Lighted pots

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Glitches&switches
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Lighted pots

Post by Glitches&switches »

Anyone here know anyone that will change out pots in a pedal with lighted LED pots?
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frodog
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by frodog »

Those pots only come in board-mount, miniature packages (with power connector legs) so unless that perfectly fits the PCB in question it would be a lot of work I think. Like, mounting the pots to their own board, or wired offboard, with a complete rehouse to boot.
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by whoismarykelly »

Yeah you really need to design the whole build around the pots to use those.
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by Glitches&switches »

frodog wrote:Those pots only come in board-mount, miniature packages (with power connector legs) so unless that perfectly fits the PCB in question it would be a lot of work I think. Like, mounting the pots to their own board, or wired offboard, with a complete rehouse to boot.
Thanks for the info. It was for a rehouse but sounds like it would entail quite a bit of work. I still haven't really found anyone capable or willing to work on SMD pots. I have had quite a few rehouses done but no one seems to want to deal with SMD because it's a lot of work.
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by whoismarykelly »

The pots are usually through hole and a rehouse on that kind of thing usually isn't too hard. You just measure and drill the new enclosure to match the layout.
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by Jero »

What pedal is it?
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by Glitches&switches »

Jero wrote:What pedal is it?
No specific pedal, I am having most ofl my pedals rehoused and just was hoping to have the lighted LED's on one, not sure which yet, not necessary, just thought it'd be cool since they are getting rehoused already.
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by Jero »

Glitches&switches wrote:
Jero wrote:What pedal is it?
No specific pedal, I am having most ofl my pedals rehoused and just was hoping to have the lighted LED's on one, not sure which yet, not necessary, just thought it'd be cool since they are getting rehoused already.
Gotcha. The difficulty kind of comes down to the specific pedal; just something to keep in mind. If it's getting rehoused anyway, then it likely won't be as big of an issue in regards to spacial constraints at least.
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by Glitches&switches »

Jero wrote:
Glitches&switches wrote:
Jero wrote:What pedal is it?
No specific pedal, I am having most ofl my pedals rehoused and just was hoping to have the lighted LED's on one, not sure which yet, not necessary, just thought it'd be cool since they are getting rehoused already.
Gotcha. The difficulty kind of comes down to the specific pedal; just something to keep in mind. If it's getting rehoused anyway, then it likely won't be as big of an issue in regards to spacial constraints at least.
Good to know, thanks for the info!
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by BetterOffShred »

I've done a few LFO speed pots on builds with them, using a little daughter board made of strip and flying the wires, but that was certainly not retrofitting to an existing enclosure/pcb
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by eatyourguitar »

the pots are through hole but the LED is surface mounted. sometimes you need to use a very small surface mounted LED. I have the oven for surface mounted components. I also design PCB's. however, who will pay $100 for a custom PCB design, order the PCB, order the LED's order the pots, solder it all up and ship it? very few people for something cosmetic.
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by whoismarykelly »

You could just have a PCB faceplate with SMD leds under clear knobs. Its effectively the same look without actually having to fuss with the pots or original circuit board. You just drill a hole in the top of the new enclosure to pass power and ground wires through to little solder pads on the back of the faceplate.
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by JonnyAngle »

In my experience, when adding LED pots, or working with SMD components, small stock enclosures end up in extremely large rehoused enclosures.

Most pedals come with sealed jacks, which makes it difficult to tell which type of jack they are using. Most pedals require the pedal to be plugged in in order to be on. THis means that the jack is lifting a leg on the input jack or it may be completing a different circuit. There's not a great way to tell other than take it apart, test what is connected to what, and add wire/ cut traces after the fact.

OK, so you go that. BUT THEN, there's all these SMD components usually adjacent to the jacks/ power connector that need to be removed, which can make things a little hairy. Behringer puts SMD components on both sides of the board for some pedals, so desoldering pots and making them off board is quite challenging. Then, to get the led to light on the pot, you need to run a separate power and ground wire to each pot.

Nothing is impossible, but oof it's a lot of work!
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by AZX309 »

i mean if you really want to i offer a converter board for a16mm pot to 14mm clear shaft. ive only ever used them on one knob builds but i aint stopping no one.
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Re: Lighted pots

Post by Glitches&switches »

AZX309 wrote:i mean if you really want to i offer a converter board for a16mm pot to 14mm clear shaft. ive only ever used them on one knob builds but i aint stopping no one.
How much for a single knob one?
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