Do you consider star grounding a necessity with pedals. Can ground loops cause..

[jimmybjj]

I don't typically run all of my grounds to one point, but i make a effort not to create any loops. Do you feel star grounding is essential?

A couple of builds have radio interference issues. No issues at my house but at a buddies, the pedals belong to him now. The only thing i can think of is the ground method i used or bad grounding on his guitar. He says none of his factory pedals have the issue, only a couple of the diy pedals have issues.

I know that i can put a small cap on the input and a series resistor but i am trying to understand why it is happening so i can prevent or fix the problem.

[PRR]

Many factory pedals have radio filtering. Many DIY plans don't. Could that be an issue?

IMHO, in something as small as a pedal, stars or loops hardly matter; however you would like to not have heavy LED switching transients returned to your input jack.

[jimmybjj]

Many factory pedals have radio filtering. Many DIY plans don't. Could that be an issue?

IMHO, in something as small as a pedal, stars or loops hardly matter; however you would like to not have heavy LED switching transients returned to your input jack.

Thanks for the reply. Im not sure what you mean by your last sentence "  however you would like to not have heavy LED switching transients returned to your input jack. "

[DDD]

Ground loops in the small-sized transistor gadgets usually don't do any harm except of the extremely hi-gain situations.
Nevertheless, try to avoid them - it' vey easy.

[EATyourGuitar]

I thought all this star grounding was going to make everything better but I can't really say that it did so I switched back to doing anything that works. although I can testify that none of my star grounded pedals ever had noise issues ever so maybe it is legit?

[tempus]

Many factory pedals have radio filtering. Many DIY plans don't. Could that be an issue?

IMHO, in something as small as a pedal, stars or loops hardly matter; however you would like to not have heavy LED switching transients returned to your input jack.

Thanks for the reply. Im not sure what you mean by your last sentence "  however you would like to not have heavy LED switching transients returned to your input jack. "

I think he means that you need to make sure that the ground from the LED/switch doesn't travel along the same path as the signal ground. So connect your signal ground directly to the ground terminal and/or connect your switching/LED ground directly to the ground terminal in a star ground fashion. That way the signal ground doesn't end up carrying and possible amplifying any switching noise.