Electronic – Some segments not working on 7 segment multi led digital clock

circuit analysisledpowerreverse-engineering

I have this old homemade digital clock which i'm trying to revive. It has sentimental value as it was built by my dad in his youth.

The problem is 2 of the segments only sometimes light up on the third module. There is no part number visible.

It doesn't look like it's a bad connection, i've resoldered most the wires that go to that module and as i've said, it occasionally works out of the blue..

I'm not sure where to begin investigating. I understand what most components do, but i'm a newby in electrical engineering. Any help appreciated.

My next idea is to start replacing components.. but i'm not sure how to check for bad components on the board.

I added the boost module in order to power it from 5v instead of 220v mains. The output is set to 15v as that was the value written on the board.

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Best Answer

It's very Soviet looking. Those large LED displays were frequently made with series LED dice so if there is an open connection the whole segment will go out. If the display digit or display is potted there's not a heck of a lot you can do other than replace the entire bad part.

Maybe swap the MS digit? You might be able to rotate it 180° to get working segments but the connections won't likely be exactly mirror images.