Opto pass through

[urthegman]

Here are the pictures, I will try and take better ones in the daytime? 
First one is where I soldered pin 6 to the front of the board.
The second one is the back of the board.

[chrisatpsu]

does anybody know how much current passes along that trace?    could you solder a wire from the pin in the socket to the appropiate lead on the triac? or whever that traces runs?

[combustionmark]

That pin is at 110V potential. Be carefull!

This part of the chip operates the triac "output side", and will not affect the led side of the chip.

Take a good look at pins 123 the led and the pic chip again, something else is going on. Retouch the solder joints, look for another broken trace. If you have a multimeter, use it to trace out the led side of the opto back to the microchip.

Good luck

[rm357]

I can't really tell from the picture, but you solder joints look a little dull - that's an indication that your iron may not be hot enough.

I like to work with a really hot iron and just don't keep it in one place very long... The solder, lead, and pads on the board need to get hot enough so that the solder flows through the board. While all of the holes are supposed to be copper plated going through the board, sometimes you get one that has a poor connection. If the solder flows through, it will also make the solder joint connection to the trace on the other side.

Your problem is on the low voltage side. Once that is working, we can determine if there is a problem on the high voltage side.

Pic, led, opto, solder joints and traces between those components.
I'm leaning toward pic pin 6 or the led not having a good connection to the trace on the top side of he board.

Good luck!

RM

[combustionmark]

I suspect that while removing the opto sockit, one of the traces going to pin 1 or pin 2 got broke. I would remove the sockit again and replace it.

1. Remove sockit.
2. Clean off all solder with a sucker, or desoldering wick.
3. Then using some fine sandpaper, remove the solder mask to expose clean shinny copper traces, All 4 top and bottom".
4. Then before inserting the new socket, bend out pins 1, 4, 6.
5. Insert socket and bend out pins 2, 3.
6. Now solder pins 2, 3, 5 on bottom of board, ensuring good solder flow.
7. Flip the board and solder pins 1, 4, 6 on top of board, ensuring good solder flow.

My cheepo camera will not give me a helpfull picture. But, I think you get the idea.

1. Channel 4 starts out at the 3.3v supply, hooked up to pin 1 of all the optos.
2. From pin 2 of the opto to the + side of the green led.
3. From the - side of the green led to pin 5 of the pic chip, and pin 5 of the ICSP.

If this all checks out good I would consider the led suspect, Not often, but it does happen.

Hope this helps

[urthegman]

Thanks, I couldn't ask for directions that are more clear than that!!! I already swapped out the led so we know it's not that. I will be working on this this afternoon. Question, if a solder joint is dull instead of shiny, I know it means the soldering iron is not hot enough, but does it mean that the joint will not conduct electricity/work or if there is trouble with that item that the dull joint could possibly be the problem?

[combustionmark]

A dull solder joint usually means it has not been heated enough to flow solder. Overheating the solder joint, or reheating the solder joint can also cause a dull look. Both results will be a weak joint that can fail, or become intermittent. Usually applying a little flux to it, and reflowing it can save it.

Lead free solder also causes a dull look.

Good luck

I did have a bigger writeup but lost it to that blame mouse back button.