GSSL HELP THREAD!!!

[mnats]

[quote author="radiance"]one +15 tap goes to hole 1, and the other +15 tap goes to hole 4.[/quote]
[quote author="rrs"]So is red and purple +15?[/quote]
Hopefully you didn't hook them up this way.

The transformer you have doesn't have a center tap, just two similar windings for the secondary voltages, each delivering nominally 15 volts. You tie them together in series to create a "center tap" just as you stated in an earlier post by tying red and white together (or in your case soldering them to the two middle holes as radiance suggested).

If you hook up red and purple to the outside pads it won't work. Solder the yellow wire to one of the pads that goes to the bridge rectifier. Solder the red and white wires to the middle pads that are connected to each other and to ground. Solder the purple wire to the remaining pad that goes to the other side of the bridge.

I think the reason no data comes with the transformer is that all the info you need is printed on the side of the transformer itself. But the 2005 paper catalog has a diagram on page 131.

 

[rrs]

OK wired as MNATS has suggested.Oh buy the way had NE5534's wrong way arround. .Checked voltages Pin 4 =-15.Pin 6=+15 but on right VCA SIDE pin's 2 and 7 are showing -3 ???????
Is this allright.

 

[rrs]

OK have put in new NE5534's right way.No smoke ran audio through meter working and controls led and bypass as well BUT no audio out.DEAD SILENCE.
Come on guys Im almost there. :?: :?: :?:

 

[radiance]

[quote author="rrs"]........
Come on guys Im almost there. :?: :?: :?:[/quote]

There are many "ssl troubleshoot" threads to be found on this forum.
For example this one , wherein Chrissugar gives a "kick ass" explanation off how too......

 

[Jonathan Hayward]

rrs, I did the same as you with the 5534s some time ago
I had in fact fried the channel VCAs too, there's a good chance you have too,tp find out, I think you can swap the sidechain VCA into a channel, it should then pass audio.

 

[neilwight]

just a couple of questions.

"question removed due to stupidity, spent ages looking for resistor spec to show 10db on a 1ma meter, couldnt find and posted but its on schematic.....doh. 1k will be the answer)

secondly...how do i get the 0.1 caps to fit. just bend the legs in, these things are pretty wide compared to the hole spacings...or did i just screw up my specs.

thirdly...for connecting my toroid...do i just connect the 2 0v wires coming off together and attach to the center hole with the two remaining 15v feeds going to the holes on either side. may seem a bit stupid but i just want to check....the stupid thing would be to not ask and blow it all up

 

[mnats]

The question of how to wire a specific toroid has come up again and again so I'm going to attempt to give some generic instructions that can be adapted for any power transformer.

There doesn't seem to be any standard for colors but usually there will be a symbol somewhere that roughly corresponds to the one in my diagram below (click on it for a clearer view):

Sometimes the secondary windings on the right side will have markings like 0 - 15 which to me are misleading since we're referring to AC voltages but whatever. The thing you have to do is find the two secondary wires that are closest together in the diagram. Connect these two together. These form the ground, earth, "0" or in the case of the SSL project the center terminal for the "EXTERNAL AC IN" on Jakob's pdf.

The two transformer secondary leads that are furthest apart on the schematic connect to the bridge rectifier which in the case of the SSL are the two outer pads of the "EXTERNAL AC IN" on Jakob's pdf. It doesn't matter which of the two you connect to which pad but you must connect only one wire to each point!

I think some people might expect to see instructions included with their toroidal transformers telling them how to hook them up. There are a few different ways to hook up a power transformer depending on what you are trying to acheive with it so it would be impossible for the manufacturer to tell you how to hook it up without knowing the application.

Hope that helps.

neilwight: there are zillions of different types of .1uF capacitors with different lead spacings. Use a pair of needle nose pliers and bend the leads to fit, making sure you don't stress the lead near the body of the cap (it might break or weaken). And no, you shouldn't hook the two toroid leads marked 0V together for the SSL but rather follow the instructions above.

