geekhack

geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Adhesive_X on Wed, 15 December 2010, 20:57:54

Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: Adhesive_X on Wed, 15 December 2010, 20:57:54
Anybody having any issues with the LED brightness being uneven?

I had 3-4 letters with considerably weaker illumination. I exchanged for a different board and now have 2 numbers and a letter with the same issue.

Other than the lighting issue I like the board, but I know it will drive me nuts….

Any evenly lit boards out there? Wonder if I'm too picky?
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: nmd on Fri, 17 December 2010, 02:18:37
My Windows keys are a tad dimmer but I attribute that to the dome shape and the Windows symbol being lower positioned than the alphanumerical characters are on the remainder of the keyboard. Past that all the keys are evenly lit compared to each other.

There is a tiny bit of unevenness on keys like "Print Screen SysRq" where the top of the key is brighter than the bottom but that's because of the led positioninig under the cap. Same with backspace where the S is bright but it gets dimmer as you get to the B and the E away from the middle of the key.
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Fri, 17 December 2010, 02:38:12
Whenever you have 104 parts, some of them are not going to be exactly like the others. Electronic components have tolerances, and can be off by a bit. The more parts you have, the more chances for one or two to be off.

If  you really, really want an evenly backlit board you could get a backlit rubber dome with 6-12 LEDs. Or a real cheapy with just one sheet of chemiluminescent foil, though good luck keeping that glowing for more than a week.




Ooooorrr find out the specs of the LEDs and buy a dozen replacements to solder in. Or play RMA tag with XArmor, though that wouldn't be kind seeing as each board you return is a board they have to repackage and sell as open box later on, with no profit and the cost of shipping. They're not a high-volume company like Logitech or Razer.
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: keyb_gr on Fri, 17 December 2010, 12:45:07
It would be interesting to know whether this problem can be sorted out by resoldering the affected diodes (or corresponding series resistors or other components). If so, it would be plain ol' iOne soldering quality.
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: ricercar on Sat, 18 December 2010, 15:19:21
No noticeable LED variance on my U9BL.
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: The Solutor on Mon, 09 May 2011, 12:04:59
Quote from: ripster;264723
It's just LED brightness can vary.  For this reason I like to wire in parallel, not in serial.  
[/URL]



Indeed leds on xarmor are wired in parallel.
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: The Solutor on Mon, 09 May 2011, 12:13:56
Quote from: Adhesive_X;263765
Anybody having any issues with the LED brightness being uneven?

I had 3-4 letters with considerably weaker illumination. I exchanged for a different board and now have 2 numbers and a letter with the same issue.

Other than the lighting issue I like the board, but I know it will drive me nuts….

Any evenly lit boards out there? Wonder if I'm too picky?

 

You are not too picky, but you have to keep in mind that led with stricter tolerances are costly, maybe even 50 /80 cents per led, when you need 106 of them this matters.

If you don't want to pay a backlit board like a topre you must accept that leds get dimmer with time and a small percentage of them get dimmer quicker than others
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: The Solutor on Mon, 09 May 2011, 12:16:45
Quote from: ripster;343879
I wonder why that one guy's "4" and "5" went out at the same time then.  I thought for a while the two were in parallel but 2.5V probably wouldn't be enough to drive the Blue LED.

 

Is enough for some kind of leds, deck use this wiring scheme: leds are in series in couple


Quote
Where did they GET these LEDs from?  Ebay?


Do you think they bought them from mouser at 1.75$ each ?
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: BucklingSpring on Mon, 09 May 2011, 13:14:04
All my U9BL-S leds are even and working.

Wait... Now none of my U9BL-S leds are working. :-(

Oups... Silly me, I forgot that the leds are turned off after reboots. I must turn them back on. They're working again. :-)
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: ricercar on Mon, 09 May 2011, 20:13:37
Maybe it's a soldering problem like in the M10s. Open the sucker up, reheat and stay in business.
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: The Solutor on Mon, 09 May 2011, 20:22:59
Quote from: ricercar;344096
Maybe it's a soldering problem like in the M10s.

 
Soldering are perfect on xarmor, as you can easily see looking at the shots I published when I bought the board.
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: ricercar on Mon, 09 May 2011, 23:17:17
Your board and mine are soldered well enough, have no failed LEDs. Perhaps the reason that OCN weenies are having problems with LEDs is that they have PCBs which are not soldered properly--like early M10s--and need some TLC like my Scorpius M10 did.
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: The Solutor on Tue, 10 May 2011, 01:14:01
Quote from: ricercar;344194
Your board and mine are soldered well enough, have no failed LEDs. Perhaps the reason that OCN weenies are having problems with LEDs is that they have PCBs which are not soldered properly--like early M10s--and need some TLC like my Scorpius M10 did.

 

Hardly a bad soldered led become just dim, and if it happen light will be sensible to vibrations, it will blink, it will be sometimes lit sometimes not, but not dim.

And if for a coincidence this will happen, surely doesn't happen to two leds on the same board.

In that case the user is simply facing the normal tolerance of any consumer electronic component.

Just check any cherry board with ripometer, you will find that one or two switches are stiffer or softer, or less tactile than others.

When the absolute availability of a component is needed, industrial or military grade components are available, but at a price.

The fuel indicator of your car is less important than the one of a 747, indeed the former cost few dollars while the latter cost about 30000$
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: The Solutor on Tue, 10 May 2011, 01:25:15
Quote from: ripster;344259
Like the Scorpius M10 I recommend every Xarmor owner learn to solder.

 

Yes I'll not going buy Ford cars because the model T was so ugly...
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: keyb_gr on Tue, 10 May 2011, 07:38:50
Quote from: ripster;344259
Show Image
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=13587&stc=1&d=1290287249)
That's how it came from the factory? Looks like this part was reworked by hand, by someone whose soldering isn't too much more impressive than mine. (And I usually don't see very well what I'm doing.)
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: craZivn on Tue, 10 May 2011, 10:11:51
To the OP: Pop the keycaps off of the dim keys and make sure the LEDs are seated properly and pointing up straight (pull the cap off one of the bright keys for comparison). If an LED is angled a bit it can appear dimmer. Just a thought.

CZI
Title: Xarmor Led Issues?
Post by: The Solutor on Tue, 10 May 2011, 10:29:13
Quote from: keyb_gr;344322
Looks like this part was reworked by hand, by someone whose soldering isn't too much more impressive than mine.

 

Not reworked, just finished by hand (or by a different hand).

Clearly the worker that made those soldering was likely on its second day of training