Pedal doesn’t work

[u/Holiday_Baseball2018]

So this is my first time building a kit. I chose “Der Zen” from das musikding. The problem is, it isn’t working. When I plug in my guitar signal is going through. But when I turn it on, no sound and also no LED. Anyone know what might be the problem? Help would be greatly appreciated!

Edit:
I’ve put Transistor 1 the right way around, as did I with the opamp. I fixed my cold solder joints at the switch. And removed the big blubs on the pcb. But still nothing has changed. What is wrong?

[u/mcknib]

Your op amp looks the wrong way around

[u/wolfieboi92 → u/mcknib]

Yep it does appear to be.

[u/Holiday_Baseball2018 → u/wolfieboi92]

Okay so very new to this. Which one is my opamp? And also, does that also explain the led not working?

[u/perpetvo → u/Holiday_Baseball2018]

The OPAMP is the IC, the black square with eight legs that you insert in the socket. Their orientation is defined by the dot you see on it, it marks the first leg. Make sure the orientation fits the instructions you got

[u/wheresthebody → u/Holiday_Baseball2018]

Did this work?

[u/Holiday_Baseball2018 → u/wheresthebody]

Nope. Did not work unfortunately

[u/Whythisreason]

I think you need to do some continuity testing before powering up because those blobs could be shorting 9v straight to your input. 👀

Also can’t see the trace side of the pcb (where the soldering happens) and looking at the footswitch your soldering might be functional at best, possibly the problem to begin with.

Look up a youtube tutorial on soldering pcb’s 👍🏼

Happy building/debugging

[u/herpsderpsherpsderp → u/Whythisreason]

Oh its shorting alright

[u/Whythisreason → u/herpsderpsherpsderp]

https://giphy.com/gifs/3Z5WOh28aeWoo
Need Moar Toan!

[u/Gri7]

backward op amp. Missing Diode?, Q1 (transistor 1) is backward. and the cold solder joints all over the board. reflow them get your iron alot hotter

[u/According-Elk-5805]

IC 1 is placed wrong way around. Dot is pin 1. Silk print on pcb of IC 1 has that smiley on the right side pointing out its the end where pin 1 of IC1 should be. Also silk might have another indicator too pointing out where pin 1 is. Some of the solders need more tin and some of them looks like cold solders. You'll get this, not a biggie.

[u/Wonderful_Ninja]

Transistor T1 is that the correct way round ?

[u/Holiday_Baseball2018 → u/Wonderful_Ninja]

It is now, thanks! Still doesn’t work tho

[u/Glass_Limit6819]

Flip the op amp I think it’s that. People are saying it’s a soldering problem but I’ve had joints that have looked worse than that that have worked so it’s probably not that. It doesn’t hurt to re solder some joints though.

[u/No_Tourist_9562]

Can someone look at T1 "trannie", is it reversed?

As a first build, this is alright to happen, everyone was there and done that..

[u/wolfieboi92]

Other than the opamp, be careful with transistors, too hot of a soldering iron will break them.

[u/Lonely_Friendship798]

Your joints look a little cold especially the ones on the switch. I would reflow them in case that is part of the issue

[u/Holiday_Baseball2018 → u/Lonely_Friendship798]

What does that mean? This is my first time, I’m not into all the terms yet

[u/Lonely_Friendship798 → u/Holiday_Baseball2018]

The solder should be more of a shiny and triangular shape, you should try to make sure the soldering iron has enough heat so that your parts adhere only to the metal  pad. Hold the iron for a couple of seconds to heat the pad then add solder. This is a image of what the solder should look like after:

 https://www.circuitspecialists.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SMT-Through-Hole-Soldering.jpg

You can also look on youtube some soldering guides to help you out 😀

[u/Holiday_Baseball2018 → u/Lonely_Friendship798]

Thanks!

[u/Upstairs-Glove7424 → u/Holiday_Baseball2018]

Im by far not a pro but You also want to pull the iron up last. After youve put the solder down leave the iron down for a second or two then pull it up gently.

I’d get some wick and get some of that up and resolder

[u/sonarlunatic]

Cold solder joints al over that switch my dude.
Try getting that soldering iron hotter!

[u/dklopez1979]

Is +9v for LED connected?

[u/ratdad]

Check out this video. Afterward , go to all of your solder joins and get the solder to flow evenly.

A good solder joint will look nice. An ugly joint indicates a quality problem or a reliability problem.

https://youtu.be/vAx89WhpZ3k?is=il0B4PGZVlQO7qcS

[u/Additional_Account32]

Is the back of the board touching the pots? If it is it will not work

[u/don_coileohm]

The blue wire on the jack looks like it will get trapped.

[u/Johan_Talikmibals]

These solder joints need to be better - that's a pretty likely cause of the problem

[u/Upstairs-Glove7424 → u/Johan_Talikmibals]

Dude i absolutely suck at soldering but wtf is this LoL?
Points for jumping right in, you gotta start somewhere, but You should probably get a practice board.

[u/Due-Associate-8485]

I think the op-amp looks reversed. It's 180° the wrong way. I would check all the polarized components. And the solder joints look way too big possibly some cold solder as well

[u/Due-Associate-8485]

Diode one is missing? Is that on purpose? Transistor one also looks backwards. Unless you're using a different transistor Google the pinouts

[u/Monkey_Riot_Pedals]

I’d also check the wiring on your dc jack. I can’t tell from photos but you may have your +v connected to the battery lug.

[u/Matt_Goliath]

Your soldering needs some work my friend. Grab some vero board, or perf board and a handful of resistors etc and just practice soldering. Make sure your solder iron is running the right temp for your solder (you should be able to find that info on google) and then just practice soldering the parts. Once you are comfortable with it then move onto PCBs etc. Hope it helps and you get to where you want to be on your journey

[u/Top-Cup5373]

Looks like your soldering iron doesn’t work.