Millenium Bypass- LED allways on

[deadspeaker]

Well I built this guy. My board looks just like the top one. http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/Millenium/milcktbd.gif
I used a 2N3819, 1n4148, and 4.7k. The LED is a red super bright 10mm. It's dimer when off and really bright when on. I tried a smaller red super bright and that one pulsated when on bypass. Increasing the resistor did not help. I find it strange that this board doesn't match the schematic for the Millennium Bypass. What's going on here?

[R.G.]

Good question.

Did you cut the trace indicated for when a resistor is used?

That is the circuit for the Millenium 1. It has some issues with leakage from the JFET that got cured with the Millenium 2, the Millenium C, etc.

[deadspeaker]

Oh no i didn't cut the traces.  So can I remove the resistor and have leave the traces how they are?

[deadspeaker]

Oh never mind, that would blow the LED. What is the alternative to a series resistor?

[Mike Burgundy]

Actually that's what you have right now. The extra trace is shorting out the series resistor.
The series resistor should be in there to prevent way too much current flowing through the LED. This will usually blow them. I imagine the FET wo0n't enjoy it much either.
DO use a resistor when you're using a 9V supply. That way, it will keep working instead of imitating an incandescent bulb for a  few seconds, and you'll keep power consumption nice and low too.
I don't know why you haven't blown anything yet, but either there's some error (pinout of the transistor, for example!) that actually prevents current from raging wild, the battery is flat, or something's already blown.

That said, I'd say take RG's advice and use a Mil2. None of the issues that the original Mil had, much better, great little circuit.

[deadspeaker]

What I have now is the resistor on the board with no cut traces like in the diagram. I didn't see the note on the side that says to cut those traces. Tomorrow I'll cut that trace and I bet the dimness will go away. Thanks