Aion Refractor trouble, Hopefully I boned something simple?

[scolba]

Greetings!

So I am posting here hoping for some advice on a recent build of the Aion Refractor (Klon Klone).  It was only my 2nd build of a pedal (the other being a Music Man bass preamp circuit.  I used the board and switch bypass board from Aion, figuring that would be the safest bet for me to not screw something up.  I guess I figured wrong.  lol

Info can be found here:
https://aionelectronics.com/project/refractor-centaur-overdrive/

So I assembled the board with most of the intended components.  A couple of resistors (see the hot dog looking ones in the pics) were a different type but the same values.  Also some of the caps I used were a little bit smaller than the screen printing on the board seemed to indicate, so maybe a lesser voltage rating?

The trouble I am having is that when the pedal is "off" or in bypass, I get no sound.  When its "on" and the LED is on, I am getting signal, and it sounds fine, but there isn't any overdrive.  Almost like its the bypass circuit....

So initially, and as can been seen in the picture, I left the ground off of the connection at the top of the board.  The layout from the bypass board didnt' have it wired in like when used without.  After it didn't work the first time, I wired that ground up to the 9v input, but it didn't make a difference.

So any suggestions of what to try next?  Is it possible for these 3pdt to be wired backwards or something?

Any help is appreciated!

Edit:  Sorry about the gigantic picture...

[Luke51411]

Some of those solder joints look kind of suspect. Especially the ground wire from the main board to the bypass board. If fixing that joint and any other cold joints doesn't help then you can take voltages on all the IC Pins and post them here and also familiarize your self with an audio probe. Oh and also, Welcome to the forum! You'll find the help you need here.

[Luke51411]

Also, the only voltage rating on components you will need to worry about is the electrolytic caps, they should all be rated 25v or higher. The other components are all fine.

[scolba]

Good deal on the voltages...they are indeed 25v and over.  Whew! 

As for the solder joints, I will def go back on them and reflow.  In regards to the wires on the bypass board, those solders are actually made on the backside of what you can see there.  So with that in mind, on the side that we can see, should I be able to see the solder sort of 'seeping' through to the back side to ensure a good joint?

Thanks a lot!

[Luke51411]

See how the wire looks bare? That tells me that solder didn't bond to the wire itself. Make sure you are heating the wire and the pad with iron. You will be able to see the solder sort of suck into the strands of wire. You don't need an excess of solder but if it is cold like that on the bottom there is a good chance that its a cold joint all the way through. At any rate it would be good to eliminate that as a possible cause. Also, do you have the sleeve connection from the in and/or out jack hooked up to a ground pad on the circuit board? I can't tell from the pictures. Do you have a multimeter? That will be an indispensible tool in debugging.

[scolba]

Yeah, on the input jack there is a ground from the sleeve to the ground on the main board.  The sleeve ending up being the common point for the 'star' grounding principle described in the instructions. 

I do indeed have a MM.  After going over the joints again tonight after work (though I really wanna bail early..lol), I'll get those IC voltages. 

[scolba]

er....so I just noticed the orientation of the pins on the 3pdt in the instructions for the bypass board. 
https://aionelectronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/aion-3pdt-refractor-bypass-documentation.pdf

In there, it shows the pins are aligned horizontally, whereas I have them aligned vertically.  Could that orientation have something to do with it?

[Luke51411]

er....so I just noticed the orientation of the pins on the 3pdt in the instructions for the bypass board. 
https://aionelectronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/aion-3pdt-refractor-bypass-documentation.pdf

In there, it shows the pins are aligned horizontally, whereas I have them aligned vertically.  Could that orientation have something to do with it?

Yeah I thought it looked like that, almost mentioned it but I thought they usually wouldn't fit the wrong way. That will most certainly be at least part of the problem. You can try to desolder but you might save yourself some time and frustration by ordering another board and 3pdt

[scolba]

lol, especially with the amount of solder it took to bridge those gaps...id probably go through 10' of braid and 2 gallons of flux.   

[Luke51411]

lol, especially with the amount of solder it took to bridge those gaps...id probably go through 10' of braid and 2 gallons of flux.   

And still have a wrecked switch and board by the time you are done.

[scolba]

Well I lucked out. A buddy had a solder sucker that he let me borrow, and between it and a braid it did the trick. I reoriented the switch and soldered it up again. IT LIVES!!

Just for good measure I hit a number of joints again to ensure good contact.

Thanks a lot for the help!

[Luke51411]

Awesome! I've never had luck de soldering switches, I have a hard enough time with board mounted pots. Woot it lives! Glad you got it sorted.

[aion]

Good eyes That would do it for sure! Glad you got it working!

Yeah, the top "PGND" connection isn't required, it's just a separate ground that joins with signal ground at the very bottom of the board for noise control purposes. Version 1 of the Refractor didn't have separate power and signal ground and I don't notice any difference between them, so it was really more of just a theoretical thing.