Triangulum - no sound on bypass

Kolumbo

New member
Hi All,

I finished (well, almost..) my Triangulum kit today. It's working fine when it's on, but when the pedal is bypassed no signal can be heard. I'll attach a photograph of my build here.

Any ideas where should I start troubleshooting? Many thanks in advance.

Photo 8.9.2021, 15.09.17.jpg
 
Hi All,

I finished (well, almost..) my Triangulum kit today. It's working fine when it's on, but when the pedal is bypassed no signal can be heard. I'll attach a photograph of my build here.

Any ideas where should I start troubleshooting? Many thanks in advance.

View attachment 15796
Check to see if the individual leads from Footswitch Breakout board & PCB are not touching each other ie Solder Blobs!
& fig's suggestion above!
 
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Agreed with fig. Check continuity on the switch in both positions. My post about switches may help you if you need a gentle push.
 
if it works when the effect is on, but not in bypass, use your meter to check continuity on the footswitch legs. here is one way to do it:

1. make sure that legs 3 and 9 are connected when the pedal is in bypass
2. check to see if legs 2 and 3 are connected when the pedal is in bypass AND
3. check to see if legs 8 and 9 are connected when the pedal is in bypass



if you are not getting connectivity between pins 3 and 9 you can put a wire jumper across them and solder it into place.

if you have connectivity between 3 and 9, the bad news is that it means your footswitch is not working. your problem is probably going to be in #2 or #3, but likely not both.

but you can try to fix it with a bit of care --- since it works in bypass I would not touch pins 2 or 8.

but pin 3 or pin 9 is no longer making an internal connection to the switch. I have had that happen sometimes when the breakout board puts a bit of pressure on the pin, and when you heat the pin up to solder it in place it softens the plastic enough to move the pin away from the internal connection.

try heating up the problem leg and right after the solder becomes liquid push it down lightly to move it a very small bit. I use a chopstick for that. take the heat away from the leg and keep whatever you used to put some pressure on the leg in place until the solder hardens again. then use your meter to see if you managed to restore the internal connection.

if that did you work I would try it again and move the leg a little bit more. you have nothing to lose since you will end up replacing the switch anyway if you cannot get it to work.

I have had good luck doing this a couple of times in the past, so good luck.

over time I have changed my approach to use less solder on those switch/breakout board connections to limit the heat and time it takes to solder them.
 
Many thanks for all the responses so far. I have to admit that I did originally solder the switch/breakout board upside down - I had to resolder it to original position before finishing the build. There's a possibility I did use excess heat during the repair process and thus it doesn't work when bypassed.

I'll check the connections and will follow @zgrav 's tips regarding metering tomorrow. Let's see how it works out.
 
Many thanks for all the responses so far. I have to admit that I did originally solder the switch/breakout board upside down - I had to resolder it to original position before finishing the build. There's a possibility I did use excess heat during the repair process and thus it doesn't work when bypassed.

I'll check the connections and will follow @zgrav 's tips regarding metering tomorrow. Let's see how it works out.
The Plot Thickens!!!
 
removing the breakout board probably put a lot more heat and pressure on the pins that when it was installed. did you check to see if the switch was still working before you reinstalled the breakout board? for future reference, that would have been the easiest time to replace a bad switch.

the good news though is that most of the switch still works and you might be able to fix it with the earlier suggestions.
 
I did the tests, and I can confirm that when the bypass is on the legs 2 and 3, legs 8 and 9 and legs 3 and 9 are all connected. So, my conclusion is that the footswitch is broken. (I didn't check the operability of the switch before reinstallation of the breakout board.)

I have a spare footswitch at hand, but should I replace the breakout board as well? I'm going to need to use some heat for desoldering braid and soldering to the new footswitch, I'm afraid too much heat would damage the board as well.
 
I did the tests, and I can confirm that when the bypass is on the legs 2 and 3, legs 8 and 9 and legs 3 and 9 are all connected. So, my conclusion is that the footswitch is broken. (I didn't check the operability of the switch before reinstallation of the breakout board.)

I have a spare footswitch at hand, but should I replace the breakout board as well? I'm going to need to use some heat for desoldering braid and soldering to the new footswitch, I'm afraid too much heat would damage the board as well.
Pull the Footswitch apart & it exposes the 9 pins from inside.
Using a pointy set of plies or tweezers, Heat each Pad 1 at a time with the soldering Iron while pulling on the same internal pin & remove 1 at a time!

1631178682494.png
 
I did the tests, and I can confirm that when the bypass is on the legs 2 and 3, legs 8 and 9 and legs 3 and 9 are all connected. So, my conclusion is that the footswitch is broken. (I didn't check the operability of the switch before reinstallation of the breakout board.)

Just to be clear -- in bypass mode, does this mean you have connectivity between pins 2 and 8?
 
I did the tests, and I can confirm that when the bypass is on the legs 2 and 3, legs 8 and 9 and legs 3 and 9 are all connected. So, my conclusion is that the footswitch is broken. (I didn't check the operability of the switch before reinstallation of the breakout board.)

Just to be clear -- in bypass mode, does this mean you have connectivity between pins 2 and 8?

My apologies for a bit confusing message; I was supposed to mean that in bypass I could meter connections between:

- Pins 2 and 3
- Pins 8 and 9
- Pins 3 and 9

However, I made new metering just a minute ago, and discovered that in addition I also have connections between:

- Pins 1 and 2
- Pins 2 and 8 (yes... after all!)

I suppose I'm going to replace the footswitch with a new one, and wire it without the breakout board.
 
To conclude this topic: I wired a new 3DPT footswitch (without the breaker board), and the pedal is working fine now. I didn't take apart the old 3DPT switch, but I assume it got damaged during the re-soldering of the breaker board.

Many thanks for such a fast and good responses to my problem! Can't wait to get to test the pedal in front of my Dual Rectifier for some serious Destroy Erase Improve tones.
 
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