When you build something, do it always work at the first powerup?

[Bricolo]

I just want to know if there are lucky people here

[Fuling]

Mostly, but defintitely not always!

[chris ma]

My very first time powering up my very first diy project JLH 1996 I did not know what to do with my multimeter so I phoned someone that knows electronics and asked him for help. During our conversation I noticed something on the amp that I made a remark to my helper over the phone

I said " How come there is only one light blub comes on but the others do not ?"
He asked "What light bulb?"
I said " Isn't that there are build in light bulbs in those white rectangular ceramic 10W resistors?"
He shouted " Turn it off, OFF"

No in my case, not always work, I'll say may be 10% works first time.

Chris

[Bricolo]

Originally posted by chris ma
My very first time powering up my very first diy project JLH 1996 I did not know what to do with my multimeter so I phoned someone that knows electronics and asked him for help. During our conversation I noticed something on the amp that I made a remark to my helper over the phone

I said " How come there is only one light blub comes on but the others do not ?"
He asked "What light bulb?"
I said " Isn't that there are build in light bulbs in those white rectangular ceramic 10W resistors?"
He shouted " Turn it off, OFF"

No in my case, not always work, I'll say may be 10% works first time.

Chris

[Bricolo]

It seems that I'm on a lucky day.
I spent 3 hours soldering my kwak clock, and it seems to work.

But it's not always like this. Most of the time it's onle a small mistake. Like the day I finished my headphone amp but couldn't get any sound out of it. Quite normal when the output jack is connected to the input, and the input RACs to the input

I think my gainclone worked at the first powerup. But later I wanted to add some PS filtering, and I wired the caps the wrong way (the cap's - to ground, on both rails)
When I switched it on, the speaker made bzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ PAF!
And a pair of capacitors thought they were bullets and flyed at the opposite corner of the room.

[AJ Bertelson]

Originally posted by Bricolo
I think my gainclone worked at the first powerup. But later I wanted to add some PS filtering, and I wired the caps the wrong way (the cap's - to ground, on both rails)
When I switched it on, the speaker made bzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ PAF!
And a pair of capacitors thought they were bullets and flyed at the opposite corner of the room.

I was a bit worried that something like this might happen to me so I loosely wired up the top part of my case and I forgot to ground the switch to the chassis correctly. Well once I fired it up it sounded great so I jumped up with joy and when I landed on the floor I think it disturbed the ground because after that it started making a hum then started to crackle(from the speakers). Quickly turned it off and checked the fuses. Blown to smitheriens.


got it working after going through another set of fuses. Third time was a charm.

[MikeB]

Oh yeah i know this " the speaker made bzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ PAF!"
All started fine, playing some music, and then suddenly.. BANG !
You can't imagine how loud a detonating transistor can be !
After hearing again, i heard the speakers bzzzz.
The plastic case from the transistor has gone completely, leaving
three naked legs...
Maybe a 0.5kw PSU with 2x22000uF is quite powerful ?
The Fuses weren't impressed at all, seems that slow means SLOW !

Mike

[PCC88]

Originally posted by Bricolo
I just want to know if there are lucky people here

Absolutely, works first time every time.......

[ashok]

After many years of having success and failure on first time switch on , I made an amp for use in my friend's car. Things like faulty capacitor polarity etc were things of the past.
We connected up everything and turned it on. There was no sound at all. Then suddenly there was a bang and the car was filled with smoke. Can't tell you how embarassed I was.

Apparently the car was wired with positive ground ( long ago !).
I just assumed that it was like normal cars with negative ground. Lucky the capacitor was inside the amp. The amp was ruined of course. Too much electrolyte all over to clean up.

Errors still take place and probably will keep happening. Sometimes with spectacular results.
Cheers,
Ashok.

[dhaen]

Sometimes they do, sometimes not.
The interesting thing is that those that do not, get developed much further. It comes from gaining more knowledge by having worked on them.
The more difficult it is to get working, the better ...... I must be a masochist