Y Forum

[ramicio]

Got my PCBs yesterday:

[Florin]

It looks nice, good luck with the assembly.

[ramicio]

Long before I assemble this display board, columns are cathodes and anodes are rows, correct? I gleaned this by peeking at the assembly guide.

[Florin]

Long before I assemble this display board, columns are cathodes and anodes are rows, correct? I gleaned this by peeking at the assembly guide.

yes, correct.

[ramicio]

Well, I got all 400 LEDs soldered onto the board. Some got twisted and mangled from too much solder paste balling up in one spot, so I am awaiting my Weller soldering station to arrive. If that proves to be too difficult after a few LEDs I will just order a hot air station.

[ramicio]

I got all the LEDs situated and the unit powered on. Half of the columns don't light up and nothing happens when sound is input, even with adjusting the potentiometer for that. What are the buttons supposed to do? When I press one it seems to toggle the unit on and off. When I press the other the screen blanks and it just returns right away. Neither seem to switch any mode. There are a few stray LEDs that have a bad solder joint, but all of the rows and columns themselves have continuity. Maybe I'll just order another main board.

[Florin]

Hi,
sorry for the delay, I just stumbled on your post today.
For start, when you power on the unit you should be able to see the bottom line light up on all columns, if you are not seeing it its sure you have a problem of connectivity , either bad connection or a short. One of the switches as you discovered is for on/off while the other is for switching through the different display modes. The different modes will only be visible if you have some signal displaying on it.

I don't really know what to suggest trying on this problem as the setup is custom and I don't know it very well but its most likely connection issues either bad connection or short.

[ramicio]

The display works fine, it's just not doing anything with an input. Maybe I will try just bridging the adjustment potentiometer. Now that I have solder paste and a toaster oven, if I can't get this to work, how much would an unassembled board and components be?

I just ordered the computer case I was planning on trying to put this into, yesterday. I plan on water cooling it, and if the radiator takes up too much space, then I can't put the analyzer into that case. I don't have any real way to grab an audio source internally while simultaneously outputting from the back, so it may just end up in a headphone amp, instead. That way the volume I will constantly adjust for the headphones, the analyzer will always get the same volume.

[Florin]

unassembled kits are no longer available, I stopped offering those. Just a motherboard is not available either at this time as the stock is running low and there are only a few kits left from this batch. I could notify you when new motherboards are available but that could be 2 months ahead..

[ramicio]

I don't look at wanting this soon. I don't want just a motherboard, I want a kit. Last time I wanted an unassembled kit and it came assembled with the header on the side I didn't want it on