cold solder joint to ground?

[kevinT]

I am having a fit with a particular humbucker pickup. Both coils are working fine but when i hook the leads up to a 4 conductor wire as well as with a 2 conductor, and measure the resistance, the pickup reads infinite ohms (0 ohms) . Would a cold solder joint on the ground wire cause the entire circuit (pickup) not to work?

I double checked my wiring and it is correct. Any other ideas why it isn't working are appreciated?

[Spence]

1) Is the sum of the two coils outside the range you have set the meter to?
2) Is a cover fitted? Sometimes a short happens then.

[Joe Gwinn]

I am having a fit with a particular humbucker pickup. Both coils are working fine but when i hook the leads up to a 4 conductor wire as well as with a 2 conductor, and measure the resistance, the pickup reads infinite ohms (0 ohms).

How do you know that the coils both "work"?

Infinite ohms is open circuit: ohmmeter probes touching nothing but air.

Zero ohms is a short circuit: ohmmeter probes touching each other.

I assume you are seeing a short circuit.

Would a cold solder joint on the ground wire cause the entire circuit (pickup) not to work?

Cold solder joints cause open circuits, not shorts, so that's unlikely. Unless you really meant that the assembled pickup reads as open (infinite ohms), in which case a solder joint could possibly be the culprit.

[kevinT]

1) Is the sum of the two coils outside the range you have set the meter to?
2) Is a cover fitted? Sometimes a short happens then.

I tried each one of my settings on my ohm meter to see if it would read anything....nothing comes up.

There is no cover.

[kevinT]

How do you know that the coils both "work"?

Infinite ohms is open circuit: ohmmeter probes touching nothing but air.

Zero ohms is a short circuit: ohmmeter probes touching each other.

I assume you are seeing a short circuit.

Cold solder joints cause open circuits, not shorts, so that's unlikely. Unless you really meant that the assembled pickup reads as open (infinite ohms), in which case a solder joint could possibly be the culprit.

I tested both coils after placing the leads on the coils and taping and then i soldered to hookup wires and tested again with the coils mounted to the baseplate. ....nothing

[Joe Gwinn]

I tested both coils after placing the leads on the coils and taping and then i soldered to hookup wires and tested again with the coils mounted to the baseplate. ....nothing

What do you mean by "tested"? What measurement was made, and what was the result?

[kevinT]

What do you mean by "tested"? What measurement was made, and what was the result?

Ooops! Sorry, not very clear was I? I tested (or should i say "took a reading" is a better word) the dc resistance after the coil is wound. I place the probes of my ohmmeter on the start and finish wires of the coil to get a reading and to make sure there are no shorts. I also take another reading after i place leads on the magnet wire to check whether the connections are good. Then i check it again via the hookup wire after the components are assembled. I also check after potting.blah blah blah...

Anyway, the problem i'm having is that i get no reading from the hookup wires after the pickup is complete. My digital Ohmmeter reads L. I tried all the settings.

To ensure i didn't get a cold solder joint, I clipped the connections to the hookwire, stripped the wire and resoldered but still no reading. I also took a reading on the hookup wire by itself to ensure there are no problems...none were detected from what i could tell.

I'm probably doing something stupid or maybe i kinked or nipped the wire and pressure on the hookup wire from the bobbin being mounted to the baseplate is creating a short somewhere. I just put the pickup aside and i'll mess with it later...very strange

[Joe Gwinn]

Anyway, the problem i'm having is that i get no reading from the hookup wires after the pickup is complete. My digital Ohmmeter reads L. I tried all the settings.

The reading is just the letter "L"? That may be the meter's way to say overload, which is the same as infinite ohms (the opposite of a short, which is zero ohms). If you try to measure the resistance of air, I assume that you get L, not zero.

So, you have a broken wire or open connection somewhere, so I would start testing parts of the pickup to find where the break is.

[chevalij]

ARe you hooking it up two wire or four? If two, are the coils joined? If four, are you measuring the right pairs?