3PDT with LED build in

[alexxxx]

Hi, everybody
I ordered the new gen of 3PDT switches with LED build inside the switch.
I want to get the result like this guy in video https://youtu.be/BU-zel0A98E?t=238 (3min58sec)
Double brightness setting.
Does anybody know how to wire it ?

Thank you in advance

[Kipper4]

[potul]

Hi, everybody
I ordered the new gen of 3PDT switches with LED build inside the switch.
I want to get the result like this guy in video https://youtu.be/BU-zel0A98E?t=238 (3min58sec)
Double brightness setting.
Does anybody know how to wire it ?

Thank you in advance

Interesting switch.... how much bigger must the hole be in the enclosure to fit the LED ring?

[Ice-9]

Two different colours would work better, ie green is power/red is engaged. two different brightness of the same colour, not so east to  tell between at first. Good idea though and how much each ?

[ElectricDruid]

+1 Agree. That's begging for a red/green bicolour LED. The little PCB on the side even has space for the third wire, so it looks to me like they've thought of that.


Edit: Yep, they do a bicolour version too. Red/Green or Red/Blue. At the same price, amazingly:

https://guitarpedalparts.com/product/3pdt-foot-switch-with-led-ring-red-green/

[fretzburner]

Available both common anode and common cathode for the bi-color.

[GGBB]

Cool - but not liking the thought of having to drill the enclosure for it. If you just drill a larger hole, I think the nut might not tighten very well or the switch might move around. So I think you'd have to drill holes or cut slots for each of the LEDs! The video claims that a benefit is that you don't have to drill an LED hole, but they don't show how to drill for this switch.

[Ice-9]

Quite interesting after watching the video, I see it is a standard Blue 3PDT footswitch with a little blue plastic box put over the top which holds the led ring.

I can't see any problem with having to drill a larger hole and the switch moving in the hole as  the LED washer has a boss which is a bush to make up the size. As long as the nut is not massively overtightened it should be secure without crushing the plastic LED washer.

My only thought is how much extra height does the LED cover box add to the overall switch height on the inside of the enclosure?

[ckilgore]

According to the Next Gen website the switch requires 1-1/8" mounting height.

[GGBB]

the LED washer has a boss which is a bush to make up the size

Ah yes - didn't notice that. Still a very large hole to drill though and all the 'grabbing' - what little there is - is done by the outside edge of that plastic washer - I wonder how well that will hold up to stomping over time. It does look like it takes up a fair bit of height - if you look at the pedal sample there is not much bushing thread showing.

I wonder what the brightness of the LEDs are. The video says the "Period Drive" used a 390ohm resistor for the on setting - that's over 23mA draw at 9V - a bit of a battery killer (unless there are SMT resistors on the LED board which I doubt but can't really see well enough to be sure).

[Ice-9]

I wonder what the brightness of the LEDs are. The video says the "Period Drive" used a 390ohm resistor for the on setting - that's over 23mA draw at 9V - a bit of a battery killer (unless there are SMT resistors on the LED board which I doubt but can't really see well enough to be sure).

In the youtube video you can see that the LED ring has a number of SMD LED's all around. I didn't count them, I expect the bi-coloured one is alternate LEDS wired around the ring. Simple but neat idea.

[ElectricDruid]

I wonder what the brightness of the LEDs are. The video says the "Period Drive" used a 390ohm resistor for the on setting - that's over 23mA draw at 9V - a bit of a battery killer (unless there are SMT resistors on the LED board which I doubt but can't really see well enough to be sure).

Say there are 8 LEDs, that's only 3mA per LED. So 23mA doesn't seem unlikely to me. As you say, you don't really want to run a light show like that off a battery...

T.

[PRR]

> a 390ohm resistor for the on setting - that's over 23mA draw at 9V

Only if the LED has *zero* voltage drop.

Assuming a mere 2V drop is still 18mA. If speculation of multiple LEDs is true (do we have a product cite/site/data?) then even less.

[diffeq]

If speculation of multiple LEDs is true (do we have a product cite/site/data?) then even less.

No info on the web. Just emailed the manufacturer to provide the datasheet. If they will, we'll know for sure.

UPDATE: They've sent me the datasheet and it isn't of much use - just a mechanical drawing, no electrical details. I guess someone has to do a teardown to find out more. 

[ElectricDruid]

There's a teardown on Youtube, it turns out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU-zel0A98E

Looks to me like about 6 LEDs on the board. Have a look from about 40secs.

T.

[PRR]

[ElectricDruid]

Thanks Paul.

And presumably those other six spaces are for the other-colour LEDs for the bicolour variants.

[diffeq]

UPDATE: They've sent me the datasheet and it isn't of much use - just a mechanical drawing, no electrical details. I guess someone has to do a teardown to find out more. 

A little update, again. Two months later and they sent me another email today. They came up with an ad-hoc solution:



A glowing washer, in other words. The problem with that is that they put the wiring on the outer edge, instead of underneath (or inner edge). Promo picture they've included shows a hole for wiring:


Doesn't look to appealing, to be honest. 

[amptramp]

There used to be a type of alternate action on-off switch that had a mechanical indicator right in the switch actuator itself.  It had a couple of red indicators that showed when it was off and when it was on, the red indicators pivoted out of the way to show a green background.  No current drain and no need for a third switch pole.  I saw them once on an electronic instrument but I forget what it was.

Maybe this kind of problem is why Boss and Ibanez went away from the more complicated mechanical switches and stuck with single-pole normally open momentary.