If the batteries get hot, they must be shorted. Find the short:

1. Measure the resistance from +5 to gnd.

2. Unplug any parts and check it again. For hobby projects, sockets are
sometimes a good idea.

3. If you can't remove parts due to no sockets, face the music: one by one,
cut the traces  that carry +5 to the parts.  Do this in a careful
(topologically speaking) method to isolate the problem.

4. Before you start, make *sure* you have not soldered some part in
backwards. It's easy to do and *we have all done it* one time or another.

5. Be encouraged: you have designed a circuit, built it on breadboard, got
it to work, laid out a printed circuit board, fabricated the board, loaded
the board and now just have to find the small but important error that's
always there just before success.

6. If you don't have a meter, make a tool: LED and resistor and battery as
a continuity tool.

Good luck!
Tom

At 04:48 PM 6/24/04 -0600, you wrote:
>I just etched my first PCB, and the (working) circuitry I took from my
>solderless breadboard and soldered to this new PCB doesn't work.  And right
>now the only thing I can tell about it is that the batteries immediately
>begin to heat up.  This typically means there is a power-ground short
>correct?  But I've been over every trace and solder point with a magnifine
>glass around 50 times and still can't find any problems.
>
>I'm pretty new at this so I thought I'd throw this question out there...
>What else should I be suspicious of?  Or am I just blind and I definately
>have touching traces?
>
>All I have on the board are:
>1 pic16f628
>1 4 bit LCD module
>1 Laipac 433khz receiver
>2 resistors

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