Testing Boards

[Snare227]

I am new to the site, and I'm loving this page.  I bought a pile of stuff from Tayda and set out to make a few pedals of my own.  My first attempt at an OCD V3 board didn't work out, so I scraped it and started on another one.  It works and is boxed up and I just need to dissemble it and get it prepped for paint.  I see people make testing rigs to try their boards out before boxing, but my question is, is it necessary to hook up all the pots for the controls or can I test the board with just an input, output, power, and ground?  I'm new to this and I didn't know if leaving the pots out would not allow the signal to pass through the circut or if it would run "wide open" without the pots in place.  Thanks!

[Jon the Art Guy]

You need em. They're resistors like any of the other parts on the board.

Keep in mind, I'm one step ahead of you in this electronics thing, but...I think you would be able to hook a resistor who's rating is half the pot's rating and get the basic "noon" sound, like if you have a 100k pot, you could add a 50k resistor in that spot for testing.

Actually, I think that would only work for a linear pot. I'm not sure of the math for a log pot at noon.

I would also suggest waiting until you get your pots in. Just solder on long bits of wire for testing, and if it works, desolder them, box it up and resolder.

Or, you could get a breadboard and when you order pots, order with pcb lugs. You can just stick those right into breadboard holes, then tin the leads from the board and hook it up that way for testing. When boxing, you can snip off the pcb terminals and solder onto the little holes at the base.

[Snare227]

 I was fairly sure I couldn't get away with that, but I just wanted to make sure.  I'll just try long wires to test and I'll trim when I put them in the box.  Thanks man.

[dodido]

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[Snare227]

Sounds like a good way to use an enclosure I screw up measuring and drilling somewhere down the road lol.

[Surgeon]

A test box is invaluable imho.

I took a 1590a, wired everything like a regular pedal except the ground, 9v, in and out wires go out of the box with alligator clips. That way, I can hook-up the correspondin wires of the circuit and test it right away. Couldn't be better than that the few times some circuit doesn't work right away: direct access to everything and eliminates the possibility of connection problems within the box.

[lunchie]

That is a really good idea. I think I know what I am making this weekend