# Abyss build power issues



## Jdilly

Hi All. I'm building my second Abyss pedal build and am running into some issues, which I can't seem to resolve.

Here's where I'm at:
- I'm getting signal in bypass, but no sound when switch is engaged
- Front LED light works when pedal is engaged
- I swapped the switch and rewired that, thinking that was the issue, but it didn't help
- I had plugged in a 12V power adapter at one point by mistake when testing
- I'm new to voltage testing and reading schematics, but started tracing from the + and noticed the diode (D1) wasn't getting and voltage. I swapped that diode out and now I'm getting 9.28v from both sides, but no power beyond that (C9, IC1, IC2, etc)
- I swapped out the ICs (in case they got toasted), but still no power reading from any IC points
- Lastly, someone suggested cleaning the PCB with isopropyl alcohol, which left some residue around the connectors

Is it possible that I bricked the PCB by plugging in that 12V power?  Any thoughts on what else to do?

Here's the link to the schematic: https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/Abyss.pdf

Thanks!


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## fig

You should have 9VDC @ pin 8 of IC1 and pin 4 of IC2.


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## PJS

It is suspicious to me that you get the sae voltage on both sides of D1.  You should be getting .45V drop across that diode.  If not then you have a shorted diode or a short on the PCB - most likely a solder short would be my guess.


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## carlinb17

Your foot switch breakout boards is backwards…


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Hi All. I'm building my second Abyss pedal build and am running into some issues, which I can't seem to resolve.
> 
> Here's where I'm at:
> - I'm getting signal in bypass, but no sound when switch is engaged
> - Front LED light works when pedal is engaged
> - I swapped the switch and rewired that, thinking that was the issue, but it didn't help
> - I had plugged in a 12V power adapter at one point by mistake when testing
> - I'm new to voltage testing and reading schematics, but started tracing from the + and noticed the diode (D1) wasn't getting and voltage. I swapped that diode out and now I'm getting 9.28v from both sides, but no power beyond that (C9, IC1, IC2, etc)
> - I swapped out the ICs (in case they got toasted), but still no power reading from any IC points
> - Lastly, someone suggested cleaning the PCB with isopropyl alcohol, which left some residue around the connectors
> 
> Is it possible that I bricked the PCB by plugging in that 12V power?  Any thoughts on what else to do?
> 
> Here's the link to the schematic: https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/Abyss.pdf
> 
> Thanks!


*carlinb17 *is correct with the Breakout Board, Unless you have reverse wired your IN, GND, SW & OUT on the Abyss PCB which is not the way to go!

Can you Test for Continuity on the matching coloured circles below :


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## Dirty_Boogie

Jdilly said:


> Hi All. I'm building my second Abyss pedal build and am running into some issues, which I can't seem to resolve.
> 
> Here's where I'm at:
> - I'm getting signal in bypass, but no sound when switch is engaged
> - Front LED light works when pedal is engaged
> - I swapped the switch and rewired that, thinking that was the issue, but it didn't help
> - I had plugged in a 12V power adapter at one point by mistake when testing
> - I'm new to voltage testing and reading schematics, but started tracing from the + and noticed the diode (D1) wasn't getting and voltage. I swapped that diode out and now I'm getting 9.28v from both sides, but no power beyond that (C9, IC1, IC2, etc)
> - I swapped out the ICs (in case they got toasted), but still no power reading from any IC points
> - Lastly, someone suggested cleaning the PCB with isopropyl alcohol, which left some residue around the connectors
> 
> Is it possible that I bricked the PCB by plugging in that 12V power?  Any thoughts on what else to do?
> 
> Here's the link to the schematic: https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/Abyss.pdf
> 
> Thanks!


Any updates for us?  We love a solved issue!


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## Jdilly

Thanks so much for following up and checking in. I really appreciate everyone's fast reply and feedback. I plan on tackling this tonight (I ran out of solder - rookie mistake). I'm also planning on creating a test box with inputs, power, and switch for this and future builds. I'll reply back as soon as I'm back up and running.


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> *carlinb17 *is correct with the Breakout Board, Unless you have reverse wired your IN, GND, SW & OUT on the Abyss PCB which is not the way to go!
> 
> Can you Test for Continuity on the matching coloured circles below :
> View attachment 20748


Sorry for the delay. Got distracted building a test box to help with troubleshooting.  

