[Tony Curnick]

Howdy Luuk ....Whats happening with this Surf PI build Landuse, did you get it working?

[Navitas]

Hi there,
   I'm new here.  I just built the Surf PI 1.2.  Unfortunately upon testing it, I haven't heard a peep from the speaker.  I'm thinking the Diode D6 might be in the wrong orientation, so I switched it around.  Still no response.  Attached is a pic of what it is currently.  Is it oriented correctly?

Otherwise, it could be the coil.  I have a 6" diameter, 24 AWG, 20 turn, quick 'n dirty coil.  Could that be it?  I have plenty more wire and plan to make different ones and see what works out best.  But for now, I just want SOME response from my setup.

Anyone with experience with this, Please reply.

Thanks

[Tony Curnick]

Post a pic of the hole board....top and bottom so we can check all components

[Paul van Heerden]

I had my diode the wrong at round somewhere else on the board. You will see that the diode has a white strip on the one side of it. Looking at the spot here you put it on the board, you can easily see which at round it should go

I have to reconnect my new coax cable and test again. I have just been so swamped at work that I am drained when I get home

[Navitas]

Here is the front of the board.

[Navitas]

And the back of the board

[Tony Curnick]

I will check your pics against my board tomorrow .The soldered side needs to be cleaned up with some isopropyl alcohol and a tooth brush to get rid of any conductive flux this board is supper sensitive!.also check that you have not mixed up the 100 K and 100 R resitors as this is fairly common.

[Navitas]

Thank you TonyC. I will get to cleaning it right away.

[Navitas]

I've cleaned up the flux and it looks great.  Now I'm reviewing each resistor.  I'm finding that several are outright wrong.  When I got the kit, I checked to see that I had all the components, but I didn't question the resistor indications written in pen on the paper ends.  I'm realizing that Silver hound was wrong when he marked the values! <sigh> 

[Navitas]

I might have answered my own question.  I found that R 1,4,5,18 and 35 were outright wrong and that R 9,11,15 and 16 were really off the mark.  I still would like your input on this, particularly on the diodes and capacitors.

[Tony Curnick]

I will check out the board this morning.You may well have a resistor problem!...the values must be correct to within around 6 percent......if you had resistors that were wrong you may well have damaged the IC's which may need to be replaced!....make sure you have the right resistors in place before fitting the new IC's.....Some of the IC's on this board are sensitive to static!! so be carefull while handling them..Dont touch the legs!......always a good idea to buy a few spare IC'S as the trip to the shop costs more than the components...

[Tony Curnick]

Ok the diode 4001 next to the power plug is incorrectly oriented, also R35 is incorrect value ,which confirms that you have resistors mixed up....The rest looks ok .....sort out the resistors ,diode and then check U5 you should have 12 vdc on one leg (in) and 5 vdc on 2nd leg ( out ) Then fit new IC's and check for correct voltages......I will post a list

[Louis Kriedemann]

My suggestion to you is that first of all disconnect the coil from the pcb until such time that the board actually works.
remove all the incorrectly fitted components and before you fit a component please measure its value first
there are only four electrolytic capacitors and they are marked + and -
the board is clearly marked + and -  so you cant really make a mistake if you take time and and make sure its right
check all the polyester capacitors as well and make sure they are where they should be

when all this is done (and remember its not a race....you get nothing for being finished first) then you can go to the next step

remove all the IC's except 7660
power up the board and check the voltages at U5  (78L05)  you should have your input voltage (12V) on one side and 5V on the output side
next check U6 (7660) pin 5 is the negative voltage supply and should give you -5V (minus 5V)
if you get the correct voltage insert U3 (LM 358)  pin 8 should be +5V and pin 4 should be -5V
insert the IC's one by one and check their voltages
U2 pin 7 and pin 4
U4 pin 14 and pin 7
U7 pin 14 and pin 7

[Navitas]

I will do all that.

I took my meter and tested the resistance of each and every resistor.  When I said they were outright wrong, What I meant is that they were the wrong one, end of story.  The ones that I said were off the mark, their values were no where near what they should have been, despite being the 'right' resistors.  I will yank off the offending resistors, re-test them and replace with new ones as necessary.

As for the capacitor polarities, I lined them up in order of the silk screen writing on the board, assuming that there was no errors in those makings.

I kinda feel cheated by Silverdog. Not only was the Q2 chip not included, (I had to find my own), but the resistor values hand written on the resistor ends were WRONG!  WTF man?  Oh well, it's another lesson NOT to assume. 

[Tony Curnick]

You wouldn't be the first to have issues with your PI build, everyone that's ever built one has put in the time!!!....you just got to stick to it...its worth it in the end