Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hi all.

Hoper you're all well.

I've got two Color Boost kits from BYOC. They are great!

First build was plug 'n play.

Second offered some issues, with one remaining.
The LED lights up as one would expect, but after a while with power on, it starts to flicker.
Imagine like a Cali 76 being played. There is something wrong, I did not strike gold and mod'ed the light touch responsive.

It does however not seem to affect the audio. It works with battery and DC adap.

On its way to being functional it ran into a few other issues that I seem to have resolved by resoldering, changed wires and cleaned with elec.cleaner.

Anyone got an idea what might cause a flickering LED?
I did order a few LED spares, so I could change it.
For what its worth it's a clear blue LED in it. First one got an diffused orange.

Hoping some of you can share your wisdom and enlighten me (flickerless that is)

Kind regards from Norway.

Frode Kolbu

I would guess you have imperfect solder joints on the LED. I would recommend you reheat those joints and see if the situation improves. If not, then try replacing the LED.

I keep a 3v "coin" battery around so I can test my LEDs before installing them. Very easy and convenient!

_________________
Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

Hi Scott.

Thanks for quick reply. I’ll give that a go (again), but it strikes me as odd that it seems to occure after being lit a while. See if I can sneak off to it after the Little ones are asleep.

As Scott said, the problem could very likely be a weak solder joint, but it could also be the LED itself or a faulty footswitch. The good news is that the LED circuit is separate from the effect circuit, other than sharing the same power source and ground connection, and only involves three components--the R15 current-limiting resistor (4.7 Kohms), the LED, and the footswitch. See labeled PCB diagram below. The circuit path is as follows:

Power source-->R15-->LED-->footswitch lug 1-->footswitch lug 2 (ground)

The first three connections are permanent, and it's the 4th one that is made internally in the footswitch when you engage the circuit. That completes the path to ground and allows current to flow through the LED and light it up.

I would recommend this sequence to troubleshoot the problem:

1. Reflow the solder joints for R15, the LED, and the two footswitch lugs.
2. If the LED still flickers, short footswitch lugs 1 and 2 together with a blade of a screwdriver or other metal object and see if the flickering of the LED stops. If it does, then the footswitch should be replaced.
3. If the LED still flickers with those two footswitch lugs shorted together, replace the LED.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

Thanks!

I filled the path, and the LED lit up steady, as before. Was exited to see if it kept going without starting to flicker. Well, it didnt flicker, it just plain out died after a while. Will have a go with a fresh one!

Will replace the wiring from the switch as well.

Br

Frode

So I re-wired the switch and tossed the clear blue in the bin.

Installed an orange one (not that I think the colour matters, but a new one none the less).

Flickering issue when «on» seems gone.

However when on for a long time the LED doesn’t shut off.
Goes slithtly dim and heads into a flickering death. Then lights up as you’d expect when turned on again.

Any idea what might cause the LED to not shut off?
Is it holding charge in some sense?