The red circles beep for me when I connect them together, but I’m not getting any sound when connecting any of the green spots.


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## Jdilly

@music6000 @Dirty_Boogie Along with the continuity update in the reply above, here’s where I’m getting voltage and not seeing voltage in the schematic. I also resoldered the whole board, which didn’t seem to help any (Unless I created new problems).

Ultimately I’m wondering if I fried the board after plugging a 12v adapter in here.


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## giovanni

I doubt you could have damaged the board with the 12V adapter. No continuity between the green dots may mean that the diode is not soldered properly and thus you are getting no power. Looking at the solder side, I can’t really tell what’s going on but it looks like not enough solder on the diode?


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> @music6000 @Dirty_Boogie Along with the continuity update in the reply above, here’s where I’m getting voltage and not seeing voltage in the schematic. I also resoldered the whole board, which didn’t seem to help any (Unless I created new problems).
> 
> Ultimately I’m wondering if I fried the board after plugging a 12v adapter in here.


It appears you may have a damaged trace between 4K7 Red Pad & 1N5817 Red Pad???
Check for Continuity on this updated Picture :


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## Jdilly

Thanks @music6000 . I think you’re on to something. Based on the new circled spots above, that’s the only spot that’s not getting continuity. I tried resoldering that area a few times and even swapped that diode out. When I go to apply the solder now, the solder doesn’t seem to want to adhere to the trace/PCB board.

Is there anything that can be done to remedy the problem?


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## Jdilly

Here’s some closeups of the area.


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Here’s some closeups of the area.


Try soldering using a resistor lead and jumpering to the 2 components from the bottom side of board , not the pads on the damaged area!


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## Dirty_Boogie

How about just jumpering the 1N5817 diode, and taking power directly from the + pad?  The diode is not integral to the circuit - it’s just for reverse polarity protection. 

And I agree, plugging in a 12V power supply probably had no impact.


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## Jdilly

@Dirty_Boogie @music6000 I jumped from R27 to the diode (D1) and am seeing more activity. I’m finally getting an audio signal in both bypass and active mode, but the strobe light isn’t coming on and am not hearing the effect. I started audio probing this AM to try to find the problem area. 

Is that the right next step? I’m kinda unclear when to do continuity checks vs voltage checks vs audio probing. 

Thanks a ton for the ongoing help with this. It’s beyond appreciated.


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## fig

It's a downer that you are having this issue, but know that it's providing a great learning experience for lots of people (me included). Music6000 can certainly get you there!


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## Jdilly

fig said:


> It's a downer that you are having this issue, but know that it's providing a great learning experience for lots of people (me included). Music6000 can certainly get you there!


Thanks. Yeah. I’ve built 5 other pedals. 2 worked out of the gate, and the other 3 had some troubleshooting, but this one takes the cake. LOL. 

Trying to use this one to really get a deeper understanding about testing/troubleshooting, schematics, etc. I’ve learned a ton. 

And the community has been so invaluable.


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## giovanni

Now that we have power and signal going through, the next steps is to figure out why the lfo is not working. That involves a relatively complicated network connected to Q1 and Q2 so maybe we can start by measuring voltages at the 3 pins of each transistor just to have an idea of what’s going on there.


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## Jdilly

@giovanni Heres what I’m seeing. On the readings with ~, the numbers were going up and down. I also included a screenshot with the current results of my audio probing (x = no audio)


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## Jdilly

Hi All. I'm building my second Abyss pedal build and am running into some issues, which I can't seem to resolve.

Here's where I'm at:
- I'm getting signal in bypass, but no sound when switch is engaged
- Front LED light works when pedal is engaged
- I swapped the switch and rewired that, thinking that was the issue, but it didn't help
- I had plugged in a 12V power adapter at one point by mistake when testing
- I'm new to voltage testing and reading schematics, but started tracing from the + and noticed the diode (D1) wasn't getting and voltage. I swapped that diode out and now I'm getting 9.28v from both sides, but no power beyond that (C9, IC1, IC2, etc)
- I swapped out the ICs (in case they got toasted), but still no power reading from any IC points
- Lastly, someone suggested cleaning the PCB with isopropyl alcohol, which left some residue around the connectors

Is it possible that I bricked the PCB by plugging in that 12V power?  Any thoughts on what else to do?

Here's the link to the schematic: https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/Abyss.pdf

Thanks!


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## giovanni

Are you measuring with the black probe at ground?


