LED Shorting?

[spargo]

I recently gave a pedal to a friend - all worked fine when it left my hands. He is saying the audio itself works great but the LED flickers when the pedal is on if he touches the switch. That seems really odd to me. Hard to diagnose since I don't have it in front of me.  Any ideas?  Naturally it sounds like a short or faulty LED, but I'm puzzled.

[R.G.]

I recently gave a pedal to a friend - all worked fine when it left my hands. He is saying the audio itself works great but the LED flickers when the pedal is on if he touches the switch. That seems really odd to me. Hard to diagnose since I don't have it in front of me.  Any ideas?  Naturally it sounds like a short or faulty LED, but I'm puzzled.

I'd vote in order of probability
- cold solder joint
- wiring flaw
- cracked component, like the resistor to the LED
- then other stuff.

[gght]

Flakey switch?  (I always suspect moving parts first!)

[spargo]

It almost seems to be an issue with the switch.  Just touching the 3PDT (not pressing) makes the LED blink.  Nothing else does.  And it properly turns on and off when the pedal is engaged.

[EATyourGuitar]

well first I thought you had a cold solder joint. of course moving it is going to make contact. then I thought about how you are moving the nipple of the stomp switch. I think you drilled your box with the switch still in it. little bits of metal will ground things out and turn your led off. touching the switch is moving the two pieces of metal apart. thats why I worked fine for you. after it was turned upside down and the switch got used, the metal bits got moved enough to ground out your V+ that goes to the led before it actually gets to the LED. never drill boxes with pots and switches attached!

[spargo]

well first I thought you had a cold solder joint. of course moving it is going to make contact. then I thought about how you are moving the nipple of the stomp switch. I think you drilled your box with the switch still in it. little bits of metal will ground things out and turn your led off. touching the switch is moving the two pieces of metal apart. thats why I worked fine for you. after it was turned upside down and the switch got used, the metal bits got moved enough to ground out your V+ that goes to the led before it actually gets to the LED. never drill boxes with pots and switches attached!

The box came to me pre-drilled.  And the V+ going to the LED is completely covered in heatshrink where there are solder joints.