LPB 1 Boost - Working, then not working.

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raffifroundjian

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Hello,

I am new to soldering, about 4 weeks new. I have assembled several working practice kit circuits. I finished assembling my Stomp Box Parts LPB 1 Boost yesterday.
At first I was only able to get my LED to turn on with no sound. I unplugged the pedal, and resoldered the input jack and the footswitch. When I tried adding the new boost to my daisy chain, all of my pedals turned off. I also tried using just a regular 9V power supply and it wont turn on now.

I am afraid that I may have fried the pedal. I am wondering if anyone has any advice?

Thank you so much. Hoping that I can get one of these kits to work soon.
 
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Here are some photos. I hope this is helpful. Thanks again.
 

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You may need to reflow/resolder some of your wiring points. The wiring connections at the top of the board look like they could use some work.

Are any of the switch contacts making contact with bare wire between lugs?
 
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After further inspection, you may want to reflow everything on the board. Everyone has to start somewhere so I say this from a place of kindness and constructive criticism, but your soldering could use more practice.
 
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If it’s not a solder joint try replacing the protection diode. When you test it again plug in only this pedal without daisy chaining. If you have a multi meter put it on the DC voltage function and measure the voltage after that diode.

Soldering: just make sure you’re giving heat to both the component AND what you’re soldering it to at the same time. Making sure everything is secure while soldering is important too. Any movement between the two parts being soldered will usually cause issues or cold joints. After a while you’ll develop a mental clock for how long to apply the heat. I usually never touch anything longer than 1 - 1.5 seconds at a time. On my Hakko iron I usually use around 700 degrees for smaller components and even lower for surface mount. If I’m soldering something bigger like an open Switchcraft style input/output jack or a thick copper wire I’ll turn the heat up. If you don’t put enough heat into both parts the solder won’t stick. Once you get the heat and timing right the solder will “flow” and harden into a secure connection that looks shiny and almost mirror-like.
 
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Brett said:
What kind of iron are you using?

Is it adjustable temperature? If yes, where is it set to?

What type of solder are you using?
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Hey Brett, thank you for your your feedback and I agree. I definitely need work on my soldering in general. I am glad to be able to learn from watching YouTube videos, but I hope that I can work with somebody one on one. I wonder if I can de-solder everything and start over? do you recommend that I do that? Or should I just get a whole new kit altogether?
 
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raffifroundjian said:
Hey Brett, thank you for your your feedback and I agree. I definitely need work on my soldering in general. I am glad to be able to learn from watching YouTube videos, but I hope that I can work with somebody one on one. I wonder if I can de-solder everything and start over? do you recommend that I do that? Or should I just get a whole new kit altogether?
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raffifroundjian said:
Hey Brett, thank you for your your feedback and I agree. I definitely need work on my soldering in general. I am glad to be able to learn from watching YouTube videos, but I hope that I can work with somebody one on one. I wonder if I can de-solder everything and start over? do you recommend that I do that? Or should I just get a whole new kit altogether?
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Before you unsolder everything, did you check the voltage after the protection diode with the pedal plugged in by itself?
 
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raffifroundjian said:
Not yet, I should probably learn to use a multi meter
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No worries. We all gotta start somewhere. 🙂 There’s a DC voltage function on the meter. You just touch the black probe to the ground lug of the input or output jack and the red probe to the each side of the diode. Both sides should read right around 9v.

If it’s not the diode I’d just go over the all the joints again and make sure everything is soldered in good and nothing is accidentally bridged. Sometimes all it takes is a tiny piece of solder touching a spot it shouldn’t be. Your wiring all looks correct. The only thing I’d recommend for future is to seat the wires all the way in the holes on the pcb so there’s no bare wire exposed. I usually just pull it through and bend it so it stays tight in place while I solder it in.
 
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The reason you should not desolder is because you don’t have a reason to yet. Also, if you struggle with soldering, desoldering is often far more difficult to do without proper equipment and experience. You’re more likely to damage the board desoldering than you are when soldering initially.
 
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