Surf Pi Professional Pcb's back in stock - NEW Prices

[Qiaozhi]

I was rather hoping that there may have been more support from the Silverdog seeing as he is selling these kits, but it appears that maybe just flogging the things and bugger any help is the way to go eh? Just in it for the money it seems.
I'll register with a forum that is more willing to help. Cheers for not a lot people.

Try searching the forum and reading any threads related to Surf-PI.
In particular, read this one -> http://www.geotech1.com/forums/showt...hlight=Surf-PI

[sinclairuser]

I was rather hoping that there may have been more support from the Silverdog seeing as he is selling these kits, but it appears that maybe just flogging the things and bugger any help is the way to go eh? Just in it for the money it seems.
I'll register with a forum that is more willing to help. Cheers for not a lot people.

as i have stated both here and on Thunting, these kits are not sold so you can build a cheap detector!.
a certain amount of knowledge and test equipment is required to build them, for test and evaluation only.
anyway have you built surf pi long board or surf pi pro they are different you know, also replies on this forum are never instant you need to post photos of both sides of your boards, the only problem with the surf kit is people who build it are never prepared to accept they made a mistake, its allways the kit, yet hundreds are built with no problems, getting narky on here will only get you ignored.
p.s. dont take that attitude to Thunting or you will get nowhere.

[Thomas]

Why be angry with Silverdog, you said you would post photos and nothing. You want support, work with people on this forum or buy a PI.

[rompingdog]

I was rather hoping that there may have been more support from the Silverdog seeing as he is selling these kits, but it appears that maybe just flogging the things and bugger any help is the way to go eh? Just in it for the money it seems.
I'll register with a forum that is more willing to help. Cheers for not a lot people.

[rompingdog]

All the resistors, diodes, capacitors etc all check out ok and all the soldered joints are clean and electrically isolated where they should be.
Although when I was taking the voltages on IC 7660, I did bridge the heatsink on Q2 and the small link adjacent R16 with my fingers and the feeble squeak on the speaker went to (well almost) a deafening roar. This "roar" then responded to the volume control exactly as I would have expected the volume control to work. Sound up and down when the knob was twiddled back and forth. Is this indicative of something misplaced or just a quirk of the board?
Maybe I should cut my losses and just buy a PI machine eh?

[Waikiki_Sweep]

Check power consumption it has to be 55-75mA.

Get a $0.25 coin and check a voltage changes if you put it on coil

Output of Preamplifier NE5534 PIN 6 (for my machine output -0.1V change for a quarter ($0.25) and -0.5V change for a pliers if I put it straight on the coil.)

Output of Intergator LM358 PIN 7 (GO HIGH from 1-2V to 3.75V)

Output of LP filter LM358 PIN 1 (VOLTAGE JUMPING UP DOWN)



Couple years ago I remember that was a mistake in resistors numbering so 22K and 100K (or so) were switched near sound amplifier and sound was low. Check is PCB matching to schematic for R18,R20,R22,R23.

[der_fisherman]

Take a magnifying glass, start with all the resistors and the multiplier, make sure that every resistor is in the correct spot and all soldering is perfect.
Then check each capacitor.
Then the rest of the components.
I have been building electronics since the middle '50s, but I still sometimes place a component wrongly.....sadly!!! I usually find the mistake when the component I need is missing, so I look back to where I have already inserted a similar component......
Always measure each resistor and capacitor before inserting and soldering, as when tired, a 4.7KOhm, can look like a 47KOhm......or for example, a 10pF cap like a 10nF cap....
Sad but true!!!!
Wrongly wired switches need proper through measuring with an Ohmmeter.....
Log pots must be correctly wired, well all pots need to be correctly wired!!
Some replacement transistors have different pin orientation and just following the printed component shape could prove wrong.....
You have probably got some or all of the above problems and may have damaged a component......

[rompingdog]

Hi Silverdog.
I'll get the necessary photos on here a little later.
Just a quick overview.
The coil is one of three I have, first is 26SWG at about 21 turns in a bundle as it were and not flat wound. The second is same SWG and wound to 29 turns, again not flat wound and the third is a twin speaker wire at 29 turns and is 13 strand maybe 30swg but this time flat wound with both conductors joined together to effectively make one wire as it were. Doesn't matter which coil I use, the speaker is almost inaudible, which is the bit I am really confused by. The flat wound coil is 20cm in diameter and the two enamelled wire coils are 19cm apiece. Pin 5 on 7660 has 4.92v and pin 8 has -4.6v. I'll get a picture up as soon as I can.

[silverdog]

A photo would help a lot
Start with your voltages, what do you have on the 7660 pins 5 and 8 ?
What wire is your coil made from, what diameter is it and how many turns ?

[rompingdog]

Hello all.
This post might not be in the right place, but here goes anyhow.
I have built the surf PI board as per the parts list and schematics. So far so good. Built the coil and am getting some sort of detection of metal at about an inch with a fairly largish chunk of metal, but I think from reading other posts, my wire might be a bit weedy and the turns slightly incorrect. So that I can get around. But, the problem I cannot seem to fathom is why the speaker is barely audible. The gain pot and volume seem to be installed correctly (well the volume switch sort of gets the speaker making a feeble squeak when the volume is turned all the way to the end stop and the gain does what I would expect it to do, stop the feeble squeak at about one third turn). So can anyone tell me please why the speaker is barely audible? Have I installed the speaker wires onto the board wrongly? There seems to be a hole above the three where the molex connector is that appears to be electrically connected to the speaker, but nothing in terms of a resistor or any sort of link seems to go there. Should I have something in this hole? Forgive the way I put that by the way. Any help here gratefully received.
Dave

[Qiaozhi]

Thanks Waikiki. I tried buying as a guest and tried contact also...it went back to login...which said invalid email. So obviously I'm not doing something right. HA

Anyway...thanks for the info.

It sounds like you're trying to log in as a Returning Customer. First you need to click on the Continue button under "I am a new customer".

[itsazoo2013]

Thanks Waikiki. I tried buying as a guest and tried contact also...it went back to login...which said invalid email. So obviously I'm not doing something right. HA

Anyway...thanks for the info.

[Waikiki_Sweep]

I tried that already. Says my email is invalid. Also gives the amount in British pounds. Is there one for American dollar?

Try to Send Private Message to the shop owner - silverdog or send him email or use "Contact Us" on his website:http://www.silverdog.co.uk/shop/inde...mation/contact

I think if you will use PayPal it will convert you payment to dollars automatically.

[itsazoo2013]

I tried that already. Says my email is invalid. Also gives the amount in British pounds. Is there one for American dollar?

[Waikiki_Sweep]

How do I go about ordering a Surf PI kit from your webpage?

You can find it here: http://www.silverdog.co.uk/shop/inde...&product_id=76