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My midification of my 70's Baldwin 210


tonyn
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I thought I would take a short break and show you where I am right now.

It's important to take your time when you are designing and working on a project.

Less chance for mistakes that way.

I just finished mounting the Dins, core, and fuse holder to the board.

I started from the left and centered the first din in between the first 40 terminal points

(don't forget I am connecting up all 10 wires from each header to a terminal point 4x10=40).

Then the same for the second din for the last 40.

I then spaced a bit and mounted my core.

Inbetween the core and the second din is the fuse holder.

I will use the power header with a 2 wire female connector.

While looking for my LCD modules, I found a few new molex type 2.5 amp 2 pin .100 spacing

(will fit nicely onto the power header pins) female power connectors, in my basement, I can use for the power pins.

I'll use my 22 gauge wire(this is for the power, I don't want anything smaller than 22 gauge) for them.

I am glad I found these, Else I may have had to use some female headers from an old computer,

and those would not be 22 gauge, etc.

I will run the power wires from the power header under the core board,

running the hot side to the fuse holder and out the back to the hot side of the power adaptor.

The the ground side under and just out to the power adaptor(I like to always fuse the hot side).

Later I will run them to 2 point terminal or some type of power socket that I can mount on the switch baord.

For test purposes I will just twist the wires to the ends of the power adaptor cord.

That way the power cord will not pull it off of the core board.

You will see later what I mean.

You can also see my nylon spacers I used to space the circuit boards a bit away from the switch board.

I was going to use metal washers and lock washers on top of the boards,

but was afraid they would short to a run, since it looks like a few runs are a bit close to the screw holes.

I can figiure that out later with maybe nylon washers, or smaller ones.

I am trying to use lock washers where I can, since there maybe vibrations with the organ,

and I don't want anything working it's way loose.

Lock washers also help with assembly too,

since the lock washer side will stay put while you tighten the other side.

This way you put the lock washer on the side that is hard to get a tool to,

and tighten from the other side.

I also finished up with the IDC connectors and ribbon cables, except for stripping, etc.

I measured from J6 to the farthest reach of the 40th terminal point,

and then cut all J3-J6 cables the same length.

I gave myself a bit more than I may need.

I can always trim later.

Every ribbon cable is color coded with Vs(ground) being the black side.

Note: now pin 1 is on the lower left side of the header for J3-J6,

since the Dins are flipped.

I had to wire the IDC apropiately for those.

I hope my wiring between the dins and cores are correct.

You may wonder "why I am using 2 cores for the 2 keyboards,

when I could use only one and load midibox128"?

2 or 3 reasons:

1. Because I may figure out a way to do second touch later.

I'll need 2 cores and 4 more dins then.

I will already have the cores!

2. I like the idea of separate chanels for each keyboard.

3. 2 processors are better than one(they maybe able to handle more key presses, etc.).

4. redundacy(both keyboards mimic each other for circuitry, etc.).

Plus once one keyboard is done, I just copy it all to the second.

Let me make another note:

Redundacy is important too, bcause it may help in trouble shooting later.

By having separate circuits(each keyboard has it's own), each fused:

If one fails, the other won't(not likely both fail at same time),

and you can isolate it to trouble shoot it better.

Plus if something shorts for one circuit, causing the rest of that circuit to burn up,

at least it will only effect that circuit, and be cheaper to fix.

So, what may seem like I am overdoing things, and it is more expensive up front for me,

in the end will be cheaper and easier to fix.

"Do it right the first time", and "spent it up front for the best,

and it will pay off in the long run".

I believe in this.

I do try to save money where I can though,

like building these circuits, etc.

I also take my time to do it right the first time, if I can.

I hate reworking it because I hastily did something and have to do it all over.

Anyway, here's some pictures for you...

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Edited by tonyn
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Just some thoughts...

After I have the keyboards working, my next job will be

tackling the pedal board and swell pedal.

I am hoping to be able to use those old contacts.

But I read in the Miditzer forum where another guy

had a baldwin and found the contacts to have too much resistance or something.

Either way, if I can use the old contacts for the pedalboard,

or I have to do a push buttoboard, etc.:

I plan to mount the Din(one Din is all that is needed for the pedalboard)

and core behind the keyboard switch boards in the top section of the organ.

