Bad Footswitches?

[Myramyd]

Hello Everyone,

I've been experiencing a large number of footswitch fails. Out of the 20 builds I've done, 5 of the 3PDT footswitches have gone bad on me. So that's a pretty high rate of failure.

I would say most of them were purchased from BYOC during their surplus sale but, 2 of those are the more expensive Small Bear switches.

My question is: Is this normal? That's about a 25% failure rate. Considering it's one of the most expensive parts in most builds and a major PITA to replace them, what can I do to avoid this for the future?

I'm out so, I would like to place an order for more reasonably reliable switches!

J

[jtn191]

ugh that sounds bad. Thanks for the sources. I've ordered from small bear, tayda, and mammoth and not had any problems besides when I severely overheated the first one.

Were these nonworking switches always bad, or did they take a few stomps before going kaput?

[Myramyd]

They all worked fine in the beginning then just suddenly start "half-working" where if you step on them without clicking they will start working normally--like a toilet handle...

They will stay on or off but sometimes when you engage the switch it's like the pedal is half on until you jiggle it. They all do that same thing. Usually it takes about a month or so of regular gigging/practicing.

J

[cjkbug]

I've had quite a few, I'd say around 10% fail within a year, but those are the el cheapo $3.50 switches. I've had much better luck with cliffs and carlings but those are like twice as much money. at The moment I'm testing out other switching circuits(relay, optocoupler, millenium bypass etc.) in order to use dpdt switches witch will make getting a quality switch a little cheaper.

[gtr2]

I stick with the CLIFF's from PPP.  There not to bad price wise either.  Even with the best 3pdt's, they will fail sometimes.  The Gear Page is filled with builders and players complaining about reliability of 3pdt's.  Unfortunately, it is usually the weakest link in our builds.

Josh

[aziltz]

i've been experiencing this too, with the cheaper option from PPP

[LudfisterSound]

Haven't tried them yet but my next order will be thru here:

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/the-Electromechanical-cln-Switches%2C-Key-Pad-cln-Stomp-Switch/Categories

[jimmybjj]

I've had quite a few, I'd say around 10% fail within a year, but those are the el cheapo $3.50 switches. I've had much better luck with cliffs and carlings but those are like twice as much money. at The moment I'm testing out other switching circuits(relay, optocoupler, millenium bypass etc.) in order to use dpdt switches witch will make getting a quality switch a little cheaper.

Keep us posted with your findings. I'd be really interested in hearing what you have to say. What are you leaning towards right now?

[aziltz]

I've actually never had one fail up until about 4 months ago, and since then I've had about 7 go bad.  I buy them from all over going for the cheapest price.

[cjkbug]

Haven't tried them yet but my next order will be thru here:

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/servlet/the-Electromechanical-cln-Switches%2C-Key-Pad-cln-Stomp-Switch/Categories

those are the least reliable in my experience.

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I've been on the lucky side not having any fail so far that I've built. I'm sure it will happen eventually. I also don't stomp any of my pedals hard, but I can't speak for all the people I've built for. No complaints yet! And I do use those cheap-o switches from Tayda and Mammoth.

[nzCdog]

I had one fail... luckily only one lug died, so now I use it for my test rig 

[Myramyd]

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated!

I think I will probably order the Cliff from PPP next time and see how it goes. I hadn't ordered from them yet because their shipping prices are so high. Last time I priced an order from PPP vs. Small Bear, even though PPP had far better prices, including shipping PPP was still more!

I don't know what quality BYOC uses but it seems like the fail rate is the same as the other cheaper ones. Their new parts store also has ridiculously high shipping prices.

I did order some Tayda switches but they feel really flimsy compared to every other one I've tried. I think I will have to use those on pedals I don't plan to use as much.  

Incidentally I've had the same problem with the DPDT switches that came in my Marshall footswitch (it has 6 of them). Luckily they are easy to replace. I'm not really THAT hard on them but we do gig every weekend.

J

[k.rock!]

I'm having issues with one of my builds and if I remember correctly, the switches I used came from PPP (the cheaper ones)

Lately I've been using these from mammoth: http://www.mammothelectronics.com/4SFS3PDT-LS-I-p/800-1006.htm

To me they feel way better than the blue base ones. Plus the shaft is a little shorter which in my opinion helps with the clicking and reliability of them. I think a combination of having a longer shaft and clicking on angles may stress the switch little by little until it actually fails.

The only downside of these is the lug hole size. They are tiny. So I usually use the little boards they sell for these and they work like a charm. Plus I kinda find it easier to wire and neater too


-Kaleb

[Myramyd]

I'm thinking strongly about using those off-board wiring PCBs from now on as well. I never really saw a need before but at least it would make swapping out faulty 3PDT switches really quick and easy! 

J