Ice Tube Clock: Segments burnt out?

[conrthomas]

I just got my Ice tube clock kit and I ran into a problem. Some of the
segments are out. Has anybody else run into this problem yet?

Thanks,
Conner

[adafruit_support_bill]

Which segments are they? Can you post a photo?

[conrthomas]

I couldn't get a shot of all of them but there are quite a few out: (and yes, I did wire it correctly)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53634627@N08/4951268505/

[adafruit_support_bill]

It does look like quite a few are out. Adafruit will want to see photos of the boards to double check the soldering. But they will replace the tube if everything looks good there.

[conrthomas]

Hmm. I'll take more pictures when I get home. I'm a little bummed, everything else works fine, but the tube is wigging out!

[adafruit]

All tubes are tested before shipment so it is unlikely that it is the tube. the majority of problems are soldering related which is easy to fix

[conrthomas]

I'll look at it again and post some hi-res pictures of my soldering job. You may be right, as much as I'd like to think it's not my fault. What error could cause most of the display to work and the rest to not light up?

[adafruit]

Some pins are soldered and some are not. if you look through this forum you will find dozens of examples that were fixed with some soldering

[conrthomas]

0_0 Wow, I'm a tool. Even after 10+ years of soldering experience (I know, I'm only 17) I managed to miss 2 joints on the right angle header. I should have inspected it better. Everything works great now, thanks Adafruit for such a cool kit!

[riskin]

I am having the same issue, and I have to assume it's one of my soldering joints and not a bad tube. The problem appears during the tube test in the instructions. The right most pair of digits are not displaying properly. I've gone back to fix a few solder connections at the base of the tube, but that hasn't fixed the problem. Thankfully it didn't make it worse, either. I also checked the connections at the right angle connector per the original poster's suggestion, but those all look perfect.

Is there a way to determine which connections correspond with the problem digits? If the defect is not visible, I really don't want to have to go back and resolder all of the connections, especially since I trimmed the excess wire already.

[adafruit_support_bill]

The scematics show the tube connections. http://www.ladyada.net/make/icetube/design.html
The right two digits are controlled by VFD8 and VFD9 which are pins 18 & 14 on the tube and 1&5 on the connector.

[hlantz]

And when you're checking solder joints - remember to check the joints on the female header on the main PCB as well as for the male header on the tube board.