There is a nice space to do that behind the switch boards.

All that will go down to the pedal boards are the contact wires.

That way all circuit boards are easily accessable.

Unless there is too much resistance in the wires leading from the Din to the pedal contacts.

Then I will have to mount the Din Closer to the Contacts.

I'll try to use the largest gauge wires(12 or 14 gauge), to cut down on resistance in the wires.

I may also see if I can color code them simular to the ribbon cables,

so everything is consistant with the keyboard wiring too.

I'll only need 26 wires running up(excluding the swell).

25 for the hot sides and one for the ground side.

The ground sides will be bussed in the pedalboard area.

Yes, terminal boards too if I can(but bigger ones to handle bigger gauge)...

All cores wil be daisy chained from the top one,

which is channel 0 for the stops and pistons,

to the last one which is channel 3 for the pedal board and swell.

The last one in the chain will have midimerge installed

(or the first, I'll see which works best when I get to that point).

The chaining will be from midiout to midi in, in order, leaving a spare midi in for the top core.

The top core for the stops will also have Douts to allow the stops to be activated too by the software!

By having that core the first in the chain, allows it's midi input to go to the computer too!

Since the computer will output to that core to activate the stops, it needs an open midi in.

At least those are my plans.

This is subject to change..

Edited by tonyn
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One step at a time...

I just finished stripping the ribbon cables for the J3-J6 headers.

I used a scissors to cut about 2 inches between the wires in the ribbon cables first.

2 inches is fine to start, as I attach the ends to the terminals I can pull them back more as needed.

You need to be careful when doing this to not cut a wire.

But the film between wires is soft, so you can tell that you are cutting just inbetween.

Then I striped the ends 3/4 inch and looped back to double the diameter.

But I first tested this out with a spare piece of ribbon cable

to a spare terminal to make sure it would not pull out with jsut doubling ti back.

These terminals handle down to 22 gauge, and ribbon cable is 26 gauge, so I had to increase the diameters.

I also made a spare ribbon cable cut to the same length for the second keyboard for a referance, etc.

Since both keyboards are the same I am using the first for referance for the second.

Best to cut to length before stripping and attaching,

since it would be hard to measure the second keyboard's ribbons then.

I also made a mistake with one wire from one cable cutting it instead of stripping it.

Good things I have spare parts.

Then I soldered the ends and cut away any stray wires.

This way I now have good solid ends(the screws in the terminals may tear the strands if this isn't done first).

Here' a couple of pictures.

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Getting there!

One step at a time, taking my time, planning ahead to anticipate any corrections, etc.

Although I am confident in my work, I also very my work as I go, so if there is a problem later,

I have eliminated some things.

So the lengths of the ribbon cables maybe a bit long, but if I need to trim or replace an IDC I have enough length.

I gave myself about 3 inches from the farthest reach.

Plus, they are all the same length, which to me is important,

as every switch will offer the same resistance to the Dins that way.

I just finished wiring up all of the switches to the Dins!

As you can see I tapped one of the ground terminals to route to the barrier strip for the ground bus.

One per din.

No need to wire every ground from J3-J6, since they are tied together on the circuit boards.

I just picked one that routed over easily.

I left 2 spare terminals on my barrier strips just for that.

They are sort of centered , so I picked up the ground from J3 on the first din, and J6 on the second.

In fact, I would only have to tap one ground from one din, since both dins are tied together with grounds.

But , redundacy you know:)

Besides, I will be testing each din out electrically at a time,

so I'll need each one to have a ground to isolate it for that at least, etc.

I hope those dual row IDC work OK from the Dins to each other and to the core.

Those cables I should have used 5 pin female headers.

Espescially to J9 of the core, since J8/J9 are together.

Oh well, we'll see...

But the IDC work well for J3-J6 to the switches.

My next step is going out the the hardware store,

or electrical store, to see if I can get a couple of feet of 18 or 16 gauge 2 conductor for my power pin on the core.

18 or 16 gauge should be about right for the power.

Whichever I can get a red/black or a black/white in that fits into the molex connectors

(to keep with the standardization of electrical codes,

black/white, black is hot white ground, red/black red hot black ground)

Update: I looked up the specs for my molex connectors and they can handle 18-24 gauge.

So 18 it is, or smaller if I have to.

