Relay for D'lite 22/33

[Guy77]

I finished building a D'lite 22/33 from the tweaked layout on this board recently. Awesome sounding amp! I have built Tweed Deluxe , Tweed Bassman and Marshall Plexi and this one is the best sounding for my taste.

I built it without the relays and now I want to add a relay for the PAB switch (middle switch on Tweaked layout).
I wanted to know what type of Relay I need to buy and what type of jack I need to use for the foot pedal ( I have currently lots of Switchcraft style ones).

I attached a photo of my baby wrapped in tweed tolex.
I used a Hammond 16x8 chassis and faceplate was printed on styrene at Kinkos for $20.
Power trans is hammond 290DX from my bassman. Output trans is hammond 1750N from Marshall JCM800. I also used hammond choke from Marshall JCM 800 (not shown in photo.
(this choke sounded better than the one from my bassman)

Until next time....keep the solder hot!

[10thTx]

There is a thread on the Hoffman forum about relay switching. It has schematics, layout, diagrams and photos and may be useful to you.

http://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=14348.0

Hoffman does sell relay boards and relay power supply boards along with all the needed parts also.

And there are some TAG member that sell relay boards also.

With respect, 10thtx

[lord preset]

Colossal is the TAG member who sells relay boards. I highly recommend them - http://www.colossalamps.com/DIY.html.

When I built my D'lite 44 I followed the Tweaked layout that included relays. It works fine and to answer your question about relays, the Omron G5V-2-HI or equivalent is about right. D'lite scheme uses the 12v version IIRC, Colossal uses 5V.

If you are only doing one relay then a regular mono Switchcraft jack is fine and will work with generic Marshall style one button non-LED footswitches. If you want an LED then there is more than one way to do it, but FWIW the scheme I found on the Brown Note forum where you run the LED off of the switching voltage did not work for me - too much voltage drop to actuate the relay.

[tele_player]

I recently added two relays to a Brown Note D'Lite 44 I built back in '07.
What I did:
- 5v regulated power supply and relay boards from Colossal.
- powered from the 6.3vac filament tap
- LEDs removed from relay boards
- Two button Marshall style footswitch from tubesandmore.com, with LEDs
- OMRON 3v high sensitivity relays
- rewired the footswitch with resistor in parallel with LED, to correctly handle the current passing thru the relay.
- Cliff jack TRS
- SPST switches on back of chassis for if I forget or break the footswitch. switches are wired to be disabled if footswitch is plugged in. Cliff jack is great for this.
- SPST switches each have a resistor to simulate the 2V drop of the LED/resistor in the footswitch.

The point of using 3V relays was so I could have LEDs for two relays using only a TRS cable.

This setup works great. Unlike some relay setups that were hacked together back in the BN D'Lite days, this works correctly across a real-world range of AC line voltage.

Robert

[Guy77]

Thank you everyone for the quick replay. I will check out both sites mentioned above.

Have a great weekend!

[Guy77]

Actually my 6.3V line is center tapped and the colossal site mentions to use a non center taped power source.
Will I be ok using my 5v (tube rectifier) power source which is not being used?

[ToneMerc]

I recently added two relays to a Brown Note D'Lite 44 I built back in '07.
What I did:
- 5v regulated power supply and relay boards from Colossal.
- powered from the 6.3vac filament tap
- LEDs removed from relay boards
- Two button Marshall style footswitch from tubesandmore.com, with LEDs
- OMRON 3v high sensitivity relays
- rewired the footswitch with resistor in parallel with LED, to correctly handle the current passing thru the relay.
- Cliff jack TRS
- SPST switches on back of chassis for if I forget or break the footswitch. switches are wired to be disabled if footswitch is plugged in. Cliff jack is great for this.
- SPST switches each have a resistor to simulate the 2V drop of the LED/resistor in the footswitch.

The point of using 3V relays was so I could have LEDs for two relays using only a TRS cable.

This setup works great. Unlike some relay setups that were hacked together back in the BN D'Lite days, this works correctly across a real-world range of AC line voltage.

Robert

Yep, more than one way to skin a cat and the 3V relay is one them.

TM

[lord preset]

Actually my 6.3V line is center tapped and the colossal site mentions to use a non center taped power source.
Will I be ok using my 5v (tube rectifier) power source which is not being used?

Yes

[tele_player]

Actually my 6.3V line is center tapped and the colossal site mentions to use a non center taped power source.
Will I be ok using my 5v (tube rectifier) power source which is not being used?

Same here - the trick is that the relay power circuit needs to be isolated from chassis ground, which amounts to two things:
- don't attach the voltage regulator to the chassis, or be absolutely certain to do it in such a way that it's still electrically isolated, or use the isolated version of the 7805 regulator.
- use a Cliff jack, which is isolated from the chassis.

I wouldn't use the 5V tap, since that's cutting it close on supplying enough DC voltage. The whole point of using a regulated power supply is to have guaranteed line and load regulation (see below), which requires adequate DC margin.

Line regulation: maintaining the specified output voltage across the full range of expected input voltage.
Load regulation: maintaining specified output voltage across all expected load currents.

Robert

[ampdoc1]

I think this guy is still selling these relay boards that I designed and sold a few years back. 3 relays and a FWB supply on a single board,..or the board perforations can be "snapped" into separate units (each have dual mounting holes.) I have used these on a couple of DLites with no problems. Check Moss's sight for lots more info on this board.

They also provide additional connections to add LEDs to the front panel, footswitch, and a on board PC "check" light for easily diagnosing the system.
There is also a complete diagram for all the wiring.

I sold over a hundred of these with no complaints. From my experience a regulated system is not required. I usually use the 6.3VAC for the hookup,.. and the DC runs a little less than 6V. You will hear no difference because of the "lowered" voltage.

I have an amp I'm building that I installed the board in yesterday.

www.grangeramp.com

a'doc

[Guy77]

Actually my 6.3V line is center tapped and the colossal site mentions to use a non center taped power source.
Will I be ok using my 5v (tube rectifier) power source which is not being used?

Yes

I like the idea of building the power supply unit and relay board from the d'lite layout.
When I build the relay board can I use the 5v relay. I can find many people selling the 5v version but not many are selling the 12v one. And also can I wire the 5v version the same way that the 12v one is wired in the d'lite layout?

Thanks again.

[lord preset]

Actually my 6.3V line is center tapped and the colossal site mentions to use a non center taped power source.
Will I be ok using my 5v (tube rectifier) power source which is not being used?

Yes

I like the idea of building the power supply unit and relay board from the d'lite layout.
When I build the relay board can I use the 5v relay. I can find many people selling the 5v version but not many are selling the 12v one. And also can I wire the 5v version the same way that the 12v one is wired in the d'lite layout?

Thanks again.

Mouser sells the 12v versiom. As designed the Dlite relay power supply is voltage doubling so it will fry a 5v relay. I know this because I fried one.

[Guy77]

Awesome Awesome Awesome.

I have a friend who will test drive the amp in a live setting so I need to get busy soon!
I will update when she is done.

[tele_player]

Are you really only doing a single relay, as stated in your original post? I find the OD relay very useful, and if you're already going to the effort of installing a relay PS, why not do two relays?

Robert

[Guy77]

Yes your right! I have decided on doing both relays. OD and PAB.
Its make more sense. I think I will order from Granger.

I will use a stereo switcraft jack and 2 button marshall pedal with LED.