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DIY Stompboxes => Building your own stompbox => Topic started by: idlefaction on November 25, 2003, 10:06:34 PM

Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: idlefaction on November 25, 2003, 10:06:34 PM
okay, can anyone think of a way to hook up capacitors with an SPST switch, so that when you close a switch the capacitance value drops?

if you connect them in series and short one out, the capacitance rises; if you connect them in parallel and switch one in, the capacitance still rises.  aargh!!!

i'm trying to hook up a on-off-on DPDT switch as a three-mode selector for a twin-t/Q&D style wah, using these end values:

1.  0.01uF, 0.0068uF
2.  0.0022uF, 0.0068uF
3.  0.0022uF, 0.001uF

i can't figure out any way to have the switch change the 0.0068uF to a 0.001uF in one position only, remembering the middle position still has to be 0.0068uF.  :/   help!!!
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: stylus on November 25, 2003, 10:52:49 PM
simple, have the original value made out of the two ones combined when one is shorted, then when they are on the lower capacitance :)
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: idlefaction on November 25, 2003, 10:55:35 PM
i wish!!!!

to add capacitances, you add them in parallel.  so if you short one... you short them both!  :(
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: Ansil on November 26, 2003, 01:45:06 AM
more poles on the switch
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: idlefaction on November 26, 2003, 05:06:21 AM
yeh i'm pretty much giving up the dream.  i'll use a rotary instead.  thanks  :)
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: Bill_F on November 26, 2003, 09:26:54 AM
Maybe I'm misunderstanding. But couldn't you use a switch like this?

(http://britboy.mysitespace.com/Graphics/Parallel_cap.gif)
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: idlefaction on November 26, 2003, 02:38:48 PM
the important bit is that the capacitance has to drop when the switch *closes*.  when you close that switch, the capacitance gets more.  :(

and if you do it like:

 ,-/ -.
-*-||-*-||--


when you *close* the switch to short out a cap, the total capacitance also rises.

another option is to have middle the lowest setting, and either side a variation of higher settings.  but i'll go with a rotary - it's a good excuse to use a chicken head knob  :D[/code]
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: gez on November 26, 2003, 02:47:58 PM
Wire up two caps in parallel and 'open' the switch so that one gets disconnected, it's just a matter of perception!  :)
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: idlefaction on November 26, 2003, 03:19:04 PM
cool, all i need is a DPDT on-off-on switch, where one pole has the middle NC and the other has the middle NO  :P

hence the problem!!  but thanks for everyone's ideas.  chicken head rotary switch it is.  :)
Title: Re: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: gez on November 26, 2003, 04:22:13 PM
Quote from: idlefactioni'm trying to hook up a on-off-on DPDT switch as a three-mode selector for a twin-t/Q&D style wah, using these end values:

1.  0.01uF, 0.0068uF
2.  0.0022uF, 0.0068uF
3.  0.0022uF, 0.001uF

OK, I should have read your post more thoroughly.  Here's one way you could do it, but it's a compromise:

.0068 -     - .0068
.0022 -     - .001
*****-     - .0068

This would give you:
.009, .0078 (1)
.0022, .001 (3)
.0022, .0078 (2)

There's not a HUGE difference between .0068 & .0078, or .01 & .009, especially when you take into consideration tolerances etc.

***** had to do this as the spacing came out funny.  If this is wrong just ignore me, my head feels like it's been hit with a sledge hammer at the moment and I can barely remember my own name!
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: idlefaction on November 26, 2003, 04:55:36 PM
hehehe tequila...?   :twisted:

yeah that's a definite option...  i can make the middle setting the highest, and have 'normal' as up and 'bass' as down.  but i did that with a rangemaster for a guy and had to take away one of the options in the end cos he brought it back twice complaining that one of the settings was broken...  it just didn't make any sense to him that the sound would get lower up AND down.  :P

ahhh the joys of customer service.  :P
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: gez on November 26, 2003, 05:09:34 PM
Quote from: idlefactioni did that with a rangemaster for a guy and had to take away one of the options in the end cos he brought it back twice complaining that one of the settings was broken...  it just didn't make any sense to him that the sound would get lower up AND down.  :P

Just tell them it's 'custom wired', only a few in existance with this option (a collector's item!), charge ten dollars more and send them packing...
Title: Capacitor value designing Q
Post by: gez on November 26, 2003, 05:15:15 PM
Quote from: idlefactioni can make the middle setting the highest, and have 'normal' as up and 'bass' as down

Mount the switch sideways instead of up/down and you'll have normal (left) high (middle) and low (right).  This might make the switching feel more intuative?