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Custom Chambered Pupleheart/Figured Maple Build

I was afraid of that.

It depends on how the thing operates. If the pattern is something that changes over time, or the color is something that involves modulating two or three primary colors (R,G,B) to derive, then you'd have to shield everything and it may still not be 100% effective since the LEDs will necessarily need to be exposed. The problem shows up because in order to get that kind of operation, the controller needs to be clocked, and that's effectively AC (more accurately, switching noise), which is what your pickups are hearing.

Normally, that sort of thing wouldn't be a concern because I'm sure the controller isn't radiating much at all, but the proximity of the controller to your pickups, which are specifically designed to be sensitive to such signals, is too close.

 
Cagey said:
I was afraid of that.

It depends on how the thing operates. If the pattern is something that changes over time, or the color is something that involves modulating two or three primary colors (R,G,B) to derive, then you'd have to shield everything and it may still not be 100% effective since the LEDs will necessarily need to be exposed. The problem shows up because in order to get that kind of operation, the controller needs to be clocked, and that's effectively AC (more accurately, switching noise), which is what your pickups are hearing.

Normally, that sort of thing wouldn't be a concern because I'm sure the controller isn't radiating much at all, but the proximity of the controller to your pickups, which are specifically designed to be sensitive to such signals, is too close.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip.  I will try wrapping the controller.  Like you said I cannot wrap the lights.  I may have to change the set up or trash the idea all together.
 
How loud/noticeable/annoying is it? If it's not too outrageous, maybe a noise gate with a low threshold setting would get rid of it without any "pumping" artifact. No good for recording, but you could always just turn the lights off or remove the batteries in situations like that where you need the noise floor down as low as it can get.

I recently bought an effective gate for only $25 from Behringer. Research said the Boss NS2 unit was high on the cost/performance list of such devices, and the NR300 is supposed to be a copy of that, so in the basket it went. Thing works great, but as it turns out I don't really need it. I bought it as a defensive move having bought a couple other effects pedals that I didn't know where their noise floor was, but it turned out they were very quiet devices. Anyway, $25 is easy to take.
 
Its annoying but not real audible when playing.  When I turn the lights off it goes away so no big issue

I am REALLY digging the body shape and feel of the thinner body.  Only the center section is 1.75 thick, the rest is closer to 1.33.  Also the significant chambering I did really reduced the weight.  It is heavy but still lighter than my gold top Gibson Les Paul.  It pairs very well with the shorter scale neck too.
 
I love it dude. It looks really great with the Warhead headstock and the sexy light. I'm jealous.  :icon_thumright:
 
Late to the party here. The noise is the led's brightness being controlled with pwm (pulse width modulation). You are hearing the rattle at whatever the clock rate the controller is using. Assuming that you have not grounded it to the audio circuit, the insertion mechanism is likely emi. Here's your options:

1-use completely shielded pickups.
2-completely shield the controller
3-put some caps on the led drive lines to limit the slew rate, which should reduce the emi. I'd use a scope to size those caps.
4-figure out the one colour that you like the best, throw away the controller, and achieve that colour with varying series resistance. Limits you to one colour mind...
 
Mayfly said:
Late to the party here. The noise is the led's brightness being controlled with pwm (pulse width modulation). You are hearing the rattle at whatever the clock rate the controller is using. Assuming that you have not grounded it to the audio circuit, the insertion mechanism is likely emi. Here's your options:

1-use completely shielded pickups.
2-completely shield the controller
3-put some caps on the led drive lines to limit the slew rate, which should reduce the emi. I'd use a scope to size those caps.
4-figure out the one colour that you like the best, throw away the controller, and achieve that colour with varying series resistance. Limits you to one colour mind...
Click to expand...


Going to try Option 2, the option 4.
 
Mayfly said:
4-figure out the one colour that you like the best, throw away the controller, and achieve that colour with varying series resistance. Limits you to one colour mind...
Click to expand...
Doesn't have to... You could wire up a toggle switch with different resistor values for RGB in each position, just need a three pole switch. Ad if you want to go overboard I think you could wire this up with 74ls165 and 74ls595 chips. The Shruthi diy synth used that to make button puches do things in the menu, but also activate combinations of LEDs to indicate the function you selected. Should be possible to adapt that part of the schematic.
 
ByteFrenzy said:
Mayfly said:
4-figure out the one colour that you like the best, throw away the controller, and achieve that colour with varying series resistance. Limits you to one colour mind...
Click to expand...
Doesn't have to... You could wire up a toggle switch with different resistor values for RGB in each position, just need a three pole switch. Ad if you want to go overboard I think you could wire this up with 74ls165 and 74ls595 chips. The Shruthi diy synth used that to make button puches do things in the menu, but also activate combinations of LEDs to indicate the function you selected. Should be possible to adapt that part of the schematic.
Click to expand...


"I'm just a doctor Jim, not a damn electrical engineer!!!" :laughing3:

Thanks for the tip all!
 
Well I am happy to report that the buss issue when using the lights has been fixed.  After reading all your excellent input, I figured I would mess with the controller a but since it looked like that was the issue.

BTW...copper shielding did NOTHING AT ALL!

As I mentioned the controller has 3 buttons, Color, cycle, and intensity.

1st I decided to cycle the colors.  As I said, it has something like 12 different colors give or take.  Some colors had less buzz than others.  Green and blue were the most silent.  Still the hum remained a bit. 

Next I tried the cycle.  This allows me to change from flashing, fading, and multiple combos.  Still nothing.

Finally I hit the intensity.  It has setting from HIGH, MEDIUM, and LOW.  I pressed it once, the lights got brighter, the buzz became quieter.  I hit it again, the lights go even brighter, the the buzz disappeared! :headbanging:

I can now use any color I want, as long as the intensity is HIGH.  I have not tried the cycle switch again as I like the steady on.  I may giver it a shot but I suspect anything messing with the brightness will create the buzz again.

Thanks all.  I love this board.
 
Feeding them an on/off square wave of varying duty cycle (pulse width modulation) is a neat trick with a lotta applications. We were doing it with fans in PCs back when overclocking was a little more widespread than it is now. Watch the temperature, and as it goes up, increase the on time and/or decrease the off time, and vice-versa to change the fan speed. I think most modern motherboards do that automatically now.
 
Pulse width modulation seems like a lot of over kill just to vary the brightness of an LED. Give me a good analog solution to a simple problem any day of the week. How about a voltage divider to set forward bias, and then a variable resister in series to vary the current throughput?  :icon_scratch:
 
I understand it did more than modulate brightness. There was flashing, sequencing, color changes, etc. A multi-module counter/timer chip can do a helluva lotta stuff without a whole lot of support circuitry.
 
Thanks.  I am pretty pleased.  It is a bit heavy but not too much that it is unplayable.  I am really enjoying the shape.  Lights are a crowd pleaser.
 
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