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## Jdilly

giovanni said:


> Are you measuring with the black probe at ground?


I’m almost positive, but can double check in a little bit


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## giovanni

IIRC, on Q1 you should have 0V at the emitter, ~0.6V at the base and probably around 5V at the collector (not sure about that last one).

On Q2, the emitter should be slightly above 0V and the base ~0.6V above that number. The collector voltage depends on the voice control and should go all the way up to ~8V on one end of the pot run.


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## Jdilly

@giovanni Just double checked the transistors and I’m getting 0, .6, and almost 4 for Q1 and 0, -2.5, -2.3 for Q2

Although the values aren’t static on my meter when I touch the contact points.


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## giovanni

Q1 is good but I don’t quite understand why you’re getting negative voltage on Q2. How do you have the voice set?


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## giovanni

Can you check that the LED is oriented correctly?


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## Jdilly

@giovanni For the strobe LED I’m getting .6 on the outside lead and 0 on the inner one. 

Attached are also the voltage readings from the ICs


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## Jdilly

giovanni said:


> Q1 is good but I don’t quite understand why you’re getting negative voltage on Q2. How do you have the voice set?


I’ve tried both 20 V- and 200V-  attached is my meter


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## giovanni

No I mean the voice knob on the pedal. The first order of business is to figure out why your led doesn’t blink.


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## giovanni

Jdilly said:


> @giovanni For the strobe LED I’m getting .6 on the outside lead and 0 on the inner one.
> 
> Attached are also the voltage readings from the ICs


What do you mean? How did you measure it?


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## giovanni

giovanni said:


> What do you mean? How did you measure it?


Oh you mean across the led? 0.6V is standard.


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> @giovanni For the strobe LED I’m getting .6 on the outside lead and 0 on the inner one.
> 
> Attached are also the voltage readings from the ICs


We need to know about the Breakout Footswitch board to the Abyss PCB.
We know from earlier pictures that it's Upside Down.
Confirm IN to IN, GND to GND, SW to SW & OUT to OUT.

You need to *Clean *the Board on the solder side, it's nasty!


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## Jdilly

giovanni said:


> Oh you mean across the led? 0.6V is standard.


Yeah. The left lead measured .6v and the right 0v. I wasn’t sure how else to gauge if the LED was soldered in the right direction since I snipped the leads.


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> We need to know about the Breakout Footswitch board to the Abyss PCB.
> We know from earlier pictures that it's Upside Down.
> Confirm IN to IN, GND to GND, SW to SW & OUT to OUT.
> 
> You need to *Clean *the Board on the solder side, it's nasty!


This is an earlier photo. Since then, I removed this switch and made a test box (see attached). To see if the test box was working properly I did a continuity check with the in and out probes in both bypass and engaged mode. 

Since then I’ve also cleaned the board with 90% alcohol and a toothbrush, although, I think it can still use some more cleaning. I think I may have been too gentle the first go around. It still looks “dirty”

Here’s the latest


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## giovanni

Jdilly said:


> Yeah. The left lead measured .6v and the right 0v. I wasn’t sure how else to gauge if the LED was soldered in the right direction since I snipped the leads.


And those are measured from ground?!?


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Yeah. The left lead measured .6v and the right 0v. I wasn’t sure how else to gauge if the LED was soldered in the right direction since I snipped the leads.


At the Base of the Led should be a Flat edge which should be the Cathode??


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## Jdilly

I’m not sure if this is what you mean, but I have the black probe from the multimeter attached to the ground wire on the bottom of my effects PCB and probed the two points where the strobe LED are with the red multimeter probe to get the .6v and 0 reading. 

I had the effect engaged and something plugged into the input and output when taking the reading also.


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## giovanni

That tells us that the led is shorted to ground rather than connected to the transistor which is probably why the lfo doesn’t work.


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## Jdilly

@music6000 @giovanni The positive is on the left, which seems right based on the documentation. Should I try swapping it out (in case it’s a bad bulb or it shorted)?


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## giovanni

I believe that’s correct based on https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/led-polarity.5/ so don’t touch anything. The problem you have is that Q2 may be incorrectly biased which means one or more of the surrounding components may be installed incorrectly.


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## Jdilly

Hi All. I'm building my second Abyss pedal build and am running into some issues, which I can't seem to resolve.

