The Top Panel PCB has arrived and immediately, I began to work on it. This simple circuit took me three hours to figure out why it is not working. I have done the troubleshooting and although it checks out, the error was quite puzzling.
Why? If you look slightly to the left, you will see the two very important features of this board; square holes.
If I had known of this solution a decade ago, one of my designs would be a reality now.
Look at the beautiful eight solder pads on the right. I have adjusted the length for the four SMD 0805 LEDs. And on the LED, I have replaced the green LEDs with a bigger 5730 LED instead.
These are connectors for a fourth PCB where I hope it can be used for sound.
POST SOLDERING DISCUSSION
The soldering took far longer than it should and this worries me. I have tested every part of the PCB to the point of checking all the connections but it still did not light up. Only when I examined the board again and did a ‘what if’, analysis. I always worry about the 4017 IC being the main culprit and this time, I hope I am wrong. But let’s talk about this PCB now, since it is working.
This board is a re-design from the original and the only similarities are the position of the LEDs and the size of the board. I used the information from Mr. Douchette’s files and in a nutshell, animated the four LEDs on the right. And this board will have to go through one more revision such as revising the custom 5730 footprint so that I can solder it easier, change the resistor values for the 555 IC to have a better sequencing speed. And fixing that puzzling error.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
On another note, see the two red 0805 LEDs which I reverse solder? They do emit what I would call, back-lighting. If I am dong this for a scale model, I will have to be very alert during light blocking.
WHAT ARE YOUR TERMS AGAIN?
A decade ago, I coined the term, ‘Scale Lighting’ for my area of Hobby. It means providing almost believable lighting effect for scale models. The analogy of your car’s dashboard becoming a spotlight to you is how I would start my spiel.
And then, there is the term, ‘back-lighting’ for a lack of better imagination. In most LEDs, the light comes from a single point where the electrons jump from a negative charged area to a positive one. So, I tend to imagine this point of light, just like a light bulb filament, is viewable from all angles. While LED light comes out from the ‘front’, take a look at its back. There would be some significant amount of light there.
THE VIDEO
Anyway, here is the video of the Top Panel PCB with the Front Array being tested in the TMain Body.
