No LED and no bypassed sound but Captain Bit working

[Dali]

Hello,

I have a strange case of a Bit Commander pedal producing no sound (no bypassed clean sound when off) but if I change the switch to "on" the LED stays off but pedal seems 100% working.

I wrote "seems" because those noise makers aren't that predictable but frankly, when I watch EQD demo (

) I got the same.

I tried a different LED but same result. I didn't change the 9 pin switch yet...

Any hint/idea?

 

[Nostradoomus]

Take a picture of your switch and in/out wiring, something is definitely funky

 

[Dali]

Thanks for having a look !

 

[Nostradoomus]

Is there a bridge between your SW and GND pads?

 

[Dali]

Is there a bridge between your SW and GND pads?

It looks like that from my picture... Will test and report tonight!

I'm learning... I'm learning...

 

[tdukes]

Is there a bridge between your SW and GND pads?

Wouldn't that make the LED on all the time?

 

[zgrav]

Is the LED in backwards? Have you tested to see if you have voltage going to the LED?

 

[Nostradoomus]

Wouldn't that make the LED on all the time?

Not if it’s in backwards

Looks like (in the first pic, kinda hard to see) the flat side is in the anode pad, flip it around. Flat side = Cathode (K pad)

 

[Dali]

The longest branch of the LED is on the K as you can see on the pictures. So backwards !

Will fix and report tonight !

 

[Nostradoomus]

Anything bridged or shorted to ground is gonna give you trouble. Good news is the board works, but something is just off with your offboard wiring. Get that bridge outta there and the led flipped and we’ll take it from there. An led backwards shouldn’t affect your bypass signal.

 

[tdukes]

Not if it’s in backwards

Looks like (in the first pic, kinda hard to see) the flat side is in the anode pad, flip it around. Flat side = Cathode (K pad)

Usually when I get the LED in backwards (it has happened more than once), it's time for a new LED, it never works again.

 

[Dali]

Usually when I get the LED in backwards (it has happened more than once), it's time for a new LED, it never works again.

I will not be the cheap guy and work with a new one. I also put an IC backward and once I saw my error throw it away in my "probably dead" bin...

 

[Nostradoomus]

Flat side K
Flat side K
Flat side K
Flat side K
Flat side K



but yeah do replace it. Could you post some more pictures? I’m interested to see the whole wiring scheme you’ve got going, in/out jacks etc.

 

[tdukes]

Your switch looks like the sharp edged ones I have had trouble with before. The ones I have used the most from Tayda haven't given me trouble yet. They have rounded corners.

I took a picture of these side by side. The one wired in the circuit with sharp edges I have had 3 of 5 go bad. I have used 31 of the rounded ones like I am holding and haven't had a problem (yet). I have used one of the super-premiums from love my switches. It is nice, but $16 is a lot for a switch.

 

[Dali]

Anything bridged or shorted to ground is gonna give you trouble. Good news is the board works, but something is just off with your offboard wiring. Get that bridge outta there and the led flipped and we’ll take it from there. An led backwards shouldn’t affect your bypass signal.

I also just bought 12 "3PDT Breakout Board" from PedalPCB this morning to stop doing the weird 8-to-1 pin bridge (green wire on my picture).

@ Everybody here: Guys I'm just starting and every time I don't succeed at first I get almost depressed and want to sell my soldering station, parts and PCBs but by helping me here, I just want to show some perseverance!

Big warm thanks you to you all (and also thanks not pointing my lack of English as a problem)

Dali

 

[Dali]

Your switch looks like the sharp edged ones I have had trouble with before. The ones I have used the most from Tayda haven't given me trouble yet. They have rounded corners.

I took a picture of these side by side. The one wired in the circuit with sharp edges I have had 3 of 5 go bad. I have used 31 of the rounded ones like I am holding and haven't had a problem (yet). I have used one of the super-premiums from love my switches. It is nice, but $16 is a lot for a switch.

Rookie mistake to buy cheap parts from Aliexpress 2 years ago before I knew if I would be able to do it with no "local help". Now I refuse to buy from Aliexpress or eBay...

Life lesson learned: It's not a good deal to save on quality.

 

[Nostradoomus]

Oh yeah don’t give up, everybody here has been there! Push through, it is so worthwhile.

 

[Dali]

Half a good news: The LED was in fact backward. At least now it's going on and off.

The other mystery still stand as for the dry/bypassed signal but I will wait for the "3PDT Breakout Board" that shipped few hours ago to replace the switch itself. There's no bridge of lead touching each other as far as I can see.

So I'm now assembling parts for the next ones.

Thanks to all, for your time. This place and its members rocks!

 

[moonlightpedalbuilds]

3$ 3pdts from tayda looks like the 16$ switch from lovemyswitches

 

[Robert]

@ Everybody here: Guys I'm just starting and every time I don't succeed at first I get almost depressed and want to sell my soldering station, parts and PCBs but by helping me here, I just want to show some perseverance!

I've been building for years and I still feel this way after an unsuccessful build.