Here's where I'm at:
- I'm getting signal in bypass, but no sound when switch is engaged
- Front LED light works when pedal is engaged
- I swapped the switch and rewired that, thinking that was the issue, but it didn't help
- I had plugged in a 12V power adapter at one point by mistake when testing
- I'm new to voltage testing and reading schematics, but started tracing from the + and noticed the diode (D1) wasn't getting and voltage. I swapped that diode out and now I'm getting 9.28v from both sides, but no power beyond that (C9, IC1, IC2, etc)
- I swapped out the ICs (in case they got toasted), but still no power reading from any IC points
- Lastly, someone suggested cleaning the PCB with isopropyl alcohol, which left some residue around the connectors

Is it possible that I bricked the PCB by plugging in that 12V power?  Any thoughts on what else to do?

Here's the link to the schematic: https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/Abyss.pdf

Thanks!


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> @music6000 @giovanni The positive is on the left, which seems right based on the documentation. Should I try swapping it out (in case it’s a bad bulb or it shorted)?


What Voltage are you getting at Legs 1 & 2 of *Voice* Potentiometer?
Does *Voice *Leg 3 have Continuity with Positive side of Yellow LED D2?
Do Continuity Test on matching Coloured Circles :


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> What Voltage are you getting at Legs 1 & 2 of *Voice* Potentiometer?
> Does *Voice *Leg 3 have Continuity with Positive side of Yellow LED D2?
> Do Continuity Test on matching Coloured Circles :
> View attachment 21263


What Voltage are you getting at Legs 1 & 2 of Voice Potentiometer?

This sounds crazy, but the values seems to be slowing climbing up and down when I test all 3 legs. I made sure my test connections were good and am getting normal/static readings in other places. 


Does VoiceLeg 3 have Continuity with Positive side of Yellow LED D2? No


Do Continuity Test on matching Coloured Circles :

See attached


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> What Voltage are you getting at Legs 1 & 2 of Voice Potentiometer?
> 
> This sounds crazy, but the values seems to be slowing climbing up and down when I test all 3 legs. I made sure my test connections were good and am getting normal/static readings in other places.
> 
> 
> Does VoiceLeg 3 have Continuity with Positive side of Yellow LED D2? No
> 
> 
> Do Continuity Test on matching Coloured Circles :
> 
> See attached


As soon as 9v power is plugged in, Yellow D2 SHOULD LIGHT UP.
You should have aprox, 8.8V Fixed voltage to *VOICE* Legs 1 & 2!
Did you have an issue Soldering D2 Yellow LED.
Try putting a temporary jumper from *VOICE* Leg 3 to Anode of D2 and see if that lights up???




With


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> As soon as 9v power is plugged in, Yellow D2 SHOULD LIGHT UP.
> You should have aprox, 8.8V Fixed voltage to *VOICE* Legs 1 & 2!
> Did you have an issue Soldering D2 Yellow LED.
> Try putting a temporary jumper from *VOICE* Leg 3 to Anode of D2 and see if that lights up???
> 
> View attachment 21268
> With


Thanks again! I'll give the temporary jumper from the voice pot to D2 a shot. Since I'm not getting a fixed read on the voice pot, could that be a bad pot or the pot not being soldered properly?


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Thanks again! I'll give the temporary jumper from the voice pot to D2 a shot. Since I'm not getting a fixed read on the voice pot, could that be a bad pot or the pot not being soldered properly?


It could be a curse being a Dual Gang used as a standard pot???
 12. 20 am here in OZ so Goodnight.


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> It could be a curse being a Dual Gang used as a standard pot???
> 12. 20 am here in OZ so Goodnight.


Thanks again. Have a good night!


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Thanks again. Have a good night!


Where are you at with this?


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## Jdilly

Thanks for checkin in. I’m gonna hit it tonight. Was dealing with a broken furnace and 15F temp. 🤦🏻‍♂️


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Thanks for checkin in. I’m gonna hit it tonight. Was dealing with a broken furnace and 15F temp. 🤦🏻‍♂️


Our furnace is the Sun in Australia!
It's been cruising around 40 degrees Celsius for 2 weeks!!!
.


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> Our furnace is the Sun in Australia!
> It's been cruising around 40 degrees Celsius for 2 weeks!!!
> .


Yikes. That’s hot!


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## Barry

music6000 said:


> Our furnace is the Sun in Australia!
> It's been cruising around 40 degrees Celsius for 2 weeks!!!
> .


