Delegate boneyard: any LED preference?

[giovanni]

I am starting to put together some orders for upcoming builds and I noticed that the Delegate (boneyard ed) calls for 2 red 3mm LEDs and one white 5mm one. Are there any preferences in terms of diffused or not and/or intensity (measured in mcd I suppose)? On a related note, how do you guys navigate ordering from sites like Digikey where you have so many options that look very very similar to each other?

 

[xefned]

The choice of LED—along with the choice of LDR—will make or break your Delegate so I hope this thread gets more attention. I installed a 4th LED last night and I'm still on the hunt. This build could use a documented, community-approved LED.

I'd advise you to get one of those with a lower forward voltage, the rightmost column in your screenshot. Use one with 1.6v rather than 3.5 volt if you want the LED to light up with your playing. Good luck!

PS, I'm talking about the 5mm white one, Chuck ended up with a 3mm diffused green LED in this position.

 

[giovanni]

@Chuck D. Bones any recommendations on this?

 

[teal]

I took a standard 5mm white LED, which was too bright, what caused distortions in the sound mainly in shorter attack times.
I tried other LEDs, but they were not bright enough any more, so I ended up with the solution grinding the white LED a little bit with fine sandpaper, so that the light of it became more diffused.
I can highly recommend doing that and using a GL5516 LDR as well

 

[Barry]

I used a White LED as well, but have no distortion issue, as to sorting through Digi-Key and such I use their Filters to eliminate unwanted choices first like SMD or Bulk and select in stock only and then voltage parameters and such can usually get it down to differences that are not relevent or the same thing from many vendors

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Get a 5mm diffuse LED, red, yellow, orange or green. DO NOT get super-bright. All white LEDs are effectively super-brights. The only problem I've had with LED/LDR combinations is too much light on the LDR. LDRs are very sensitive and they require very little light to work in a pedal. You do not need to smash the LDR right up against the LED.

I started out with this setup, but the LDR was getting too much light and it slowed down the release.


The final LED/LDR setup looks like this. That's a 5mm LED.


BTW, the LED will not cause distortion. If that's happening, something else is wrong or the control settings are incorrect.

 

[Barry]

Get a 5mm diffuse LED, red, yellow, orange or green. DO NOT get super-bright. All white LEDs are effectively super-brights. The only problem I've had with LED/LDR combinations is too much light on the LDR. LDRs are very sensitive and they require very little light to work in a pedal. You do not need to smash the LDR right up against the LED.

I started out with this setup, but the LDR was getting too much light and it slowed down the release.
View attachment 21687

The final LED/LDR setup looks like this. That's a 5mm LED.
View attachment 21688

BTW, the LED will not cause distortion. If that's happening, something else is wrong or the control settings are incorrect.

I've never seen those LDR'S with the can around it

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

I get 'em from EG. The good ones are very good, but some of them are stinkers, so test 'em right away and request a refund if you get some shitty ones. At least they are good about refunds. Measure the light resistance and the dark resistance. The ratio should be 100:1 or better. I've received some where the resistance doesn't change much and some where the resistance doesn't change at all because they are open or shorted. EG may claim to test or inspect their parts but the fact is they don't.

https://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G15176A

 

[giovanni]

Thank you Chuck! Can’t wait to try this out!