Need help figuring out if some is wrong with my digital design trainer CADET II

Thread Starter

Hunter Neumann

Joined Aug 24, 2015
53
Okay so I am a first year electrical engineering student and I am having problems with my CADET training board's LEDs for the output not turning on. I don't have the knowledge to figure out what could be wrong and if it is worth returning or a simple fix. I will answer any questions you guys have to know.
 

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GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
@Hunter Neumann
My friend. You should buy a volt meter.

Secondly, a trainer like this only has power from this colored terminals at the top of your board. You will need to run jumpers to the working parts of your board to power the rails and the chips.


Look at the directions that came with your board to see which pins (holes) are connected to which pins (holes) in the prototyping area.

Then you can start placing chips, other components and jumper wires.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
So, with no owners manual, no schematic, no part numbers, and no idea of what circuit you are trying to build, you want us to decide if your Trainer Board is defective? :confused:

Is it more likely that a retail product is defective than a first year student could make a mistake?
That's a tough question. Luckily, Gopher knows a bit about this product. :cool:
 

Thread Starter

Hunter Neumann

Joined Aug 24, 2015
53
So, with no owners manual, no schematic, no part numbers, and no idea of what circuit you are trying to build, you want us to decide if your Trainer Board is defective? :confused:

Is it more likely that a retail product is defective than a first year student could make a mistake?
That's a tough question. Luckily, Gopher knows a bit about this product. :cool:
I had one of my friends come over to test it that is a 4th year engineering student and he said that it was not functioning correctly. I bought it from eBay and the person said that they bought a bunch from an auction held by their local govt but could not test further than powering it on so I was kind of expecting this. I have experience using one of these (older model) in my lab at school but I think Im going to return this and wait a year or two before I consider buying anything more. iCircuit is enough for now. Thanks for both of your inputs!
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
I had one of my friends come over to test it that is a 4th year engineering student and he said that it was not functioning correctly.
A fairly well educated person, familiar with this practice board, is a much better reference than a bunch of strangers that don't even know which circuit you are trying to build. You gave us so little to work with that I hope you learned how much we don't know! So, come back when you need help, but realize that we need you to give some starting information with your questions. Some of the people here are amazing, but they aren't mind readers.

I sometimes suffer from expecting other people to know most of what I know, but the Internet really points out the fact that they don't. When you (or I) have our head deep into a project, we forget how specific the information of today's project is. This is so normal that I can't read some of the notebook pages I wrote 20 or 30 years ago. I assumed I wouldn't forget the basic premise of the circuit, but I did. Forum Helpers don't even have vague memories of your circuit problem when you arrive here. You have to start with the basics. From there, the wizard genes start kicking in.;)
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
I had one of my friends come over to test it that is a 4th year engineering student and he said that it was not functioning correctly.
Did he say what wasn't functioning correctly? Have you tried routing power from the 5V supply and ground in the upper right corner to the strips you're using as power buses (as GopherT mentioned)?
 

Thread Starter

Hunter Neumann

Joined Aug 24, 2015
53
A fairly well educated person, familiar with this practice board, is a much better reference than a bunch of strangers that don't even know which circuit you are trying to build. You gave us so little to work with that I hope you learned how much we don't know! So, come back when you need help, but realize that we need you to give some starting information with your questions. Some of the people here are amazing, but they aren't mind readers.

I sometimes suffer from expecting other people to know most of what I know, but the Internet really points out the fact that they don't. When you (or I) have our head deep into a project, we forget how specific the information of today's project is. This is so normal that I can't read some of the notebook pages I wrote 20 or 30 years ago. I assumed I wouldn't forget the basic premise of the circuit, but I did. Forum Helpers don't even have vague memories of your circuit problem when you arrive here. You have to start with the basics. From there, the wizard genes start kicking in.;)
Did he say what wasn't functioning correctly? Have you tried routing power from the 5V supply and ground in the upper right corner to the strips you're using as power buses (as GopherT mentioned)?
Yeah I am just starting the basics of engineering and I really don't even know what I should have posted for help. With that being said I definitely know that its better to just return the product if I can't figure out whats wrong with it. I couldn't really follow what my friend was saying and he said that I won't be able to for a couple of years. I did try to rout the power from supply and ground in the upper right corner to the strips I was using as power buses and it was still acting up. Glad my friend happened to be in town because I wouldn't have been able to troubleshoot it effectively myself even with the right guidance. Just gonna keep up with what we are doing in school from now on. Thanks again for the inputs!
 
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