LED/pedal turns on when stomped without input being plugged in

[ajstahl]

Basically as the title reads.

It WAS working fine. Then the LED blew.
I changed the LED, rehoused the pedal and now not only is no sound coming through, the pedal actually turns on without the input lead plugged in.
It was NOT like this before.
Signal still comes through fine when bypassed.
I tried searching answers and couldn't find a thing.
Any and all help is really appreciated. Thanks!                                                     

[GibsonGM]

Sounds like a short to me.  Examine all your connections VERY carefully!  Around the input jack, the LED, and ESPECIALLY the switch (solder blobs?), easy to cross things up there...if any bare wires are touching the chassis, other switch tabs or something else, you'll blow the LED and get those symptoms.   

AND, if it can turn on with no input jack, that means it's wired wrong!
(or at least shorting out in a very strange way)

[ajstahl]

Ok cool thanks! Ill have a look now.
Like I said, it was working fine. The only thing I changed was the LED.
It was most definitely not turning on without an input before I changed the LED.

[ajstahl]

OK, so i've thoroughly looked over the build (at least i think I have) and it's still playing up.
I've also just found out that when the circuits bypassed and i touch the negative wire from the LED to the chassis or myself, it light up. Is this normal?
Thanks!

[tombaker]

If the positive of the LED is connected directly to the DC jack then touching the negative lead to the chassis or yourself should ground it causing it to light up, I'd say thats normal.
Ensure the negative of the LED is wired to the top row of the 3PDT switch, or the same row that the circuit board is wired to, usually the centre lug if you're using the simplest form of true bypass wiring.

[ajstahl]

Yeah the negative is going to the middle-top lug on the foot switch.
It's just strange, it WAS working until i housed the pedal. Everything was working 100% fine so i'm assuming that means everything was wired correctly.
So frustrating!

[tombaker]

Is it possible to take some photos and post?
If it was working prior to housing then it may be a short, as was said.
Are you running off Battery or AC adapter?

[pappasmurfsharem]

If the negative of the led I'd on the middle to lug abd the foot such doesn't turn off the pedal.and your 100% sure that there isn't a hair of wire or solder touching the top middle lug then get your dmm out and test for continuity on the top lug abd center lug, if it beeps then click the switch. If it still beeps then your switch is bad

[pinkjimiphoton]

sounds to me like you have it referencing ground somewhere, the only way the led could light. maybe a solder bridge somewhere. if the led lights and the pedal turns off and on with nothing plugged in at the input jack, then you may have it wired wrong.

you should have the negative pole of the power supply/battery/jack so it ONLY connects to the sleeve of your input jack, and all your other grounds should be to a star ground (often the "ground" of the input jack). that way, circuit can only be closed when a plug is inserted.

i've built like 100 some pedals now, and i STILL make mistakes with this from time to time.
you'll get it, it will be one of them facepalm things, it always is. just keep building.

[ajstahl]

Thanks heaps for the input guys, at work still but will check it as soon as i'm home later.
I'm thinking something must be shorting somewhere but I have no clue where! Will get pics up hopefully tonight.
Thanks again guys

[ajstahl]

Sorry about the late post, here are pics of the guts. Note the LED is on without input.

[ajstahl]

[ajstahl]

[tombaker]

Thanks for pictures,
That's some spaghetti you got there.
It's a little hard to see what's going on. Is the led coming straight off the DC jack, the same pin that the PCB 9V is coming from?

It looks like there's wires soldered to all three pins of the DC jack but I don't see a battery clip?

Sorry I'm not being much help, there will likely be more questions before being an answer.

[ajstahl]

Yeah excuse the wire mess haha. The led is coming off the same pin yes, and yes there is a battery snap, it's just currently sitting out of the enclosure to get out of the way

[pinkjimiphoton]

in the first picture, i can pretty clearly see that the negative side of the led is connected to ground. looks like the blob of solder is touching either the cabinet, or the led holder (which is probably conductive)

[pappasmurfsharem]

I see you used the Switching Lug(not sure what it's called) on the 9V input. But I don't see a battery clip. where is that going?

#2 should no be used if you don't have a battery clip.

[ajstahl]

Pinkjimiphoton, correct me if I'm wrong but from the pic i just posted I'm pretty sure the negative lead on the led is isn't touching anything. Does that look right?

Pappasmurfsharem, it's hard to see from the pic but there is a battery snap connected In this pedal.
Thanks guys

[pappasmurfsharem]

Pinkjimiphoton, correct me if I'm wrong but from the pic i just posted I'm pretty sure the negative lead on the led is isn't touching anything. Does that look right?

Pappasmurfsharem, it's hard to see from the pic but there is a battery snap connected In this pedal.
Thanks guys

This might not work but surely we can cut some of that wire mess down. Perhaps remove everything except the jacks and the pots and maybe take a straight on picture of the enclosure so we can do a virtual wiring layout to verify everything is correct the right way.

Or if you take a picture of the front of the box and tell me what pcb that is I can try and whip up a layout in inkscape and draw out the wiring so you can look at it to verify there is no mis connection

[ajstahl]

Pinkjimiphoton, correct me if I'm wrong but from the pic i just posted I'm pretty sure the negative lead on the led is isn't touching anything. Does that look right?

Pappasmurfsharem, it's hard to see from the pic but there is a battery snap connected In this pedal.
Thanks guys

This might not work but surely we can cut some of that wire mess down. Perhaps remove everything except the jacks and the pots and maybe take a straight on picture of the enclosure so we can do a virtual wiring layout to verify everything is correct the right way.

Or if you take a picture of the front of the box and tell me what pcb that is I can try and whip up a layout in inkscape and draw out the wiring so you can look at it to verify there is no mis connection

You're 100% right, the wiring looks like a f**cking nightmare.
It's a ggg shin-ei companion fuzz clone.
The link to the wiring layout is:
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf/ggg_secf_lo.pdf?phpMyAdmin=78482479fd7e7fc3768044a841b3e85a

Does that help?