Ice cube clock - no display but beeps :( tried a few things

[Capago]

Here are the original pics plus some others ive just taken. if the quality is not high enough i'll switch to the digital camera, not the phone.

http://capago.webs.com/apps/photos/albu ... d=10447386

thanks for helping me out adafruit if it makes it any easier, im not fussed about final build quality or "finess" i dont mind if i have to short out a big part of the circuit with wires going everywhere lol do you think its possible anyway? not sure what pin number, but the clock works dimly with the heater going once a link is placed from the big diode, but the display goes bright, heater goes off then the display goes off once disconnected. is it possible to cut the line to the heater to run just the display? i can provide a video to whats happening for when i do what if you like?

[Capago]

i did notice some solder actually ran through the pins onto the other side of the components, both on the tube and control board, if its not shorting elsewhere, that shouldnt be a problem, right? oh and the fuse is not getting hot either, so im guessing its not a short to ground at least?

[adafruit]

hmm. well, we cant really see that the NC wires are in the right location so we suggest checking that again. then try again to measure the resistance between either side of R3 and ground (7805 tab)

[Capago]

NC pins are correct, and the resistance i got was 28.7 megaohms, tube disconnected no power.

in relation to the NC pins, the tube actually works, and i can see the seconds change during the short period the tube is illuminated after shorting the diode to the point described prior

[adafruit]

nono measure with the tube *in*

[Capago]

ahhhh right right! erm got 10.2 megaohms...

[adafruit]

well it sounds like something is soldered wrong OR the heater is damaged. if you can, trace back from the resistor to the tube and verify that it should be connected to the heater pins, unfortunately you're going to have to sit down and just look at it for a bit to find out what is amiss since we cant do much more debugging over email. you can also try buying a new tube set and seeing if that fixes the problem

[Capago]

in all honesty i dont have the motivation to fix it now. :/ can i buy a completed tested and working kit?

[adafruit]

we only sell kits

[Capago]

oh ok not to worry anyway. i figured if the tube was working with some voltage being shorted from any source, i just tried a different source, that being the resistor near the alarm switch, and now it works as it should. cheers

[adafruit]

great

[rollerpig]

dear adafruit and others, it looks like i have the same problem that mentioned in this thread.
first test OK, second OK (55.6V) , third failed, the tube does not light up. I checked the voltage on the Q3 transistor (without the tube): collector, emitter 4.7V seems OK. base 0V, wrong(?). I resoldered the Q3 transistors legs, and double checked the soldering. I checked the voltage on the microcontrollers pin that connects to the base, and it is also 0V.

Pictures enclosed.

Thanks for helping in advance.

PS: The PCB was maybe hurt where the red circle is, during the cut of the soldered end.

[adafruit_support_bill]

It looks like you have quite a few cold solder joints. There is plenty of solder on the leads but the solder has not flowed well onto the surrounding pads. Go back over any joints that are not smooth, or where the solder hasn't flowed onto the pad. Use a clean, hot iron and try to heat the pad until the solder flows onto it.

PS: The PCB was maybe hurt where the red circle is, during the cut of the soldered end.

Some of the solder mask came off, but the trace underneath looks OK. But, check to make sure that there is no contact between the trace and that solder joint.

[rollerpig]

update:

I tried it once more, and figured out that sometimes the some of the digits of the tube lights up. This happens when i touch (with my fingers) the 2x10 female header's (JP2) soldering, back on the PCB. (guess I short cut the pins to the ground)

[rollerpig]

thanks for responding, I'm going to recheck the soldering