Led Schematic

how do you add an led to a homemade guitar effects pedal?

I’m building a guitar pedal from a schematic online, but the schematic doesn’t include an led on it. To add one on, would I just have to get a 3pdt switch instead of a 2pdt and hook it up on the third portion of the switch? If so how do I hook up to the battery then? Or am I completely wrong about that part? Any help is appreciated.

Your idea sounds good having a separate switch section just for turning on the led. that way, you could even use a separate battery to power the led. Just keep the led current below 20 mA, and use any battery 3 volts or more. To limit current, put a resistor in series with the led and power source. The resistor should be R= (V1-V2)/.02, where V1= battery voltage and V2=led forward voltage (usually 2 volts for common red leds). So that is R=50 ohms for a 3 volt battery, or R=350 ohms for 9 volts. You can even just use the 2pdt switch if one section powers the guitar pedal with a low D.C. voltage. Then just tap off the switched side, go through the series resistor and led and connect to circuit ground.

RGB LED Zippo Schematic