PeeCeeBee V4H Rev1 Amplifier Assembly/Setup Guide

May 2019
shaan

Hello!

(If you do not understand any part of the following texts or face any problem during
setup then please let me know in the group-buy thread or through PM in diyAudio or
through my email s4shaan2244@gmail.com.)

Note1: Assembling and setup procedure for V4H is

virtually the same as V4 except that the output bias needs
to be 200mA in V4H due to double MOSFET output stage.
Details is shown in following pages.

Note2: The LEDs are not power indicators (though they

serve that purpose too). They are part of the current
sources for the input stage. Without them installed the
amplifier will misbehave.

Section 1: Assembling

In the next page you will find the component placement

indication table. Follow the indication and solder the
components accordingly to their places. Due to the PCBs being
2.4mm thick and most pads being small, a 35Watt iron with 3mm
tip is recommended.

To avoid components getting in the way of the iron tip,

this sequence can be used for soldering the components:

1. Small resistors
2. Diodes and LEDs
3. Terminals and pins
4. Small signal transistors
5. Ceramic and film capacitors
6. Trimmer resistors
7. MOSFETs
8. Medium size transistors
9. Big resistors
10.Electrolytic capacitors

(It's better to solder the MOSFETs before the medium size transistors
because the back-side of all six bottom layer transistors need to be
levelled to each other for fixing them later to the heatsink easily.)
Component Placement Indication Table For PeeCeeBee V4H Rev1:
(Excluding Pins and Terminals)

RESISTORS:
R1,R11,R12,R15,R16 1K
R2 10K
R13,R14,R17,R18,R31,R32 2K2
R3,R4,R9,R10,R27,R28,R29,R30 100R
R5,R6,R7,R8 4K7
R19,R20 33K
R21,R22 470R
R23,R24 10R
R25,R26 47R
R33,R34 10R 1W
R35,R36,R37,R38 0.1R 5W
VR1,VR2,VR3 500R Trimmer

CAPACITORS:
C1 100pF
C2 1uF
C3,C4,C13,C14,C19,C20,C21,C22 100nF
C5,C6,C23,C24,C25,C26,C27,C28 47pF
C7,C8 220pF
C9,C10 2200uF
C11,C12,C15,C16,C17,C18 220uF

SEMICONDUCTORS:
Q1,Q3,Q5,Q7 BC556B(PNP)
Q2,Q4,Q6,Q8 BC546B(NPN)
Q9 KSE350(PNP)
Q10 KSE340(NPN)
Q11,Q13 2SK1058(N-Ch.)
Q12,Q14 2SJ162(P-Ch.)
D1,D2 1N4007
D3,D4 BAV21
D5,D6 1.8V LED
Section 2: Setup

Preliminary Steps: (Before powering up)

a. Turn VR1 and VR2 to maximum resistance (turning

clockwise) and VR3 to zero resistance (turning anti-
clockwise). Do not overturn as it may damage the
trimmers. Measurement is done between pin 1 and 2.

b. Place the amplifier to a suitable heatsink with

mica or other insulation and make sure that the metal
backs of the bottom layer semiconductors do not have
a short to the heatsink. Test the continuity between
the output terminal and heatsink body to confirm.

c. Make sure that the heatsink is connected to power-

supply's 0V ground. Without this, the amplifier may
start oscillating when powered and may burn the zobel
resistors.

d. Keep the jumpers “open” i.e. jumper shunts not

connected. Keep the input open.

e. The two Ground terminals PGND and SGND must be

connected to the power supply 0V ground.
Or, SGND can be connected to PGND with a wire, and
then PGND connected to power supply ground with a
single wire.
(Note: SGND is NOT speaker return ground! Speaker
return must be directly connected to PSU ground on
power supply module!)

f. Connect the power supply rails to the board with a

1R/2Watt resistor in series with each power rail to
the amplifier. (Two resistors needed for + and -)

g. Set the mumtimeter to mV(millivolt) and connect the

probes to the two legs of either R25 or R26.

h. Make sure that the power supply has fuses. 8A

rated slow blow fuses are fine.
 After doing all the above, connect power supply and turn
on power for 1 second then turn it off. The LEDs should be lit
and the multimeter should show around 100mV and decreasing.

Slightly touch the 1R/2Watt resistors. If they feel warm

or the fuses were blown or if the LEDs didn't light up, then
disconnect the power supply from the board, and check for
component misplacement, or a short between output terminal and
heatsink or shorted solder joints. If the resistors do not
feel warm and the fuses are intact plus LEDs are lit, then we
are okay to proceed to trimming.

VAS biasing:

Turn on power back again and notice multimeter reading.

The voltage it shows in millivolt indicates the current
flowing through the 47R resistors i.e. the VAS bias current in
milliampere, which needs to be around 10mA. So the voltage
reading needs to be trimmed to 470mV.

Turn VR1 and VR2 trimmers “anti-clockwise”, two turns

each time for both trimmers, you should see the reading to
increase slowly (If it doesn't increase instantly as you start
turning the trimmers then don't worry. Depending on HFE of the
transistors used, sometimes they need more turns to gain
control of the VAS bias).

Turning both trimmers equally at a time is important for

fastest setup. Hence, if VR1 is turned twice, the VR2 should
also be turned twice every time. Soon the reading will start
to increase and when it shows 400mV, stop turning. Turn off
power and remove the probes.

VAS bias is trimmed less than 470mV because as the

amplifier warms up later, the VAS bias will increase slowly
and will reach optimum bias in 5-10 minutes.

Offset trimming:

Keep the multimeter in mV setting and connect the

negative(black) probe to power supply's ground terminal and
the positive(red) probe to output terminal. Turn on the
amplifier and check the initial reading and also notice the
polarity of the reading.
 If it shows a positive polarity then slowly turn VR1
anti-clockwise and VR2 clockwise. If it shows negative
polarity then turn the trimmers the opposite way. See this
table below for clear indication.

METER READING POLARITY TRIMMER TURN DIRECTION

Positive VR1 Anti-Clockwise, VR2 Clockwise
Negative VR1 Clockwise, VR2 Anti-Clockwise

The trimmers should be turned in small steps and both

trimmers should be turned equally every time. This will make
sure that the VAS vias doesn't change too much while trimming
the offset and offset comes close to zero volts quickly. Stop
turning as soon as the meter shows offset within +/-2mV. Turn
off power and remove the probes.

MOSFET biasing:

Keep the multimeter in mV setting and connect the probes

to the two legs of any one of the 1R rail resistors (probe
polarity doesn't matter. Turn on power. The reading should
show around 15mV. This indicates the total amplifier current.
For 200mA total MOSFET bias, it needs to read 215mV.

Slowly turn VR3 “clockwise” while keeping an eye on the

reading. After turning 5-6 times it should start increasing.
Stop turning as soon as the reading shows 215mA.

Now keep the multimeter connected, let the amplifier warm

up and notice the reading. Depending on heatsink size the bias
will slowly increase with time. After 10-15 minutes the warm
state bias may be more than 300mA. Turn VR3 anticlockwise and
bring the reading to 215mA. Next time when the amplifier
starts from cold state, it will have a lower bias than 200mA
and in a few minutes it will reach the trimmed bias of 215mA.

Now turn off the amplifier, close the jumpers J1 and J2,
remove the two 1R rail resistors and connect the rails
directly to the amplifier, connect test speakers (not main
speakers), connect input, turn on power and play some music.
If everything is okay then turn it off, connect main speakers
and enjoy.
________________