The footswitch part 2: Stuck on one stupid detail !

[Evad Nomenclature]

Hey guys.

So a couple of weeks ago, I posted asking about building a footswitch for a 5150 head.  I hadn't realized how easy it was, but it ended up being a piece of cake in the end.  Couple switches, couple wires and.. boom, all good.  So... I have the box run with 6 pole dpdt switches and everything works great... tried it out 2 days ago finally.  Now that it is working I wanted to try to get LED's working for the channel/effects loop switch, but I'm having a stupid issue that I cant make sense of... the LED's do get power when I connect them through to the tip and sleeve or ring and sleeve... but how do I connect them to the switch so they go on *when* I engage the switch.

God, I feel newbtastic!!!!!!!!!! (awesome! )

Here's an image.. forgive my also newb illustrator skills.



Thanks guys.! 

[petemoore]

  The LED circuit and it's power supply are separate.
  DPDT's are two simultaneous and electronically separate SPDT switches, side by side, 6 lugs.
  SPDT's have three lugs [look at one side of the DPDT], one pole, two throws.
  You've used one SPDT inside each DPDT switch.
  Use the left 'column of three lugs'...1/2 of the left switch to wire make and break the LED circuit.
  The LED circuit is the LED and separate power supply, current limiting resistor. The LED circuit requires it's power and is electronically insulated from the effect switching circuit.
 

[Evad Nomenclature]

So.
I'm assuming what you are saying is that (by power supply) that I will need a battery or jack to power the LED's that switch in parallel on the other side of the footswitches?
I think I can figure out how to do that, but I was confused because I had seen other footswitches that aren't powered but utilize the LED's still.
just checking.
thanks muchos for the response =)

[Andi]

Some/many amps supply power along the switching line for LEDs.

What you'd do is stick the LED between the switch and socket - you'll have to experiment with the polarity (or check with a multimeter). Actually, checking with a multimeter would be sensible to be sure the voltage is right and won't blow the LED.

[Evad Nomenclature]

I should have mentioned this in the OP.

I can get the LED's to light up by putting it between top and middle lugs (but therefore creating a permanent circuit instead of a switchable one)
and they seem completely fine.  So I can get them to light but obviously when I do that, the switching mechinism wont work anymore since it is permanently connected.  =D

yep!
thanks

[.Mike]

Some/many amps supply power along the switching line for LEDs.

What you'd do is stick the LED between the switch and socket - you'll have to experiment with the polarity (or check with a multimeter). Actually, checking with a multimeter would be sensible to be sure the voltage is right and won't blow the LED.

I can get the LED's to light up by putting it between top and middle lugs (but therefore creating a permanent circuit instead of a switchable one)
and they seem completely fine.  So I can get them to light but obviously when I do that, the switching mechinism wont work anymore since it is permanently connected.  =D

Instead of putting the LED between the lugs of the switch, you put it between one of the lugs of the switch, and the output jack. Similar to this, I believe:

[Evad Nomenclature]

Mike.

After seeing this, the "duh" switch went off in my brain.
Worked like a charm, I don't know why I didn't see that before...
thanks much
dave