I'll also grab a couple of heatsinks for the 7805s.

Since there will be plenty of air flow around my 7805s,

heat sinks may not be needed, but it will keep them run cooler anyway,

and it's good practice to use heat sinks.

BTW For those of you thinking that over 1 amp per core power adaptors maybe needed:

7805's are usually rated at only 1 amp.

So if your core draws more than that the 7805 will blow anyway!

So 1 amp per core should be all you need max.

It doesn't hurt to have more to the core, but your core doesn't need it.

In fact if the core draws close to 1 amp, time to think out how to add more cores to spread the current.

I only have 2 Dins conencted up per core, so I should be more than safe.

But when I do the stop core with 4 dins and 4 douts, if those draw too much,

I may have to add another core,

or upgrade or bypass the 7805 with a separate 5v power circuit, etc.

An alternative to power adaptors would be using computer power supplies.

They offer nice rectified, etc., power in the voltages and current you may need.

Then you can eleminate the 7805's alltogether, etc.

I may do this for my stop tab and piston core circuits.

That way I have 5v and 12 volts for relays too if I need to use 12v relays,

which I will need for the leslie motor or treminal stop tabs, etc.

It's good to plan ahead.

Now, when I get to that core I will just eliminate the 7805 crcuit and use header pins, etc.

I'll see when I get to that point.

My mind says redundacy again: If I need separate power for relays use a separate power supply, etc..

I may use the 7805s anyway if the current draw for that core isn't too high,

powering the core with one power supply and the relays with another, etc.

But at least I have it thought out a bit in case I need to go this route for that part.

Here are some pictures...

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Edited by tonyn
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Finally!

I am finally to the point to start powering things up, do electrical voltage and short tests,

installing the ICs, testing the core from the computer and loading midibox on it!

I first went to the hardware store to get the wire for my power.

I can buy it by the foot there.

I ended up with just 2 conductor stranded 18 guage lamp cord.

Good enough!

Then it was onto find a power socket for connecting the power adaptor to, or something.

I ended up with 2 conductor barrier strips for that, and

the heat sink compound at radio shack.

I then went to American Science and Surplus for the heatsinks

(I remembered when I got some there for my last project,

that they had them for cheap, $.15 ea), and while I was there I picked up

3 9v 1 A power adaptors for only $3ea(I already had a couple, but they were so cheap I couldn't resist).

Since they are 1 amp, and if both of my keyboard cores draw less than 500ma each,

I can use one adaptor to power both cores if I want to.

Hardware store for the screws, nuts, and lock washers for the heatsinks.

Yes, I may have over done it with the 18 gauge.

22 gauge would have been sufficient, and worked better.

Plus the molex with the 18 gauge is too stiff,

somewhat wobbly on the header pins(I may just solder it on if I have problems),

and I couldn't route it under the circuit board as planned, etc.

But for now it should be fine.

This is my alpha version of everything!

I do plan on improvements down the line.

Anyway, here's some more pictures.

Now to cross my fingers and power it up.

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Edited by tonyn
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I just wasn't too happy, nor confident, with that wobbly molex, etc.

So I just decided to forgo the molex header for the power pins

and just solder the wires to those pins instead.

Now I not only have a secure connection,

but I was also able to route the wires under the board.

Now I can power it up with confidence.

post-6922-126100290776_thumb.jpg

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OK.

Nothing blew up! :)

Just wait, I smell smoke! :shocked:

OOPs that's my cigarette. :D

I have 5v everywhere I need it for the ICs for the cores and Dins.

Nothing seams shorted,

so time to mount the ICs and connect the core to the computer!

Now, where is that great midibox software located here for download...

I guess I'll need active perl too eh?

Well time to look for what I need to program the core now.

Edited by tonyn
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I just downloaded Miosstudio and conencted up the core,

and have the propper sysex message.

So core is functional!

Now to download midibox64(not midibox128, since I only have 2 dins) to the core...

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Damn!

You may have thought my next post would be a good one, but it isn't!

What seamed liked a sysex message last night from the core wasn't.

That upload went nowhere.

I am not getting anything out of my core!

I have been in the troubleshooting area since last night.

My usb-midi is the turtle beach, and it was already working fine with miditzer, another kwyboard, etc.

So that's ruled out.

