Troubleshooting Aion Refractor

[J.Sauer]

Just finished my 2nd build and, big surprise, I'm having some issues. The LED turns on but there's no sound when engaged. And everything sounds fine when the pedal is off. I've checked all my connections and, from what I can see, I've wired everything right. The only thing I can think to do now is to use the multimeter and check the voltage, resistance, and other capacitance readings. I'm new at this though, does anyone have some pointers on what to look out for or common issues I should start with?

I've tried testing the voltage but I don't really know what I'm looking at. If I test connections keeping one probe on the positive lead I get a lot of overload readings but if I test by keeping a probe on the ground connection everything reads zero or around 9v. Except for the black wires all the way to the right by the stomp switch (one is "fx out" and the other is "buffer out"). Fx reads at 0.8v and buffer out is 0.45v. Is that normal or could that signify a grounding issue?

Hope this helps: Build Doc from Aion, Schematic is on Pg. 7  https://aionfx.com/app/files/docs/refractor_documentation.pdf

I'll attach a picture of the build and my apologies if this is a bunch of jibberish. Appreciate any help ✌️

[garcho]

Just finished my 2nd build and, big surprise, I'm having some issues.

You'll still be troubleshooting builds on your 200th pedal, don't worry about it!

The LED turns on but there's no sound when engaged... And everything sounds fine when the pedal is off.

That's a start.

I've checked all my connections and, from what I can see, I've wired everything right.

Might as well take a few pics and post them, 1s and 0s are "free"

The only thing I can think to do now is to use the multimeter and check the voltage, resistance, and other capacitance readings.

Well, that's exactly what you should think of doing!

I'm new at this though, does anyone have some pointers on what to look out for or common issues I should start with?

Have you looked over the troubleshooting sticky?

I've tried testing the voltage but I don't really know what I'm looking at.

Look over the troubleshooting guide. Usually, the most important things to start with are IC pins and transistor leads. For you, it's the 3 ICs that look like op amps, from what I can see, which isn't much. Post a link to the schematic, there are 1,000,000 pedals, don't make people work to find what you're asking help about.

If I test connections keeping one probe on the positive lead I get a lot of overload readings but if I test by keeping a probe on the ground connection everything reads zero or around 9v. Except for the black wires all the way to the right by the stomp switch (one is "fx out" and the other is "buffer out"). Fx reads at 0.8v and buffer out is 0.45v. Is that normal or could that signify a grounding issue?

That's a little fuzzy. It's best to just try to measure what you can, and post it here. Again, look over the troubleshooting thingy.

I'll attach a picture of the build and my apologies if this is a bunch of jibberish.

That's the right idea

[garcho]

sorry, I keep calling it the troubleshooting sticky, it's the DEBUGGING sticky, here

[J.Sauer]

sorry, I keep calling it the troubleshooting sticky, it's the DEBUGGING sticky, here

Thanks so much! This is super helpful and I didn't know about the Debugging sticky so I'll definitely start there. Also, thanks for educating me on some of the proper etiquette for posting. Much appreciated!