. I'll get there. It's a good exercise in learning how circuits work and I'm enjoying the process and gaining experience. I think my next step will be to ditch the stripboard and get a perfboard. Less chance of shorts and such.

By the way, those PCB's from Smash are NICE. I'm new to electronics PCB building, but I can tell these are high quality. Where does he order PCB's from? Whenever I get around to designing PCB's, I want to order from that company.

And speaking of SmashTV...

ANOTHER NEWBIE POINTER

The parts kits from Smash come with a PCB. You don't have to order it separately. Now I have extra PCB's without parts to go with them. I know, it's says it comes with a PCB on the sale page of his website. How I missed it, I don't know. But, I'll just save these for future projects. Maybe Smash will let me order a parts kit without PCB if I promise him my first born daughter.

[frailn]

Yet another Core lesson learned for newbie!

After unsuccessfully trying to build an Optimized PSU for multiple SID modules, I decided to try a different type of prototyping board. Stay away from STRIP BOARD. It's just too hard to work with for those new to soldering small electronic circuits. It's too easy to create shorts.

I found a proto board at Radio Shack, and these are available on the internet if you look around, that has unconnected holes. Each hole has a solder ring. I reordered some PSU parts from Mouser, so those won't be in until Friday. I figured I had soldered/desoldered my current components so many times, that I just wanted to start again with fresh stuff. Plus I needed some other supplies, so why not reorder some new PSU parts? They are cheap.

In the meantime, if you are in this situation, you can do like me and dig around the house for old, unused power supply wall-warts. I found a cell phone charger that outputs 5vdc, clipped off the jack that plugs into the cell phone, stripped the wires, plugged in the wall wart to an electrical outlet, then tested the wires with my multimeter to see which of the two wires was ground and which carried the current. It was easy to tell - if your reading is -5 volts, then you have the ground and power lines switched. If your reading is 5 volts (no negative sign), then you have correctly identified the lines.

I did a quick, easy solder of a SIL header to a piece of the proto board, then soldered the two wires to the two SIL pins, one for negative, one for positive. I ran the wires to J2 on the core using the connectors that come from SmashTV, and KABAM, 5 volts DC to all the correct places on my core. I tested the points suggested by Thorsten on the CORE module page of ucapps.de.

This is a quick, easy way to continue working on my core while waiting for OPSU parts to come in. I can wire up my LCD and MIDI connectors and test things out - in other words MOVE FORWARD until I can come back around to the OPSU issues I'm having. After reading Stryd helping out others with issues, I have seen that sometimes you just need to step back from an issue and work on something else. So, forget the OPSU, there are other things to work on for now. When I come back to the OPSU, I'll have a fresh perspective. This avoids much frustration.

I did find another wall wart in my son's room that has 9 volt DC, 200 milliamp output. He has no idea what this wall wart was used for and said I could have it. I'll try this out on a SID module when I get to that part of the project.

These suggestions are not meant to be final solutions for building a synth, just temporary power connections so I can get my hands dirty and work on the Core and SID modules, learning and gaining experience as I move along.

[stryd_one]

After reading Stryd helping out others with issues, I have seen that sometimes you just need to step back from an issue and work on something else.

Kinda... The trick is to move away and circle it like a hungry shark... Contemplate the right time and angle to attack.... Then when the time is rigt you can bite it's fricken head off  ;D