My software is all instaleld and configured right.

I ruled out my software and usb-midi last night.

I did the loopback tie of rx/tx and nothing.

Swapped optocouplors out, PICs out, etc.

Put an LED on the output pins of the midi and nothing.

My voltages grounds are all there, no observable shorts or opens.

I DID THOROUGHLY VISUALLY CHECK THIS CORE OUT BEFORE PUTTING IT ON THE SWITCH BOARD!

I am confident in my soldering.

So what the...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am kind of thinking crystal?

In the how to it said to not tack the crystal as not to stress it out.

I soldered it in?

But the jumping of Rx-TX shouldn't have needed a crystal.

That should have just looped back?

I don't have an O-Scope to test the cyrstal out other than swapping it out, etc.

That LCD display module would have saved me a lot of time last night, and even now...

These are simple circuts too. They should have plated through holes right?

I did no top soldering assuming that.

Now I neeed help!

Any suggestions as to what could be wrong would be appreciated.

In the meantime I'll wake up more today(I just woke up),

try to clear my head and put on my technician hat.

Edited by tonyn
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Hi.

The Core has plated through holes (well the ones from SmashTV do anyway) so no top soldering required.

I can tell from your posts so far that you are careful and methodical so we can assume that you have all of the correct components in the correct places!

If you aren't getting the initial sysex message then this is often caused by a faulty opto but you have tried swapping that. I have seen posts where the problem was poor connection to the crystal, this would also cause this problem.

Have you run through the troubleshooting http://www.ucapps.de/howto_debug_midi.html as this will usually give a good indication of the problem.

Cheers

Phil

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All of those tests last night may have been worthless since today I found that the fuse was blown.

So I replaced it, and another blew.

I can't see where it should draw more than .5a ,

even from the power adaptor side which could draw more than the 5v side.

I temporarily bypassed the fuse, and had voltages, but no output.

So it wasn't as simple as that(sometimes it is, but not this time).

I may have damaged the optocoupler or PIC last night.

I hope not.

I have only a couple spare that I don't want to damage in my trouble shooting either,

since it's a short supply.

There is definately something causing this.

Maybe the power circuit on the board is bad.

I do remember bending the 7805 while doing something last night.

Oh, well...

What should I do next?

I am about to the point of VERY THROUGHLY VERIFING MY SECOND CORE,

TRACING EVERY RUN, OHMING OUT FOR SHORTS, OPENS, TESTING THE PASSIVE COMPONENTS,

CONENCTING UP TO POWER, VERIFYING EVERY POWER POINT, PUTTING NEW ICS IN IT, CHECKING CURRENT DRAW,

ETC.

To this point I just did a minor checking.

Now they will be thorough!

At least I have another built to use to swap with.

But I need to be careful to not blow anything on it,

since the optocouplers are easy to get, but I don't want to have to blow any.

The PICs are a different story...

Why me?

Everything was going good up until this point.

I thought I was thorough in doing it right.

Well I don't give up, I will get it working eventually.

But at what cost in blown parts, etc.?

I guess this is the time I need to share with you the bad parts and what I find I did wrong, etc.

I'll let you know what I find that I did wrong so you know too.

My mind doesn't work like it did 20-30 years ago when I was an electronics tech.

Plus I am a bit rusty with the electronic part, since I have been mostly programming the last 20 years.

So it takes me time now...

So if you can see something I may have overlooked, please give me your inputs.

Christmass is coming up and my wife wants me to clean up my mess in the living room to put up the tree, etc.

So I have until tomarrow to find this problem and get it fixed, else I will have to pick up next week, etc.

I was hoping to have the keyboards working by this weekend for Christamss too.

Oh well...

Edited by tonyn
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Great!

Thanks for the input.

Ok I can rule out having to top solder then.

Yes I have been careful and methodical, which is why it kind of upsets me that I do have problems.

Yes, I am following along with that trouble shooting guide, thanks.

I have several browser windows open, and a couple of good pdf files that I grabbed and have been following for troubleshotting, assembly, etc.,

from this site, or the midwtzer, etc.,

on the organ PC(that PC for the organ also connects to the net).

I am worried that I may have blown an optocoupler.

Yes, I swapped them out,

but that was last night when I was a bit exhuasted from getting to this point,

that I may have blown the other one I swappped out too.