That's a few degrees over 100F isn't it? How bad's the humidity there?


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> As soon as 9v power is plugged in, Yellow D2 SHOULD LIGHT UP.
> You should have aprox, 8.8V Fixed voltage to *VOICE* Legs 1 & 2!
> Did you have an issue Soldering D2 Yellow LED.
> Try putting a temporary jumper from *VOICE* Leg 3 to Anode of D2 and see if that lights up???
> 
> View attachment 21268
> With



I’m still not getting anywhere near an 8.8V reading on the Voice POT (the numbers change as I hold the voltage probe steady on the legs). I ordered a standard B10K pot which is arriving this Friday.

I tried jumping leg 3 of Voice pot anyway to the Anode of D2, but the LED didn’t light up at all (not even dimly). From there, I swapped out the LED and tried again, but still the same result.

@music6000 Any other things to try while I wait for that new B10K pot to come in?


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> I’m still not getting anywhere near an 8.8V reading on the Voice POT (the numbers change as I hold the voltage probe steady on the legs). I ordered a standard B10K pot which is arriving this Friday.
> 
> I tried jumping leg 3 of Voice pot anyway to the Anode of D2, but the LED didn’t light up at all (not even dimly). From there, I swapped out the LED and tried again, but still the same result.
> 
> @music6000 Any other things to try while I wait for that new B10K pot to come in?


Carefully remove the *VOICE *Pot & see if the Voltage stays at around 8.8V on Legs 1 & 2
If your not confident at removing the Pot, cut the 3 legs so you can remove them one at a time!!!


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> Carefully remove the *VOICE *Pot & see if the Voltage stays at around 8.8V on Legs 1 & 2
> If your not confident at removing the Pot, cut the 3 legs so you can remove them one at a time!!!


Not sure if this is what you meant, but I removed the voice pot and checked the levels on the PCB pads where the pot goes, but wasn't getting any levels. Is that what you were suggesting?


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Not sure if this is what you meant, but I removed the voice pot and checked the levels on the PCB pads where the pot goes, but wasn't getting any levels. Is that what you were suggesting?


Test with your DMM & make sure your getting around 8.8v on *VOICE* Legs 1 & 2.


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## music6000

music6000 said:


> Test with your DMM & make sure your getting around 8.8v on *VOICE* Legs 1 & 2.


Waiting for the Verdict, did you damage the Pot pads????


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> Waiting for the Verdict, did you damage the Pot pads????


Hey there. When I test the 3 pads with the DMM where the pot legs would go, I get minimal voltage coming in (.04v). That’s putting the positive meter probe right on the pad with nothing in it.


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## giovanni

That probably means the pad or the trace are damaged. You may need to add some jumpers.


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Hey there. When I test the 3 pads with the DMM where the pot legs would go, I get minimal voltage coming in (.04v). That’s putting the positive meter probe right on the pad with nothing in it.


All the Pads in Yellow Circles should be around 8.8 volts, they are all connected!, If not ,there is damaged Trace.
Do you get 8.8v to the *+ *side of C9 - 100uf???
In the Super Enlarged Picture you can see the trace between C9 *+ *& *VOICE* Leg1, Check for Continuity!
There is also a trace from Leg1 to Leg 2, Check for Continuity again!
You will not get any power to Leg 3 until the Pot is installed, it works as a Variable Resistor to supply more or less voltage to the Yellow LED.


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## music6000

Barry said:


> That's a few degrees over 100F isn't it? How bad's the humidity there?


We had a 44 degree Day = 110 F!!!
Thankfully, No Humidity so the Evaporative Cooler is working well to keep the House around 20 to 25 degrees Celsius!
The Heat drops quickly when the Sun goes down so by 10pm we can use Ceiling fans til the next day.


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## Jdilly

Hi All. I'm building my second Abyss pedal build and am running into some issues, which I can't seem to resolve.

Here's where I'm at:
- I'm getting signal in bypass, but no sound when switch is engaged
- Front LED light works when pedal is engaged
- I swapped the switch and rewired that, thinking that was the issue, but it didn't help
- I had plugged in a 12V power adapter at one point by mistake when testing
- I'm new to voltage testing and reading schematics, but started tracing from the + and noticed the diode (D1) wasn't getting and voltage. I swapped that diode out and now I'm getting 9.28v from both sides, but no power beyond that (C9, IC1, IC2, etc)
- I swapped out the ICs (in case they got toasted), but still no power reading from any IC points
- Lastly, someone suggested cleaning the PCB with isopropyl alcohol, which left some residue around the connectors

Is it possible that I bricked the PCB by plugging in that 12V power?  Any thoughts on what else to do?

