[Quantum_Star]

Making progress! So, I accidentally found that the connection between the chip, top pin #6 from the left was not soldered properly. I re-heated that joint and flowed in a bit more solder properly, and now every light works besides D24. When it gets to this one, it lights up several LEDs dimly (not including D24). I will keep trying to troubleshoot this one, any advice would be appreciated.

Success! I fixed the solder on that particular LED, and now it works! :D

I would recommend to anyone else having issues, try to make the connection manually not between two points necessarily, but between the component and the hole it should be sitting in using one of the snipped off resistor legs, from the top.

Thanks again for your help Windell :)

[Quantum_Star]

Thank you for the kind offer, I will gladly check this and let you know what I find :)

I think this may have been my fault for not using the right solder as well.. I haven’t soldered in years, and I just used what the guy at Radio Shack recommended, it’s the ‘lead free’ stuff, but doesn’t say anything about a rosin core. Also, I’d never heard of a ‘cold joint’ before, and may of my connections look like pictures online of poor soldering technique :(

[Quantum_Star]

I’ve spent hours looking at this, trying to touch up any soldering points that may not have been perfect, and there is no change. Any other troubleshooting ideas, like a way to manually connect LED2? When I hook up the 5v+ from the Arduino to LED2, it causes the ‘faulty’ LEDs to glow dimly, so I think your assertion is correct about LED2 not being connected, but I can’t figure out how to connect it. You can feel free to IM or email me directly to resolve this, if you like. If I can’t get this working in another hour or two of troubleshooting I’d like to request a return for some or all of this kit.

[Quantum_Star]

Hi Windell, thanks for the quick reply!

1. Great! Glad to know it’s not the IC, as that would be a pain to take out at this point :)

2. If the LEDs are ‘damaged’, does that mean they will light when powered directly (as they do), but not when they are hooked to the clock’s circuit? When I hook them up to the 5v power source on the Arduino they work fine, and appear bright.

3. The LEDs which do not light now are: D12, D32, D42, D52, D62, D23, D24, D25, D26, and D21

I’ll double check for crossed / broken connections, but I don’t think there are any from what I can see. There looks like a shiny, clear liquid that has come from the solder, but that isn’t conductive is it? I also used two different brands of solder that seemed slightly different, would this have any effect on resistance or function?

Upon further testing, when I try to light D65 by touching the edge of the pad instead of the tiny points of the LED legs that were left after clipping, instead of lighting, D64 lights dimly, does that mean something?

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