SOLVED Mute Pedal LED

[VanWhy]

I built this quick and dirty mute switch to mute my rig while changing guitars on stage. I used this drawing


I used a 3PDT on/on toggle switch and it works fine to mute the signal but I was hoping with the bicolor LED (common cathode) it would turn red when off and green when on. I'm only getting green when ON and LED turns off when I flick the switch the other way.

Is this normal for how this is wired or am I just missing something?

 

[jcpst]

Looks like ground is not connected to the cathode when you’re on the bottom throw.

 

[VanWhy]

Looks like ground is not connected to the cathode when you’re on the bottom throw.

How would I remedy it? Can I just jumper lug 5 and 6 on the switch?

 

[jcpst]

It still wouldn’t be connected to ground. The cathode is using the common lug, so a jumper there wouldn’t connect it.

You could run ground directly to the cathode. It doesn’t need to be on the switch since you always want one of the two colors lit

 

[phi1]

The diagram has you switching 9V supply to the anodes, so you can leave the cathode always grounded. The diagram is wrong.

Option 1: You can jumper the middle-middle to middle-top lugs (currently both black wires) to make the cathode always grounded.
Option 2: Or simply run the cathode wire straight to one of the jack S lugs.

Another issue is you only have one resistor to control the brightness of both colors. My guess is that the blue will be blinding compared to the red if governed by the same resistor. You could add in another resistor in the blue wire path if that’s the case, to further limit current to the blue led.

Also, I was under the impression that muting the signal was a better method for switchable muting. , rather than breaking the signal, but I don’t know if I’be compared them directly. I think you may get a little pop sometimes doing it this way (breaking the signal).

 

[phi1]

Here we go


Attached image is from this article:

Everything You Wanted To Know About Kill Switches, But Was Afraid To Ask — EarthQuaker Devices

A tutorial on the variety of kill switches and the different ways they can be wired in your guitar or bass instrument. Do you want to sound like RATM's Tom Morello? EQD's got the kill switch info you'll need to engage!

www.earthquakerdevices.com

Read elsewhere just now that the breaking (or interruptive) type can lead to pops when switching. Grounding seems to be the way to go

 

[VanWhy]

It still wouldn’t be connected to ground. The cathode is using the common lug, so a jumper there wouldn’t connect it.

You could run ground directly to the cathode. It doesn’t need to be on the switch since you always want one of the two colors lit

Ahh okay. I will just connect a cable from the LED cathode to ground somewhere. Good call

 

[phi1]

Yep that should get you up and running.

This would address all 3 items.

 

[VanWhy]

Yep that should get you up and running.

This would address all 3 items.

The R on the blue wire is the CLR correct?

And thanks for the info. Thankfully no popping. I wasn't sure really how to do this. My scenario is I have a tuner but's in built into the volume pedal so the only way to switch guitars on-stage is to put the amp in standby. But that causes some delay.

 

[phi1]

Yeah the R is an additional CLR (current limiting resistor).

You already have a CLR in you red wire from the 9V +, under the heat shrink, it looks like to me.

I guess I thought you were using red / blue from the diagram, rereading you’re actually using red/green.

In my experience blue is usually way brighter than red if given the same current, so my additional resistor was to limit current on the blue further.

Idk if you’ll need to add that, or if you’ll be fine with the balance of red/green brightness.

 

[Feral Feline]

The OP-diagram showed blue, so I made my diagram's LEDs blue, too. Use whatever bi-colour combo you like.
Use separate CLRs on the Anodes if the difference in brightness is too great.