JohnH's Tayda pedals

[Marcel]

What is it about the lighting that's so complex?

Driving the DMX light things is pretty easy although being creative is a matter of opinion... The hard part is when things don't go as planned and then finding out what is misbehaving, and with some fixtures that can be quite an ordeal...

I'm working on a $2.5k 150W LED moving head DMX spot with selectable gels/gobo's at the moment and it's proving to be quite the challenge (and with the covers off is often blinding) to fix. Lets just say the onboard controller is giving me an attitude problem with the fixtures errant mechanical and electrical behaviour...Things like focus, gobo alignment, gel selection, X & Y trim, motor & LED temp & current settings, and cleanliness are just some of the things to be examined... The 55W little brother I worked on just prior was a walk in the park by comparison...

[JohnH]

Oh, man, that sounds intense. I think that would drive me crazy - that level of electrical jiggery is still quite a way off for me, ha ha

[Marcel]

It's only intense when these buggars are working at full strength. Most LED torches are between 0.25W up to maybe 1W... these guys are 50W and 150W.... You can just make out the cooling fins and 12cm fan on the back of the bigger one...

And if you happen to swipe the wrong fader on the control desk the servo motors can make quick demolition work on a set of meter probes... given half the chance they probably could break bones if need be...

These two are ill and on my kitchen floor awaiting "treatment". Four more are in my truck waiting to come in. I included a pen in one photo to illustrate size but I think the 30pack cartons of lemonade show the size better...

[JohnH]

How did you end up with the job of fixing them? I'm seriously impressed by anyone who can do that kind of thing

[Marcel]

Due to our current throw away mentality sadly the TV repairman shop is a disappearing business. Thankfully I have a part time job in one of the few that remain, and we don't limit ourselves to just TV's. Where we can we will have a go at almost anything that has "electronics" in it... which includes those old antique 'stereograms' and turntables through to the usual plasmas and LCD TV's up to those industrial 500" TV mega projectors and robot vacuum cleaners, and of course all kinds of stage equipment.... It's a small yet very diverse and interesting workshop to be in...

There is just the two of us in the shop. Roy has been in the TV trade since before I was born, and with my aviation and music industry experience there isn't much we can't tackle...

https://www.facebook.com/Roy-Xanthos...7937553079706/

[JohnH]

I've been rifling through drawers today, and came across a bunch of half built pedals. One was the Tayda EP booster, which I got as far as testing, but then used the jacks and stompswitch for something else and never put it back together.

I've ordered some more bits so hopefully I can build it next week. I've ordered their Plexitone PCB too, to give me another project now my study is done for the semester

Also found this Super Hard On that I built but wasn't super into...

[JohnH]

Did some surgery today on my Tayda Box of Rock.

One of the stomp switches failed awhile ago, and I had wired the knobs backwards anyway so it needed some work

All back together now, and working like a charm...

[jugglindan]

Is that the complete Box of Rock with the SHO booster built in? Or does it just have the dirt side?

It's good to get things working. Having broken stuff sitting around tends to annoy me after a while.

I prefer my boost pedals with a bit of colour, more Xotic AC booster than RC. But I imagine that changes depending on the amp.

[JohnH]

It includes the boost, though I don't know how accurate it is (I've also made the tayda SHO pedal but have nothing to compare it to):

https://www.taydakits.com/instructions/box-of-rock

I agree about having broken things sitting around. It bugged me that I'd made such a rookie wiring mistake with the knobs in the first place, and then when the stomp switch died it just sat looking sad and driving me mad for a few months ha ha

[jugglindan]

There's not much reason for a SHO clone to be inaccurate. It's a very simple circuit. It's a good circuit, but a very small part count. There's a good description and schematic here. In the comments section there is some good info on adding a hard clipping stage that could turn it into a dirty boost. Kinda makes me want to breadboard one now to experiment