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Ego Driver and installing the switch/LED

Started by whitlove, March 19, 2012, 07:22:20 PM

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whitlove

So i built my fist project from madbean.  I wired up the PCB, and tested that with a simple TS in, TS out, 9V battery and it works/sounds great.  When I go to wire up the switch and LED, I get nothing but noise.  The things I am unsure about are the switch, the DC adapter, and the TRS input jack.  The pins of the switch are laying horizontal as it says in the schematic, is this all that matters?  I am also not sure about the pins on the DC jack.  Is that a standard orientation in the drawing.  I'm also curious what methods you guys use to breadboard the switching circuit.

Thanks!

mgwhit

If you're following the MadBean Pedals Standard Wiring Diagram, you should be good (and, yes, your 3PDT just needs to be arranged with the logs horizontal).  Still, I know wiring up the pedal can be more complicated than populating the board.  Luckily, almost any issue in the switch and jack wiring can be easily debugged with a multimeter doing continuity and voltage tests.  Check to see that you are only getting 9V DC where you expect it to be.  Check your continuity to ground from the appropriate places.

Can you elaborate on the problem?  What kind of "noise" are you getting?  Does it change when you depress the 3PDT switch?  Do you get a bypassed signal?  Does the LED light up properly?

If you'd like some help debugging it, please post some well-lit, in-focus, high-resolution photos, and I'm sure several of us will give it a good looking over.  Good luck!

whitlove

#2
The LED does not light, and no audio from guitar unless i am in position two or 4 on my strats pickup selector.  then the signal is very low.  The noise is mostly a hum or hiss.  I will try to post some pictures soon.  Also, i am not sure exactly where I should be seeing 9V.  I did just notice that the red lead on my 9V battery hook up is connecting to the - pin on the battery and that seems rather odd to me.

also, bypassed, everything works well.  when engaged, i hear a chirp when i turn the volume knob on my guitar down 3/4 of the way.

mgwhit

Quote from: whitlove on March 21, 2012, 06:33:35 PM
The LED does not light, and no audio from guitar unless i am in position two or 4 on my strats pickup selector.  then the signal is very low.  The noise is mostly a hum or hiss.  I will try to post some pictures soon.  Also, i am not sure exactly where I should be seeing 9V.  I did just notice that the red lead on my 9V battery hook up is connecting to the - pin on the battery and that seems rather odd to me.

also, bypassed, everything works well.  when engaged, i hear a chirp when i turn the volume knob on my guitar down 3/4 of the way.

Since your bypass works, the LED doesn't work and the effects board doesn't work I think we can assume that you have some sort of error in your power and/or ground wiring.  Since you suspect that your battery clip is miswired, you should confirm that with DMM continuity test and DC voltage test.

Confirm that the red lead is connected to the battery negative pole via a continuity test with a DMM.  Also, do a DC voltage test across the red and black leads from your battery clip, read test lead to red battery wire, black test lead to black wire.  If you get -9V (instead of +9V) you've found your problem.  You should also test between the 9V and Ground pads on the board.

Given that your original post says that the board worked pre-switch and DC jack wiring, I think it's much more likely that you just have that monkeyed up.  Good photos would help.

whitlove

So I've got it wired up and working on my breadboard.  I used this schematic for wiring the switch and I am now getting wonderfully over driven sounds.

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_sw_3pdt_tb_pnp_dcj.pdf

There is however a new problem.  As soon as i turn the volume knob on my guitar, I get a very loud blast of noise, which stays the same volume until I stop turning, then back to normal.  My guitar doesn't do this with other pedals and I am at a loss for what might be causing this.

mgwhit

You're probably getting DC on the input jack, and from there it's getting to your guitar's Volume pot.  Check out the EgoDriver schematic, and notice the VB (~ 4.5V DC) at the input of the first op-amp stage (near R3).  That DC voltage should be blocked from getting back to your guitar by C1.  If C1 is missing from your breadboarded set-up (or just non-functional), that DC voltage is getting to your guitar and making the horrible noise on your volume pot.