Why only one ground on pcb? - tonepad guide

[Bishop Vogue]

For a while I have been adding multiple grounds to my circuit board because it makes boxing so much easier, but I have this nagging feeling I am 'doing it wrong' since the tonepad offboard wiring guide (see below) specifically mentions there is just one ground on the pcb.  Anyone able to shed some light on this? 

Those multiple ground connections to the jack are a pain in the ass, though...

http://www.tonepad.com/getFile.asp?id=76

[yeeshkul]

One ground pad usually prevents ground loops.
You can have more separated grounds though, and wire them all to one reference ground point - a jack. You should know why you are
doing so, otherwise use just one ground pad and wire it to the jack ground/chassis.

[thelonious]

You can use your board as the star ground point - if you put all the ground pads in the same location on the board and ground everything there. Make ground pads on the board for both jacks, all pots that need to be grounded, etc. Then run a single wire from the power jack ground to the board.

Another solution is to use a separate piece of tagboard as your star ground point. Prevents you from having to fit all the ground wires in a jack lug.

With all of that said, if the pedal you're building has low gain, low current draw, and is simple, it's relatively unlikely that you'll experience ground loops. But stranger things have happened...

[armdnrdy]

Sometimes I take one ground from the board, one ground each from the In/Out jacks, and one from the DC jack and solder them together. Then I put a piece of shrink tubing on the solder connection to "safe it off" from touching anything else. (grounding out)

This creates a star ground that can be routed and tucked away neatly at the top of the enclosure.

[deadastronaut]

i stick 2 grounds on a board...

one to DC - , another to in jack,

and run another from the 3pdt to the in jack too...kinda like larry does...

i never stick a ground on the out jack..(bare metal box)

[bloxstompboxes]

I wire my 3pdt and jacks the way tonepad has it spec-ed for use with an led. If I put a gnd on the out jack to the board, then the switching of the unit on and off by plugging in a cable is rendered caput when also using a battery. If I leave the gnd off, then it works fine. I don't paint the inside of my enclosures and I tighten up the jacks pretty good, so I don't normally worry about loose connections on the jacks.

[MaxPower]

Apparently I've been using the first two methods listed in that tonepad guide. However, it says those are for use when a status LED is not required. What if you want to use a status LED? Where/how is the best way to wire it?

[Fp-www.Tonepad.com]

One ground on the pcb prevents ground loops, helps when installing several pedals in a box. Always ground both jacks with a cable, never thru chassis. Experience speaking.

[Perrow]

I add two grounds on the board.



One to the DC and one via the 3PDT to the input jack (i.e. to the box). This box is the first one I've added battery to.

[PRR]

For low-power systems in 4-inch boxes, a hay-wire grounding scheme rarely causes any problem.

Larger or high-power systems can bite you bad. I recall an hour in a 19" box with wire-cutters and clip-leads trying to find a grounding scheme which didn't buzz bad. In concert-hall systems you can not depend on ground for anything, all interconnects end up differential.