Egg Timer quark first timer problems..

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darrenf

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Hey all, just built and am now testing my first Egg Timer Quark. First time soldering in over 30 years, and never anything this tiny. I am trying to ground test the firing channels and nothing is going as planned. If I just boot and don't try to test I get the previous altitude (Three zeros beeped out in this case) and then after 15 seconds I get very quick beeping. I haven't been able to find any documentation that discusses these beeps.

Now if I run through the test procedure, I get endless double beeps after I reinstall the jumper to fire the channel.

Below are two videos, the first being the initial boot with no firing test and the fast beeps. The second being the double beeps when trying the firing test. I will email eggtimer, but figured I might get quicker help here.

EDIT:::: I figured it out. I had two pins on the drogue driver not making good contact. Even though I thought I inspected it closely with a jeweler's loupe after soldering, I clearly did not do so adequately.



 
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Those "J-lead" parts can be a little tricky... it's easy to get solder on top of the leads and miss the pads on the PC board. That's why you need the right tip... 0.8mm/.032" conical tip. Hold the tip against the SIDE of the lead, give it a few seconds to heat up, then apply solder to the other side of the lead. The idea is to get solder underneath the J-lead so it contacts the board. If you look at the lead afterwards with a 10x jeweler's loupe, you should see a fillet of solder between the "elbow" of the J-lead and the PC board pad.
 
Well, I blew it up. All was good, tested it, fired a charge. Then I installed it in my eBay and powered it up. Instant sparks and smoke. Apparently I had a power lead under the bottom of the board get punctured by a sharp pin or solder connection. Oh well. I got out the Quantum and started working on that. 2 hours later, powered it up to a bunch of rapid fire beeps. Well that ain't right! Got in under the loupe for another looksee to see if I could find anything obvious. Yep, two of the "103" resistors were only soldered on one side, LOL! That's what I get for trying to do this under deadline. I have a demo flight for some high school physics students tomorrow. Powered it back up and everything is working great. Ran it through my chamber vacuum sealer twice and it fired off both charges wonderfully. I think successfully building one of these things is my favorite part of this hobby so far! Time to order the rest of the EggTimer catalog!
 
Hey all, just built and am now testing my first Egg Timer Quark. First time soldering in over 30 years, and never anything this tiny. I am trying to ground test the firing channels and nothing is going as planned. If I just boot and don't try to test I get the previous altitude (Three zeros beeped out in this case) and then after 15 seconds I get very quick beeping. I haven't been able to find any documentation that discusses these beeps.

Now if I run through the test procedure, I get endless double beeps after I reinstall the jumper to fire the channel.

Below are two videos, the first being the initial boot with no firing test and the fast beeps. The second being the double beeps when trying the firing test. I will email eggtimer, but figured I might get quicker help here.

EDIT:::: I figured it out. I had two pins on the drogue driver not making good contact. Even though I thought I inspected it closely with a jeweler's loupe after soldering, I clearly did not do so adequately.




30 years without soldering and apparently it’s not “just like riding a bike” 😂
Glad you were able to find the issue and resolve it. 😄
 
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