Fizzlin' Ruby

[MetalUpYerEye]

Hey guys I built a Ruby for my brother and it works fine for about 5-10 minutes and then it starts to make this like beeping noise but a long drawn out beep. Anyway it starts making this beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep and as it beeps the sound of the guitar slowly fades out over the course of maybe 10 seconds then all you can hear is the beep. We tried turning it off and turning it back on but it gave the same results. The next day we tried it again and it did the same thing; worked for 5 minutes then crapped out. We tried it a third day (today) and it was no different. It works again after several hours but not immediately after it craps out, and it only works for about 5 minutes at a time which is unacceptable. Any ideas on what might be happening?

Thanks in advance

Josh

[343 Salty Beans]

Post voltages 

I'm no electronics expert (or intermediate, for that matter), but I'd guess too much voltage to the wrong pin = overheating = something in the IC temporarily expands to bridge and create a different circuit somehow.

But an idea to test this overheating theory:

1) let it crap out, then use a clock to time how long it takes to start working again (if you don't know a pretty detailed time already. If not, try checking it every half-hour) Several to me = 5 to 7 hours.

2) Wait a day, then use it again; as soon as it stops working, put it in the freezer and check it every half-hour again. Maybe there's heat retension in there somewhere, so that it has to cool off before that bridge becomes un-bridged.

[MetalUpYerEye]

I'll try that out when I get a few moments to test. The chip did seem to be getting to be (what seemed to me) unusually hot, but I posted here asking and someone said that its normal and to probably just ignore it. What could be causing it to heat up like that? I have another Ruby I built in exactly the same kind of enclosure and it doesn't heat up like that... 

Anyways, thanks again and any other suggestions are welcome. 

Josh

[343 Salty Beans]

perhaps you switched a resistor value, or have mislabeled resistors, or maybe the 5% tolerance isn't tight enough. Test your parts with your multimeter to make sure if all else fails.

And while you're at it, check the voltages on the IC and post them