I ordered 4 more just in case from a local vender.

He has an order going out so I'll have 4 more spare by next week.

But they aren't cheap: $5 ea!

I am down to 2 spare from my other core kits that I can still use for swapping.

But I need to be careful not to blow them.

The crystals are a bit of a concern too since in the how to I don't think he soldered them,

since he felt it would stress out the crystals.

Just insert them without soldering, and they would make good contact?

I don't have an O-Scope so I can't test for Frequencies, etc.

Best I can do is what I can with a multimeter.

To me I can't see the PIC being bad, at least I hope not.

But it could be a cap, resistor, crystal, or the optocoupler.

Or the board.

The optocoupler is directly related to the midi out, so that area I will really investigate.

But like I stated in my last post, I will thoroughly be testing everything out.

In the trouble shooting guide it says that someone had problems with the ground on the midi out.

There is a pull up jumper area on the circuit board.

It's shorted now to keep the ground.

But if I need to pull it I'll have to cut the trace.

To reconnect it I'll have to insert header pins and use a jumper.

So I don't want to do that unless I have to.

Today I am going to American to also see if I can pick up a cheap LCD module to help with troubleshoting now.

I have my core isolated from the Dins, but I want it isolated from the computer too just in case...

Hi.

The Core has plated through holes (well the ones from SmashTV do anyway) so no top soldering required.

I can tell from your posts so far that you are careful and methodical so we can assume that you have all of the correct components in the correct places!

If you aren't getting the initial sysex message then this is often caused by a faulty opto but you have tried swapping that. I have seen posts where the problem was poor connection to the crystal, this would also cause this problem.

Have you run through the troubleshooting http://www.ucapps.de/howto_debug_midi.html as this will usually give a good indication of the problem.

Cheers

Phil

Edited by tonyn
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Now to download midibox64(not midibox128, since I only have 2 dins) to the core...

I think you still want MIDIIO128 because it is oriented to projects with just DINs and DOUTs. You can use less than the maximum of 4 DINs and 4 DOUTs supported. I couldn't tell you if the whatever64 project is equivalent to MIDIIO128 for 2 DINs as I have only ever used MIDIIO128. I do know that the xxx64 project is primarily used for control surface projects because they use the AIN and AOUT boards as well as DIN and DOUT. Everyone I know who is MIDIfying an organ console uses MIDIIO128.

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The crystals are a bit of a concern too since in the how to I don't think he soldered them,

since he felt it would stress out the crystals.

Just insert them without soldering, and they would make good contact?

I don't have an O-Scope so I can't test for Frequencies, etc.

Best I can do is what I can with a multimeter.

I have never killed a crystal by soldering it but I am always careful to not overheat them. Have you soldered your crystal in place or "just inserted it"? It must be soldered to make a good contact.

Cheers

Phil

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I know, but thanks for the input.

I thought 64=64 keys max, so midibox64.

I did start with the midibox64 until I found out that midibox128 was more for organ consoles.

So, yes, I did find that out and was working on the midibox128 instead.

I do have a midibox128 ini file I am working on.

I have midosstudio, midi-ox, active perl, and makefile script, all configured and setup.

I even wrote a bat file that I inserted into the midibox128 tools folder where I have the makefile script and midibox128.ini file that makes it easier to make the syx file than opening a command prompt, and cding to the folder.

I renamed the midibox128.ini to core001.ini

Here's the code:

perl mk_midio128_sys.pl core001.ini

pause

You can make that simple file in notepad.

Save it with a .bat extention and it is a simple executable file.

Just double click on that file instead of using a command prompt, etc.

I'll share some of my coding with you guys when I get back to that part.

Batch files are nice little executable DOS files you can make to help make things easier.

This shows how old I am(I have been programming with DOS/Windows since the beginning).

DOS bat files have been a part of Microsoft since the beginning, and they still work with Vista(my organ computer is running Vista right now).

There are a few commands for them, if you want I can share those.

"pause" is one, and just pauses it so you can read it before it closes the command prompt.

These only work on Windows/DOS operating systems.

When you want to compile for another core, just make another core00x.ini file,

edit the .bat file for that, etc.

Makes life a bit easier :)

That was until I found out that the core wsn't actually working.

