Hey there everyone,
I've just finished assembling one of the Ice Tube clock kits, and I've run into a problem or two.
My first issue was that the display wasn't lighting every element as it should - when first powered up it would work, then the characters would slowly dim out until only a few elements on the tube were lighting. After reading around here and trying a few things, I've discovered that it's the Q3 transistor (as I've seen is quite common).
With Q3 shorted correctly, all digits light as they should. I can find a replacement transistor easy enough. However, I have another problem.
One element (as shown below) on every character is lit, even when it shouldn't be. The element lights even before the time starts flashing, and makes it difficult to read the display.
Has anyone come across this, or does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should check to try and figure this out?
Thanks!
Ice Tube Clock - Segment Stuck Lit
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Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
- adafruit_support_rick
- Posts: 35092
- Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:42 am
Re: Ice Tube Clock - Segment Stuck Lit
Please post clear, detailed pictures of the tube board and main board, showing your soldering.
- chrissb
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 3:53 am
Re: Ice Tube Clock - Segment Stuck Lit
Sure thing. Photo of the main board:adafruit_support_rick wrote:Please post clear, detailed pictures of the tube board and main board, showing your soldering.
Red wire is jumpering around the transistor Q3, without doing this the display only lights for a few seconds (and rather dimly too), before fading out to an unreadable state.
Tube board:
Apologies if the images aren't the best, my camera sucks at macro-photography, doesn't want to focus. If it helps, I've checked all the wires and solder joints going into the tube for continuity with their neighbours, and found none of them to be bridged/joined/touching.
Thanks for any assistance,
-Chris
- adafruit_support_bill
- Posts: 88154
- Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am
Re: Ice Tube Clock - Segment Stuck Lit
The solder looks fine. I suspect that there is an internal short in the tube. If you contact [email protected] with a link to this thread we can send you a replacement tube & side board. And a new Q3 also.
- chrissb
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 3:53 am
Re: Ice Tube Clock - Segment Stuck Lit
Thanks, will do. Appreciate your help with this.adafruit_support_bill wrote:The solder looks fine. I suspect that there is an internal short in the tube. If you contact [email protected] with a link to this thread we can send you a replacement tube & side board. And a new Q3 also.
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.