16 step gate switch problem

[wallace]

Hi everyone,

Just finished my 16 step build. Everything seems to be working fine except the gate switches aren't functioning. I'm using spdt (on-on) switches. The led's are working fine, but I cant turn any of the steps off. I've rechecked all the wiring and it appears to be in order.

Don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I was wondering about the area on the digital board above the switch connections. Was I supposed to do anything with those unmarked contact points and buses to nowhere?

any ideas?
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[wallace]

I feel like it must be something obvious, but I'm stumped.

[jordroid]

You said you can't ever turn the gate off, does that mean that there is always a high signal at the gate out jack? What about the trigger out jack, what happens there?

You mentioned unused pads on the digital board, i'm not sure exactly what you have going on, it looks like points S0 - S3 go only to the gate on/off switches, while points S4 - S15 go to the gate on/off switches and the "# of steps" switch, triple check with Rays diagrams.

Can you control the number of steps with the rotary switch?

If the problem isn't there then I think either you have miswired all of the gate on/off switches, or there is a problem around U6-C, D or E. Triple check everything around there, component values, correct orientation of D28 and D29, all pins of the CD40106 soldered well, stuff like that.

A little bit more info and i bet we can nail it, since the LEDs work you can't be too far away.

regards,

jordan[/i]

[wallace]

Thanks for the response Jordan.

I've gone back and triple checked everything again, and it still looks to be in line with Ray's design. Here's diagram I made from the panel as I have it wired. Maybe I missed something.

http://data.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0fgcwXZsV1r4fi1ko1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1331064327&Signature=Czd3Oiq%2BwLEEmnpfKOmibOtnSr0%3D[/url]

Component values are correct, and soldering looks good.

I'm not sure what you mean by high signal at the gate out jack. Everything is working normally, I'm just unable to turn off the individual steps with the switches, same deal when I use trigger out. The rotary switch is working fine though.


I'm still a novice with this stuff, but it seems like it must be in the switches because everything else is working fine. no weird stuff going on. does that make sense? Could it possibly be a problem with the diodes I used on the switches?

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?freeText=36311&langId=-1&storeId=10001&productId=36311&search_type=jamecoall&catalogId=10001&ddkey=http:StoreCatalogDrillDownView

I've also attached a picture of the area on the digital board I was unsure about.

Thanks again for the help!

[jordroid]

Hi again, what i mean is set the sequencer so it is not running, turn all of the gate switches to "off", then with a multimeter or scope measure the DC voltage at the gate out jack, and also at the trigger out jack. If you get close to zero volts, flip the gate switch for whichever stage is active to "on" and see what you get then. Actually whatever you read at the gate out jack, flip the gate switches around and see if you can get it to change.

Make a note of what you find and we can go from there.

The circled area on the PCB looks like via holes, you don't need to do anything with those, they just connect the top traces to the bottom traces. If you etched the board yourself you need to fill those with clippings from leads and solder them on both sides, but if it is a purchased board from Ray they can be ignored.

The diodes you linked to look good.

switch wiring does seem like a likely culprit.

regards,

jordan