Ibanez TS9 LED stopped working when replacing it.

[matt.dyck.music]

Hello, first off I want to apologize for my ignorance in this area. Anyway, I intended to replace the LED in my tubescreamer and also change the resistor to make it brighter. As I was unscrewing the backplate, I noticed that the circuit board had actually broken off by the screw (bottom left corner of picture). While it was open, I decided to quickly check that everything was still working (and it was). I even held the new LED so it touched the correct places and it lit up. So I unplugged it again and went on to replace the LED. When it was in and I powered it back up... no light. When I tried touching the original LED to the correct places, it also wouldn't light up anymore. Even bypassing the tiny circuit board with the red and pink wires (in the left of the picture) wouldn't make it light up. I put the pedal back together anyway, and everything still functions, except the indicator (which is pretty much the opposite of what I was going for).

So, what do you think might have gone wrong? And what is your suggestion for me to fix it?

Again, sorry for my lack of knowledge on pedal modding, I figured this would be an easy task. Oh, and I have done soldering before on my guitars and got shiny joints, but for some reason the ones on this little circuit board keep hazing over and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong here.

[Kipper4]

Did you put the led in the right way? I know it sounds like a dumb question but leds are polarised.

You never know I just had to ask.

[matt.dyck.music]

Yes, I'm sure I put it the correct way. And I also made sure the pedal was engaged too.

[Kipper4]

Ok just checking.
In my haste i forgot to say,Welcome to the forum.

Have you got a multi meter so you can check for voltage on the led?

Can I also ask if you just wanted the led brighter why replace it and not just the resistor?

I can see the image now too. I couldnt earlier. Is the led at the left of the pcb image in the middle? because it looks like the solder is bridged.

[matt.dyck.music]

I don't have a multimeter (yet, it should get here this week) unfortunately. I'm not entirely sure where you're describing in the picture, but the LED is soldered into the spots I marked with red and green. And the parts marked in orange are normally connected as well. Like I said before though, even placing the LED directly between the Red wire and the Pink wire did not make it light up (as I'm assuming it should since it's a basic two lead connection.)



Also, I had extra LEDs from another project and figured I may as well change the colour as well when making it brighter. So hopefully when I do get it working again, I can then swap out the resistor without problems.

[Kipper4]

Gottya. since its on the bit thats broken of I'll assume theres no power to it. despite what you said that it worked non the less earlier. Probably best check that first when you get your meter.
if you connect the led (right orientation) to a +9v power supply it will die quite quickly without a currant limiting resistor.

Polarised
the longer lead on the led (anode)goes to the +9v (through the CLR currant limiting resistor)
the short lead (cathode) goes to ground.
you can always use the old led to do some testing unless it met its maker on removal or is in the dust cart. (I dont know what the American is for dust cart)

[Kipper4]

Also check that the part of the pcb that has the led on it is not grounding out on the enclosure. that might stop it working. it looks awefully close in the picture.

ps the bridge i thought i saw is opposite the red wire. Nowhere near where the led is. my bad....

[matt.dyck.music]

I only fastened the LED chip board to the frame there to hold it in place while desoldering the red and pink wires, so that part wasn't close to the frame when I was actually testing it. And the original LED wouldn't seem to work either when I tried it (I checked both ways to make sure I had the positive on the right side). Either way, the pedal still works so if I don't figure it out, it'll be fine anyway [Could never see that dim LED anyway]. But hopefully when my multimeter comes in, I will be able to better determine the problem. Thanks for the help though, Kipper. I'll update when/if I figure it out.

[matt.dyck.music]

One last question is this: am I correct in believing that simply wiring an LED directly between the red and pink wire should result in it lighting up? If so, then I know that there is for sure a problem on the main board. I may have damaged the little board, but it looks to me like it simply is there to make the connections more solid than directly wiring to the LED.

[mth5044]

Unless someone here has the pedal or worked with one, there's no way for us to tell what those wires are supposed to do. Did you install them?

[matt.dyck.music]

No, the only thing I did with them is remove a little circuit board with the LED on it. Those two wires went to the board and on the board connected the LED. Other than that, the only thing that changed is the broken corner of the main PCB (bottom left of picture). But like I said, I tested it with the piece broken off before attempting to change anything.

[mth5044]

I see. Is there anything else on the LED PCb? Looks like there is at least 4 soldered pads.

[matt.dyck.music]

I decided to check the continuity of the signal through the little circuit and LED, and figured out that my solder joint didn't take well enough. So I re-soldered them better, checked continuity, and then reattached it to the wires. I plugged it in and tried again and it worked. It feels silly that it came down to a poor solder joint, and I still don't know why skipping the little PCB (where my soldering was done) didn't work, but it works now. Thanks guys for helping me try to think of what went wrong. Also, the new Super Bright LED is already WAY brighter than the old LED even without changing the resistor, so I am quite happy with the results.

If nothing else, I hope this thread is useful for someone else down the road. Have a good one guys.
-Matt

P.S. My method of checking for continuity involves touching wire to a cable plugged into an amp channel switch, very challenging sometimes and unconventional (which is why I'm finally getting a multimeter).

[Kipper4]

Great.
Happy days. That's your debugging virginity out of the way, may there be not too many more debuggings.

Rich

[Cozybuilder]

Great.
Happy days. That's your debugging virginity out of the way, may there be not too many more debuggings.

Rich

Hmmm, doesn't getting rid of virginity imply that now that the first time is out of the way, you can look forward to many more pleasurable outings of that nature?

[duck_arse]

I skipped my first time, still waiting for my second .....