THE SHIPPING
On average, it takes about 4 to 8 weeks for my stuff to arrive in this post-pandemic era. And sometimes, they can be two weeks earlier, such as some of my ‘critical’ orders for this Project. To be fair, I had emails stating that most of the packages had arrive in the Country since last week.
When I was searching for components, what I have noticed that, in most of the Sellers, and based on available options, if I pay more than the value of the product I can actually get my stuff faster. By half.
Lately, I have also noticed that some Sellers do have accounts with our local Shopping platform and despite the significant difference in pricing, their deliveries were much faster. Alas, there is limited choice when it comes to electronic components. Again, depending on the value of the items, the (almost) flat shipping can be either cost effective or well, bordering on the ridiculous.
So, yeah, I chose to be patient instead.
Some SMD components such as the capacitor has NO identifying labels and so, you need to take them out and use them one value at a time.
THE SOLDERING
As this is relatively a new PCB and not of my own design, I have to approach it with more attention. The plan is to solder the necessary circuits first, and then test them before moving on. This way, I can at least pin-point more or less where the issue could be.
THE 555 IC
In order for this circuit to run, I would need to solder the following components first:
Resistors
R1, R4: 0805 100K [Code 104]
R2, R5: 0805 200R [Code 201]
Capacitors
C1: 0805 4.7uF [Code 479]
C3: 0805 2.2uF [Code 201]
C2, C4: 0805 0.01uF or 100nF [Code 018]
Semi-conductors
IC1, IC2: 555 SO8
TESTING
Now, let’s apply some low voltage power, say 3.7v from a Lipo or, anything from 4.5v (3x AA or AAA batteries) or a Mobile Phone USB charger that will give you 5 volts. But please, do not, plug into a PC’s or Laptop’s USB port.
Using an analogue meter, set the readings for say, 10volts DC. Connect the Negative probe to the power supply’s Negative terminal. Then put 1the Positive probe to pin #1 of the 555 timer. You will get a reading of anything from 3.7 to 5 volts, depending on your power source. Touch the probe to pin #3 of the 555. Your needle in theory, should move. I am not sure why mine did not, so I used the next next best thing….
THE SACRIFICIAL LED
OK, maybe I should not call it that. I am a little to lazy to solder a current limiting resistor to the LED to protect it. The only solution would be to use a 3volt (2x AA or AAA) power supply. Then, I have to select a white LED since its working voltage is anywhere between 3.0 volts to about 3.5 volts.
Slowly place the Negative Leg (long one) of the LED on pin#3 and the Positive leg (short one) on pin #1. The LED would blink, just like the analogue meter’s needle would move.
THE 4017 IC
We have established that the 555 IC is now working. So, the next step would be to solder in the 4017 IC. And again, to test it, you can use either the analogue meter or the LED method.
The pins to connect are:
Pin #3 : Blink output for the LED
Pin #2 : Blink output for the LED
Pin #4 : Blink output for the LED
Pin #7 : Blink output for the LED
Pin #14: Clock pulse from the 555 IC
Pin #8: For the LED, this is the Negative
And when you have confirmed the 4017 is working, it is time to turn the board on the other side and solder the remaining LEDs and resistors. Sadly, I forgot to test the 4017 (In other words, I skipped this step. Oh, boy)
FINAL RESULT
It was quite a thrill to finally insert the PCB into the TR-595E’s 3D printed main body and…
crap.
The green scanning array LEDs are not working. I mean, not sweeping or does whatever a scanning LED array would do. The orange LEDs are very intense. I was hoping that it would not be too orange-red but more of a orange-yellow. I will have to look into why the board is not working properly as it should in one of these few days.
But if you search and looked all over the Internet, the front array LEDs have slightly different details (colours) and, effects.
I skipped the video to the part where he shows the front array. this version does not have any orange LED, just yellows reds and green. So, for the TR-595E, I will show you how to change that and it is very easy to do.
LETS STILL PRETEND EVERYTHING IS OK…
Remember the trepidation I had with the middle green scanning array? After some careful soldering, it was not an issue at all. Seems like the R3 resistor is not creating any gap.
But do look at the 3D printed material, which is very translucent. So, I would need to light block it at a later stage. However, I do not need to do a full spraying process because if you observe the videos of these MkIX or X, there are some light leaks inside the body. In some videos, you can see it between the middle sections between the LED groups. I wanted my PCB to be in black to minimise and absorb excess light where possible.
TROUBLESHOOTING
So, as you can see, I have an issue with the green scanning LEDs in the middle. I suspect it could be the wiring from the 4017’s output. Without testing, the first visual clue is that the top two green LEDs are blinking alternatively without any issues. This means the 4017 IC1 is OK. Some of the green LEDs (on the left) of the scanning array would light up and sometimes not whenever I power the PCB.
This is what I am going to do:
Check on the health of the eight green LEDs
Check on their orientation
De-solder all of them and check the LED solder pads for 4017’s signals.
Check all the tracks for hidden shorts or broken links
So I hope, I can ind some Mylar (or its equivalent) sticker here in Malaysia.