Here's the link to the schematic: https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/Abyss.pdf

Thanks!


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## music6000

music6000 said:


> All the Pads in Yellow Circles should be around 8.8 volts, they are all connected!, If not ,there is damaged Trace.
> Do you get 8.8v to the *+ *side of C9 - 100uf???
> In the Super Enlarged Picture you can see the trace between C9 *+ *& *VOICE* Leg1, Check for Continuity!
> There is also a trace from Leg1 to Leg 2, Check for Continuity again!
> You will not get any power to Leg 3 until the Pot is installed, it works as a Variable Resistor to supply more or less voltage to the Yellow LED.
> 
> View attachment 21464View attachment 21466


Test with DMM set to DC volts with Black probe on GND pad & Red probe on Yellow circles!!!


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> All the Pads in Yellow Circles should be around 8.8 volts, they are all connected!, If not ,there is damaged Trace.
> Do you get 8.8v to the *+ *side of C9 - 100uf???
> In the Super Enlarged Picture you can see the trace between C9 *+ *& *VOICE* Leg1, Check for Continuity!
> There is also a trace from Leg1 to Leg 2, Check for Continuity again!
> You will not get any power to Leg 3 until the Pot is installed, it works as a Variable Resistor to supply more or less voltage to the Yellow LED.
> 
> View attachment 21464View attachment 21466


All the continuity checks worked. Many of the yellow pads are getting ~9v, but I highlighted the ones that aren’t (C9 100u +, and the 2 legs of B10k)


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> All the continuity checks worked. Many of the yellow pads are getting ~9v, but I highlighted the ones that aren’t (C9 100u +, and the 2 legs of B10k)


From the back of the board get a piece of insulated hookup wire like you used on your Input/ Output Jacks.
Solder Wire to 1N5817 Yellow circle Pad  & other End to C9 + Yellow Circle Pad.
You should have around 8.8v to C9 & hopefully VOICE Legs 1 & 2 & all the other Yellow Circles!!!


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> From the back of the board get a piece of insulated hookup wire like you used on your Input/ Output Jacks.
> Solder Wire to 1N5817 Yellow circle Pad  & other End to C9 + Yellow Circle Pad.
> You should have around 8.8v to C9 & hopefully VOICE Legs 1 & 2 & all the other Yellow Circles!!!


Making progress. The jumper wire got me 9V to the yellow circles. Strobe LED is still not turning on though.


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Making progress. The jumper wire got me 9V to the yellow circles. Strobe LED is still not turning on though.


Have you replaced the *VOICE *pot, it needs that to power Strobe LED?
If Yes, then put a temporary jumper from VOICE Leg 3 to Strobe Anode pad to see if that Trace is damaged or LED is damaged!


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## Jdilly

Yeah. The new pot is in there. I’ll try the jumper next. Thanks again. TGIF!


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> Have you replaced the *VOICE *pot, it needs that to power Strobe LED?
> If Yes, then put a temporary jumper from VOICE Leg 3 to Strobe Anode pad to see if that Trace is damaged or LED is damaged!


So, I just added that jumper but still no light, although I’m getting 9v to both the 3rd leg and strobe Anode. What’s strange though is that I already swapped that LED earlier this week, so that shouldn’t be damaged. Any ideas?


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> So, I just added that jumper but still no light, although I’m getting 9v to both the 3rd leg and strobe Anode. What’s strange though is that I already swapped that LED earlier this week, so that shouldn’t be damaged. Any ideas?


Do you have continuity from Cathode Strobe LED pad to 47k & Q2 green circles
If Yes, then your LED is Damaged:


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## Jdilly

music6000 said:


> Do you have continuity from Cathode Strobe LED pad to 47k & Q2 green circles
> If Yes, then your LED is Damaged:


Just checked and there is no continuity from the Cathode strobe to that 47k resistor or the other green circle.


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> Just checked and there is no continuity from the Cathode strobe to that 47k resistor or the other green circle.