So right now I have to have my electronics tech hat on instead of the programmers hat :)

I think you still want MIDIIO128 because it is oriented to projects with just DINs and DOUTs. You can use less than the maximum of 4 DINs and 4 DOUTs supported. I couldn't tell you if the whatever64 project is equivalent to MIDIIO128 for 2 DINs as I have only ever used MIDIIO128. I do know that the xxx64 project is primarily used for control surface projects because they use the AIN and AOUT boards as well as DIN and DOUT. Everyone I know who is MIDIfying an organ console uses MIDIIO128.

Edited by tonyn
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Wow, thanks for the inputs guys!

I will try to answer them all in this post.

My PSU is a cheap 1A wall adaptor with 9V DC. This should be fine for the 7805.

My crsytal is soldered in, but I did use a hot soldering iron(it was set on 40w instead of 25w, which is recommended for circuit boards)

When I did do the loopback it didn't work, but then at that time I may have been working with a blown fuse so my core may have been dead.

Yesterday I went out to find an LCD module at

American Science and Surplus(It's a nice place that has surplus parts that are cheap).

American Science and Surplus bought out Edmunds Scientific years ago.

Edmunds was around sicne I was a kid and had lots of lens, etc.

Furtunetely it's located locally to me, but I think they have a website.

Anyway I went through their parts bins of LCD modules.

I saw a couple that came from cell phones, etc.

Nothing that I could really use other than 2 that don't have driver circuits.

I grabbed those for $.40 ea.

They have nice legs that I can put into prototype boards, etc.

Plus they have part nuumbers that I can use to look up the specs for the pinouts

(I hope, else I will have to test them to see what's what).

I'll see if I can use them with a minimum of parts to the PICs of the cores.

If not I'll hunt around again for my LCD modules I KNOW I have somewhere.

I have too much stuff that is unorganized in tons of boxes to go through!

But they were supposed to be with a project that I was working on for an automatic seahorse feeder

(one of my inventions).

But they weren't.

Those were complete modules with driver circuits I got from Parrlex I think.

I want an LCD module at this time for troubleshooting,

since even if I don't get an output to the midi and optocoupler,

I should have a reading from the PIC on the LCD,

telling me that it is at least working, right?

Now I need to build an LCD module to use for troubleshooting!

I was hoping plug and play, but I guess not.

Here's what I got

(if I can't use them for the cores, I can use them for something,

at $.40 they were a steal):

post-6922-126115483759_thumb.jpg

Edited by tonyn
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My mind is always planning out a better mouse trap.

So I need to put my thoughts down before I forget:

You know what?

I didn't have to use push botton switches for my contacts for my keyboards!

The backs of the keys are metal and are screwed into metal.

So in efect they are all tied together electrically for a ground side!

I could have used thumb tacks on the switch boards for the other sides!

The problems with the push button switches are that the springs in them are a bit stiff, and the keys are a bit stiff.

If I take out the springs I have great feeling key presses.

Using thumb tacks(or metal screw heads, etc.) would be a way to make cheap touch switches!

Those would last forever too!

See the keys already have springs in them, so adding extra springs isn't needed(nor wanted).

The old contact boards had springs that weren't as stiff.

My push bottons are a bit stiffer than the old contact board springs,

but they aren't too stiff.

Just a bit more than with the old contact boards.

My organ guy said that baldwins were a bit stiff anyway.

But without the push bottons my keyboards would feel more like piano keyboards, etc.

Well like I said: This is version alpha. Once this is working I will be working on improving it.

Just thoughts...

Now back to my troubleshooting!

Edited by tonyn
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OK.

Here is what I am doing right now:

I am desoldering the power connection to the J1 header pins(it's tacked onto the outside of them).

I'll be pulling my core off of the switch baord and comparing it to my other built core, etc., off the switch board(good thing I made a second core board to use).

All of my trouble shooting will be with the core itself not mounted.

One I have it fixed and working, it can then be remounted.

Fortunetely I also have a couple of non soldered core boards to look at the silk screen and use for tracing out the traces, etc.

I may also switch over to my other core to swap out, and then go back to see what's blown, etc., on the bad core. Nice to have a board to swap out, etc.

I will also do as many tests, etc., without the ICs in.