 

[dirk666]

umm...

If I pluged my semiconductors in, then soldered the dil sockets in...fried?

I think I did this but I cant remember to which ones if any

So do I;

A - throw my circuitboard across the room, put on some leonard cohen and sulk into my bedroom

B - ask nicely how to check if said components work :grin:


ive got all the data sheets for Tl072 TL074 5534 5532 and VCA's but if anyone wanted to point my in the right direction I would be most gratefull
cheers

 

[radiance]

The data sheet off the NE5532 AP sais:

"Lead temperature 1,6 mm (1/16 inch) from case for 10 seconds = 260°C"

In your case you had the IC fitted in a DIL socket which will take away some more soldering heat.
I don't know how your soldering skills are but 10 seconds is pretty darn long so I guess you don't have to worry to much about frying....

 

[rrs]

Know the feeling dirk666
I've picked up a couple more VCA's (thanx kev) to replace the ones I destroid during the 5534 incident and now all is working well.
Thanx mnats for the wiring guide.

 

[dirk666]

Well I always solder with my fingers crossed so maybe its ok

:wink:

 

[neilwight]

thanks for that mnatts.

it was really helpful.....until i re-read. sorry to sound like a moron but can you clear one last thing up.

my toroid diagram is thus:

230v----------] [----------------Vsec
] [
] [----------------0 V
] [----------------Vsec
] [
0v------------ ] [----------------0 V

(the formatting messed it up, all ] [ should line up FYI)

from my reading of your explanation, i should connect the middle 0V and Vsec together and solder to the middle imput on the PCB power in. the remaining (outer) Vsec and the 0V go to the other two solder points respectively.

my (limited ) instinct tells me that this doesnt make sense and that surely the two 0V's go to the centre solder point and the two Vsec go to each remaing point giving two 15v feeds into the PCB..
if this is not the case, can you please (or anyone) explain why. id quite like to understand whats going on for other projects if i last through this so that hopefully i need to ask fewer Qs.

 

[mnats]

It occurred to me why they put those voltage markings on the secondaries even though they are AC voltages and thus are constantly varying from positive to negative.

Think of the 0V and Positive (12, 15, 18...)V as instantaneous voltages. You want to add the two voltages together. If you had two 1.5V cells, how do you add the two to create 3V? Answer: By connecting them in series.

Bring this over to the transformer - if you connect the two 0V leads what are you actually doing? Answer: connecting them in parallel.

You want them in series.

My ASCII graphic skills are not as good as yours and I'm late for work but if you follow the guide I posted earlier it will work just fine. If you want proof, just leave out all your active components (except for the ones in the power supply) and power it up. Check your voltages with your DMM. Now wire it your way and try again.

 

[neilwight]

thanks for the explanation...

it was this very thinking that was throwing me off the trail a little but due to my lack of full comprehension it now seems.

i was thinking that by adding together on top as per your recommendations it would be more than the board needed....

thanks for pointing me in the right direction

neil

 

[dirk666]

Does anybody have NE5532 AP op amps in there unit?

just ordering for my second( and third) ssls and my surplier RS has discontinued the N versions which i used in the first unit i built

the AP is 'designed to be interchangable with 5532A'
but the N type is 'internaly compensated for unity gain'

 

[gyraf]

All 5532's are internally compensated, I think. I doubt that exact type or manufacturer makes any difference in a low-gain application like the Clone.

Jakob E.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all the very, very cool people on this forum, my ssl works great. In fact, I can't believe how good it sounds. The only "issue" I'm having is that when I turn the "release" knob, there is an audible click (in the audio itself) at each position. Is anybody else getting that? I can live with it....it's just odd.

 

[gyraf]

..that's completely normal. you shouldn't switch with live audio anyway..

 

[dirk666]

I get the same thing man.
its like a jump in in audio vol for half a second as you turn the knob. nothing to worry about I guess. Not the sort of thing you adjust in the middle of a take.

 

[dirk666]

can somone remind me what the pitch is for the holes for the risistors on the graf boards?