Short under the board?

Thread Starter

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
I have this solar light controller which I designed.



It has been working fine for years. I removed it to do some upgrading. I really have not done much to it yet.

I am now reading 5.5V at J2-1 with nothing connected. It is normally an analog input for the solar panel. My VDD is 4.9V. I cannot see how it could be an analog input gone bad with the voltage on the input higher than my VDD voltage.

With the chip pulled I read my input voltage of 12.5V on J2. My input voltage.

I am figuring it is a short under the board. Between my battery voltage connector (J5) and J2. Maybe a solder ball or something that broke loose. Since it was one of my very first projects it is no beyond the realm of possibilities that I got sloppy.

Before I tear the controller apart even more I thought I would get the opinion of the gang to see if my suspicions are warranted. Thanks.
 

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bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,270
Hello,

The SolarLightPCB pdf only shows a square (probably the board edges), but there is nothing in it.

Bertus
 

bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,270
Hello,

I have drawn some red marks on the PCB.
One side of C2 is not connected and the connectors J2 and J5-1 and J5-2 where not shown.
I hope I assigned them correctly.

Spinnaker_SolarLightPCB.png

Bertus
 

Thread Starter

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
There are jumpers at red lines that are installed.

Thank you for the heads up on C2. That does not look right for sure. Wonder how it has worked all of these years??? Looks like I will be removing the board anyway to fix the C2 connection. :(.
 

Thread Starter

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
Tore it apart. That missing trace must have been removed from the drawing post manufacture. It is there on the board.

Did not see anything fall out but it is working now for whatever reason. Thanks for the help Bertus.
 
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