Why won't my LEDs light?

[colossus]

I'm feeling incredibly stupid right now. I just did my first 2-in-1 build (a Meathead dark into a SHO) using this diagram: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T8OdqPmP_2Q/U ... -+dual.png. First try, everything works, EXCEPT the LEDs. Neither are lighting. Everything seems wired correctly (though I use 4.7k resistors) with the flat edge going into the switch and the round going to the resistor. From there, kinda unlike the diagram, I twisted the two resistor legs together and just soldered a wire from this to the DC jack. In addition, perhaps also complicating things, I have the 9v+ from the board going to a 10k pot to add some dying battery effects. Here's a picture. Any clue what's wrong?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1664428/20141022_212618.jpg -- linked for hugeness

The resistors are under the black shrink tubing.

[colossus]

Ok, to make this stranger...the right LED lights SOMETIMES when I depress the left footswitch. It's a red LED. The other LED, a white one, never lights. Like...what?? I've gone over and over the switch to no avail. The soldering is clean; no bridges. Nada. I'm at a loss. Could the white one be sucking too much power or something? I'll also add that while the 10k sag affects the fuzz pretty quickly, it has no effect on the lit red LED...which also makes no sense to me. Unless it's just not going down to 0v and still giving enough V to power the LED.

[Bellyheart]

I'm following this. I'm constantly frying LEDs in some builds. I have no idea how. Need to get better and shrink tubes

[skullservant]

It sounds like a voltage thing, but really it shouldn't make a difference. I have run into a few times were one LED will light and the others will not, but not often. If they are going to the pot that might affect things though. Try it with two LEDs of the same color just out of curiosity to see if it does the same thing

[LaoWiz]

Ok, to make this stranger...the right LED lights SOMETIMES when I depress the left footswitch. It's a red LED. The other LED, a white one, never lights. Like...what?? I've gone over and over the switch to no avail. The soldering is clean; no bridges. Nada. I'm at a loss. Could the white one be sucking too much power or something? I'll also add that while the 10k sag affects the fuzz pretty quickly, it has no effect on the lit red LED...which also makes no sense to me. Unless it's just not going down to 0v and still giving enough V to power the LED.

It's hard to tell since the pic is a little soft. It's almost looks like there is hardly any solder on some of the switch connections where the led and ground connections are. Maybe reflow those joints? If the red led is partially lighting but the switch works as its switches between two options, the led connections are bad.

Also, the starve pot is going from 9v --> circuit and not 9v --> LED --> circuit. So should not effect the leds as the leds are getting juice straight from the adaptor...

[colossus]

Fooling around with it a bit more, but I reflowed all the connections -- no dice. However, one big thing... the switch with the problematic LED, if I use alligator clips and connect the LED to the lug it's supposed to be attached to, it doesn't light. BUT if I connect it to the lug that should be connecting to it when I hit the switch, it lights. Problematic switch perhaps? In the diagram, it lights when I touch it to the top of the lower left corner L, but doesn't when I connect it to the lug it's supposed to connect to.

[skullservant]

do you have the pins of the footswitches facing the same direction? Like, pins longways or tallways?

[colossus]

Like lugs all point up vs sideways? Yup. Is it possible to just have one faulty lug on a switch? Like I said, the effect switching works fine. It's just the LED lug that doesn't seem to be.

[skullservant]

It's possible, I've had it happen to me. Is that pin loose at all, or sticking up a little higher than the others? That's happened to me once or twice from putting too much heat on a switch

[colossus]

Using my ohmmeter, there is continuity between the lugs though. This is fucking weird. Mind blown.

[LaoWiz]

Fooling around with it a bit more, but I reflowed all the connections -- no dice. However, one big thing... the switch with the problematic LED, if I use alligator clips and connect the LED to the lug it's supposed to be attached to, it doesn't light. BUT if I connect it to the lug that should be connecting to it when I hit the switch, it lights. Problematic switch perhaps? In the diagram, it lights when I touch it to the top of the lower left corner L, but doesn't when I connect it to the lug it's supposed to connect to.

Does it light when you touch the lead to the middle left lug?

Where are the switches from? I had some easy to overheat switches from Tayda and BLMS....

[colossus]

Yup, lights fine then. And on the bottom left lug as well (though the middle and bottom left are connected together via a wire, so this is obvious). Just not the top. But if there's continuity between the top and middle, per the ohmmeter, how could the switch be busted?

[LaoWiz]

Yea, if you have it switched to where it should be on (LED on) and you are reading continuity between those two lugs it should be working. This sounds like you are having one of those twilight zone debugging nightmares. It's almost more frustrating than having the circuit not work. Been there, makes me really angry sometimes.

[skullservant]

Yea, if you have it switched to where it should be on (LED on) and you are reading continuity between those two lugs it should be working. This sounds like you are having one of those twilight zone debugging nightmares. It's almost more frustrating than having the circuit not work. Been there, makes me really angry sometimes.

Yep. Just like Kosta's Rocktave and that ONE diode that was making the whole thing not work

[colossus]

Yeah hella weirdness going on. It's just the LED for the boost so at this point i'm just forgoing it. It sounds awesome and the SHO will likely be always on anyhow. Meathead into SHO sounds too good to not always have the SHO on.