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FrankenZERO - A bang for buck exploration with a DIY Heart ! - Page 16

post #226 of 427
1/31/09 at 2:21am

Another Frankie is born!

Hello Everybody,

I've just completed my frankenZero project yesterday. Everyting went smooth exept for one PIO... I was a little nervous to proceed since my zero was a few weeks old only.

So I started with the power supply section than I've put the board back in place to test it. It was working fine! Than I decided to go further. I'm an electronic tech and I'm not at my first project but I founded hard to solder some PIO caps maybe due to the big legs. I recommand to twist and route the PIO caps legs by following the pictures included in the project and THEN solder them. I did the mistake of moovin one PIO once it was soldered and "BANG!!" i broked one "donnut". I needed to splice and repair... Everything was done and I was anxious to test...

I then put back the frankenzero in the chain. WoW!! Very nice sound was coming thru my headphones !! I was using GLite to comment the DAC section. Everthing was more extended, relax and clear with more separation. I don't have HDAM upgrade wet! I know I'll have to wait a couple hundred of hours before the whole thing grows up but the sounds is considerably better. It worths it no doubt.

Tank you very much P.P. for your time and accomplishment. I will comment on the sound once it's completely burned. I also wonder wich HDAM to get (earth, sun...). Input would be greatly appreciate. Sorry for my English!

Cheers!

Christian
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post #227 of 427
1/31/09 at 8:11am
Uh oh.. I just attempted to mod my zero.. I thought I completed it but now there's no sound coming from my zero.. and i'm freaked. how do i troubleshoot this? When i completed phase 1 without adding the PIO bypass it worked, then i proceeded to phase 2 and now it doesnt work.. Someone help please!

The coaxial light sometimes lights up, sometimes doesnt. I have totally no idea what's wrong.
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post #228 of 427
1/31/09 at 9:56am
Ok, now the coaxial LED lights up but there's no sound from the RCA jacks..

EDIT: Make that no sound except pops and crackles..
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post #229 of 427
1/31/09 at 10:42am
Ok, removed all the PIO bypass caps, replaced a few of the lytic caps but there's still no sound. Probably a high chance I fried my DAC chip or something? Though i didnt hear any spark or see any smoke.. Is there a way to troubleshoot this?
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post #230 of 427
1/31/09 at 11:27am
imho, on 99% youve soldered something wrong.
Check carefully ALL traces which are leading to capacitors. REmbeber that many of these caps MUST be soldered from upper side of the PCB (not only from the bottom side).

i had many, many, many problems with my zero. mostly lifted tracks(traces) which were not connectd to caps).

i bet you didnt fried anything. I had similalr problems, many times. Take your DAC board to the good source of light and look on traces if they are connected properly. here's image, im sure youve done something wrong in one of these caps

good luck
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post #231 of 427
1/31/09 at 11:36am
Also make sure your polarized caps are oriented properly, any Diodes also.
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post #232 of 427
1/31/09 at 2:25pm
Double checked and triple checked all the capacitors and resistors.. everything seems to be in order. Looked very closely at the traces, only spotted one trace that'd been lifted but i corrected it with hookup wire. The coaxial light now doesn't light up, and there's still no sound
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post #233 of 427
1/31/09 at 2:38pm
I removed and resoldered most of the capacitors behind the board to make sure that the solder joints are solid. Still, no luck. Here are some pictures for you helpful gurus to analyse. Be warned, the board is a battlefield.. the 4700uF capacitors I ordered were too large to fit onto the board so i had to use hookup wire. But the multimeter reads 20V across the caps so it shouldnt be the source of the problem..







Holy hell, those pics turned out huge. Sorry for the crappy quality, handphone camera.
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post #234 of 427
1/31/09 at 2:54pm
I haven't done mine yet, but for some reason it looks like a lot of caps are missing??
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post #235 of 427
1/31/09 at 3:52pm
I soldered the caps behind cos i had a hard time desoldering the stock caps
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post #236 of 427
1/31/09 at 3:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by juswyq View Post
I soldered the caps behind cos i had a hard time desoldering the stock caps
All tose connections are "point to point" have you used a DMM to check resistance and continuity?

\.
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post #237 of 427
2/1/09 at 1:21am
I've checked the continuity of all the solder joints i've done, and they're all fine. I then desoldered on the caps and resoldered on the stock caps to make sure the caps i bought werent faulty. the problem still persists; the coaxial LED on the red board sporadically turns on and off, and produces pops and crackles in the headphones. I can't fathom why. I've been meticulously tracing all the traces but found no trace of any broken traces. I can't think of any other explanation besides accidentally frying a component. Hmm..
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post #238 of 427
2/3/09 at 6:55am
K, this is very weird. I've just about given up hope on my dead zero. something odd happens, when i turn on the power, the two black heatsinks on the right of the largest power capacitors actually have a potential difference of 36V. you read that right, thirty six volts over two HEAT SINKS. I think one of the chips attached to the heat sink is fried. I made the startling discovery when my DMM probe skimmed over the heatsinks and sparks flew. very weird.

EDIT : ok, upon further inspection, i realise that the heatsinks on the amp of the zero also has a potential difference of 30V. so it might not be weird after all. still cant find any flaws with my work. Sad.
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post #239 of 427
2/3/09 at 8:09pm
Thread Starter 
OMG bro....I'm speechless.......I really am.

Why didn't you follow the instructions ??

Peete.
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post #240 of 427
2/3/09 at 10:43pm
got some spare parts from my Franken. PM me if anyone is interested
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