I hate to think that I may have blown the PICs or optocouplers!I do have 2 non touched PICs and 2 non touched optocouplers.

I did swap out 2 PICs and 2 optocouplers the other night.

I also reversed one optocoupler thinking it wasn't oriented right(pin 1 is in the oposite direction as to pin 1 of the PIC on the baord, so I thought..).Yes, stupid me.

The optocouplers have just a dot on them for pin 1, the PIC is notched,

so the PICs are easy to figure out the orientation(so those were not reversed).

But that optocoupler may for sure may be blown, so I have it set aside for now...

If those are blown????

I will only use the non touched when I KNOW the rest is fine, etc.

I hope no PIC is blown, since to order more of those, preprogrammed from avishowtech, would take time.

I do have optocouplers on order.

But I don't want any of those blown either.

Edited by tonyn
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The opto's can be a bit difficult. I have blown a few in my time but luckilly they are usually quite cheap.

You will have to have done something pretty bad to kill the PIC. There is another thread around at the moment that is listing the worse things people have done to PICs and they survived. The best so far is one from arumblack who put it in the wrong way round and it got so hot that the paper label started to burn.... After all that it is still working :)

Phil

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Thanks, that's good to know about the PICs.

I hope that I didnt blow an opto.

Anyway:

I just finished comparing cores, ohming out all of the traces etc., and verifying that all components are good(except the ICs).

As much as I can tell with a multimeter that is.

Everything on the board looks good!

???

So now it's removing the ICs, applying power to it again, and testing the 5v power circuit

(again, initially I did test it out, but this time it wil be more thorough)...

I will also test for current draw.

I will do this for both core boards(If the second is good,

I may just swap it out first just in case the first has something blown that I can't tell)

I am just wondering about the PSU.

Although it shouldn't matter the polarity to J1, it is still a DC supply and it may matter?

OR do I make some Rx/Tx loop backs to make sure what gos in should go out first?

I am so parinoid at this point to insert an optocoupler just to have it blow.

Can I bypass that to test it out first?

I want the LCD part working, but that will take time to build...

But I feel a bit blind without it now.

The opto's can be a bit difficult. I have blown a few in my time but luckilly they are usually quite cheap.

You will have to have done something pretty bad to kill the PIC. There is another thread around at the moment that is listing the worse things people have done to PICs and they survived. The best so far is one from arumblack who put it in the wrong way round and it got so hot that the paper label started to burn.... After all that it is still working :)

Phil

Edited by tonyn
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OK.

Just in case the first core has a bad power circuit that I couldn't verify with the ohm meter:

I am swapping out cores for now(just in case the old core has bad 5v circuits, etc.,i don't want to blow another opto, if that happened).

To make testing easier I just cut a 2 conductor female connector from an old computer to use.

I will first power up without any ICs, test out the voltages and current draw.

Pop in the PIC and check for current draw again.

Put in opto, check for current draw again.

Pull out PIC, follow trooubleshooting.

post-6922-126117003181_thumb.jpg

Edited by tonyn
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Here's my test setup.

The red wire is the + side of the power adpator.

Here is something strange that I found out that has nothing to do with the core, but...

The right power adaptor has been the one I have been using.

It is rated 1200ma MAX, and can be set to different voltages.

I did have it set to 9v.

It does put out 9v non load and 9v load.

But it is possible it doesn't put out enough current etc...

The left power adaptor was a so called 9v 1A that I picked up at American for the cores, eventually.

I checked it out non load, and it outputs 12v!

On it it says output 9v 1a!

So?????????

Well I'll set it aside for now..

I don't want to risk using it if it is too much for the 7805s

Damn!

Well voltages and grounds test out fine(btw this is the second core I built).

I will use this core first,

and if it is all good, then I will know it is good,

and then go back to test the bad one.

Get one good core running, and then...

I will check out currents next.

put in a PIC, test current.

Put in opto(cross fingers), test current.

It is JUST possible that the power adaptor isn't putting out enough current?

maybe that max is for the 3.5v, and when set to 9v it isn't putting out enough?

I know the one I got from Amaerican(because it's heftier) should put out enough.

But at 12v?

Will it put out 9v when under load?

Do I chance testing it out with this core, just to have it blow something ?Delema...

post-6922-126117414214_thumb.jpg

Edited by tonyn
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