Well, you know what is next!
Unplug Power from pedal!
Solder a Insulated jumper from the Strobe Cathode pad to the 47k pad & see if the LED lights up when you plug Power back in!
*Keep the wire ends short when soldering so if the Back of the pot squashes the jumpers they don't touch other pads!!!
You can use some super glue to hold the insulated jumper ends down on the PCB if need be so they don't foul on other pads!!!*


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## Jdilly

EUREKA! Houston, we have blinking strobe LED (both in bypass and active mode)


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## music6000

Jdilly said:


> EUREKA! Houston, we have blinking strobe LED (both in bypass and active mode)


Cool, but does it make wobble wobble sounds when active?
12.23am, I'm off to Bed!


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## Jdilly

Yeah. Wobbling’ away 🤩


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## giovanni

Great news!!!


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## JamieJ

Persistence pays off! Good work all!


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## music6000

*Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah !!!!*


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## fig

Far out...Great thread! (especially the ending).


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## Jdilly

Yeah. So pumped. And extremely grateful for all the help and support. Literally couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help. Especially @music6000

Hopefully Last question. Any reason why the strobe light would be on in both bypass and active mode? Could it have anything to do with the effect being weird to my test box?


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## Robert

The effect circuit (and LFO) are always active, even when the pedal is in bypass.

This is normal.


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## TravisM

Good thread - glad it got solved. Is the take-away here too much heat or was something else the culprit for damaging the traces?


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## Jdilly

Hi All. I'm building my second Abyss pedal build and am running into some issues, which I can't seem to resolve.

Here's where I'm at:
- I'm getting signal in bypass, but no sound when switch is engaged
- Front LED light works when pedal is engaged
- I swapped the switch and rewired that, thinking that was the issue, but it didn't help
- I had plugged in a 12V power adapter at one point by mistake when testing
- I'm new to voltage testing and reading schematics, but started tracing from the + and noticed the diode (D1) wasn't getting and voltage. I swapped that diode out and now I'm getting 9.28v from both sides, but no power beyond that (C9, IC1, IC2, etc)
- I swapped out the ICs (in case they got toasted), but still no power reading from any IC points
- Lastly, someone suggested cleaning the PCB with isopropyl alcohol, which left some residue around the connectors

Is it possible that I bricked the PCB by plugging in that 12V power?  Any thoughts on what else to do?

Here's the link to the schematic: https://docs.pedalpcb.com/project/Abyss.pdf

Thanks!


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## djmiyta

TravisM said:


> Good thread - glad it got solved. Is the take-away here too much heat or was something else the culprit for damaging the traces?


From my experience (and especially on  the boards I’ve etched and drilled myself )just a little too much time on a solder can be enough to lift the pad off the board but not enough to see it until you use magnification and continuity checks. And as I continue on troubleshooting turning the board over and over that unseen lifted pad or trace gets weaker everytime it moves and usually breaks and still can’t be seen with the eye. If I can’t see it with my eye I continuity check everything first eliminating any connection problems from the starts (better than just reflowing every joint( what if you still suck at soldering? Quite possible you make things worse by lifting another pad or creating unwanted solder bridges etc.
If you don’t already have one get yourself a lighted magnifier (too many years of not having one could’ve saved me so so many headaches


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## PJS

A good troubleshooting thread is like a good novel.  There's plot twists and turns, a few blind alleys and red herrings, some real clues thrown into the mix.  Nice plot progression, and a good outcome in the end.  Probably some character development as well.


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## music6000

TravisM said:


> Good thread - glad it got solved. Is the take-away here too much heat or was something else the culprit for damaging the traces?


I believe Heat for too long & removal and replacement of components was a big issue here!!!


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## giovanni

Kudos to @music6000 for guiding the troubleshooting!


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## Jdilly

Hey All. Here’s my pedal in action. 





This pedal has the deepest of meaning to me. It was created to honor my daughter Penelope (Penny) who passed away in 2016 at the age of 2.5 suddenly of Menengitis. Even at her young age, music played a big part in her life. She would bop around every time I would play music, would always walk around with her purple ukulele, and even loved to sing Purple Rain. Each penny on this pedal is a special penny that we found in special, often random, places since she passed. 

Even though she’s not here physically with us, her light and spirit are around our family, others who knew her, and others beyond that. I can’t help but think she’s behind some of the kindness that appears in my life. Thank you again for all who took the time, and extended kindness to help a stranger. Special shout-out to @music6000


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