Boss wiring question

[Coma]

I'm doing a mod from a kit to my Boss BF2 (Fromel mod). It says two capacitors must be inserted with the longer leg towards the plus sign on the board. Problem is, board has no plus sign. Anyone know how I can suss out directionality?

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[Darg1911]

Re: Boss wiring question

If you are replacing two existing electrolytic capacitors, check the shrink-wrap on those capacitors, they are usually marked with a - symbol on the negative (cathode) side. Otherwise, check if the capacitor location on the board has a square pad and a circular pad. The square pad is positive.

 

[Coma]

Re: Boss wiring question

Well sh*t! Got some help sorting out directions from the kit maker, then when removing the cap, stripped the PCB trace with the solder suction. Was some minute bits of it left, so tried to solder to that. Pedal works but now there's a nasty background noise to it. FML.

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[Darg1911]

Re: Boss wiring question

You may have a poor/cold solder joint. If you can get the mask off of a small section of that trace that connects to the buggered pad, you could probably get a better solder connection. If you've already trimmed the capacitor leg, you can repair a trace with a piece of buss wire (or small gauge solid core wire, or a section of resistor or capacitor lead). Solder the buss wire to enough of the unmasked trace to get a solid solder connection and then connect the other end of the buss wire to the capacitor leg. It's not elegant but it usually works ok for short runs. Sounds, at this point, like you dont have much to lose. Future reference, overheating when de-soldering can lift a trace.

 

[Coma]

Re: Boss wiring question

You may have a poor/cold solder joint. If you can get the mask off of a small section of that trace that connects to the buggered pad, you could probably get a better solder connection. If you've already trimmed the capacitor leg, you can repair a trace with a piece of buss wire (or small gauge solid core wire). Solder the buss wire to enough of the unmasked trace to get a solid solder connection and then connect the other end of the buss wire to the capacitor leg. It's not elegant but it usually works ok for short runs. Sounds, at this point, like you dont have much to lose. Future reference, overheating when de-soldering can lift a trace.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot. It's a really old pedal, and every other component I've swapped came up nor problem. Bit of a drag, was really close to the finish line too.