Dream Fuzz LED

werm42

New member
I for the life of me can I figure out why the LED won't turn on. I see it's a painfully simple component of this circuit. 9 volts up the anode, drawn down the other leg while passing through a 4.7 k resistor by the switch.

I get 9 volts up the positive leg, but I get nothing down the other side. I've already replaced the 4.7K resistor just to be sure.

The switch seems to work to turn the pedal on and off I don't think that the LED is isolated from the switch correct?
 
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I guess I should also say that I've tested and verified the LED works. really clueless as to why it won't light up but I assume it has something to do with the switch on the negative side.

Any insights are still appreciated thanks.
 
Are you sure the LED is oriented correctly?

There's not a whole lot that can go wrong with the LED circuit, if you have 9V on one lead and nothing on the other it sounds like the LED is backwards.
 
I've tried it both ways actually. I tried different LEDs, I've confirmed it all the different LEDs work outside of being on the circuit board. For the record just so I'm clear the input marked "A" is positive and stands for anode which is the longer lead. And the other input marked "K" stands for cathode, because why not be as confusing as possible. Right?
 
I was also under the impression that running 9 volts to an LED wasn't good for an LED? When I looked at the schematic and saw that it's direct 9 volts coming in I was a little surprised.
 
You need 9v, ground, LED and the resistor. It doesn't matter whether the resistor is on the 9V or Ground side of the LED. The only other thing that could break is the switch. Too much heat from soldering can damage a stomp switch pretty easily.
 
You need 9v, ground, LED and the resistor. It doesn't matter whether the resistor is on the 9V or Ground side of the LED. The only other thing that could break is the switch. Too much heat from soldering can damage a stomp switch pretty easily.
Thanks for the idea.... in my initial post I did a poor job of asking the question: "If the pedal turns on and off, does that mean the switch is working and not the problem?"

My soldering is fine, I've already replaced faulty jacks, why not a faulty footswitch too!
 
The stomp switch has three switches inside. One for the input, one for the output, and one for the LED. So it’s possible only the ‘switch’ that controls the LED is damaged.

use the continuity tester on the multi meter to check all the connections in the led path when the stomp is ‘on’

9v - LED A
LED K - resistor leg
Resistor other leg - ground
 
The stomp switch has three switches inside. One for the input, one for the output, and one for the LED. So it’s possible only the ‘switch’ that controls the LED is damaged.

use the continuity tester on the multi meter to check all the connections in the led path when the stomp is ‘on’

9v - LED A
LED K - resistor leg
Resistor other leg - ground

That's what I love about doing this stuff is that I get to learn how diagnose this sort of stuff from folks who have already done it once!

Using the continuity test did the trick — turns out the circuit from K to the one side of the resistor was busted?!

The good news: of all the things to have to do a "handwired bypass" on, this is the one thing I think you all would agree is most ideal.

Thank you!
 
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