Just built the ego driver and plugged it in. It sounded terrible (muffled and faint, barely any output). I found that lug 2 on the tone pot was not connected and I had reversed C9.
All my 10uf's were axial. Since I needed to replace C9, I replaced C7 and C10 as well with radial 10uf's. After replacing the caps, I plugged it in and the output is really low. Unity is not until about 80-85% on the Volume Pot.
I check all the pads retouched all the joints. I double checked all the resisters and capacitors to make sure i used the correct values. Everything checked out. Could I have damaged other components when I installed C9? What can i do to increase the output?
Thanks
Can you give us the voltages on your IC?
Have you checked closely for solder bridges, too? It sounds like that is the problem.
IC voltages are Pin 1=4.64, 2=5.31, 3=2.74, 4=0, 5=4.57, 6=4.64, 7=4,64, 8=9.26.
I checked for solder bridges. Couldn't see any. I removed excess solder from some of the pads for good measure. Rechecked the IC voltages, they came out the same.
Plugged it in and the same low output issue. Any other suggestions?
Could you take a pic of both sides of your board and put it up here? It might help in tracking this down.
Here is the top.
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Here the bottom.
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Hi, I can´t spot any solder bridges either on your picture. It may help to clean it though, I always use a hard or medium toothbrush and some 96% alcohol. Gets rid of the flux residue, and any small balls of solder that might be sticking between traces.
I may have already tried this, but I noticed you are using the same color wire for every connection on one pot, it´s easy to get mixed up. Have you checked your wiring ?
I hope you get it up and running.
Thanks for the suggestions. I was reading on the other tech help post about the EgoDriver and read that the IC lugs should be 9v on 8, zero on 4, and half on the others.
Well my IC reads 2.72 on lug 3. Could this be why my output is so low? I will get a new IC in the next few days and try that out.
Good News, the EgoDriver works as it should. The IC didn't need to be changed. I socket-ed the tranies, a few of the resistors, and the output cap. Now the output is plenty loud. I replace the output cap with a 1uf tantalum.
I'm guessing the problem was with the mosfets. After I socket-ed them it was working fine.
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That's very good news. Thanks for sharing your fix.
Quote from: revmayer on August 25, 2010, 01:46:40 AM
I'm guessing the problem was with the mosfets. After I socket-ed them it was working fine.
Sorry for digging this thread out from the crypt, but i just wanna confirm that this indeed solved my (exact) problem. Thanks, revmayer!