Fixing LED's in a KBT Race?

[BoxWithADot]

I know many people have had issues with the LED backlighting in the KBT Race, and unfortunately, my 'Q' key seems to be dimming/flickering. I was wondering if anyone had found a way to fix the issue? I took the board apart and the soldering looked fine, so I really don't know where to go from there.

[f/64]

I haven't really read up on the issues, but could it just be a faulty LED? Could try desoldering that one and switching it with another; hit it with a multimeter first though if you have one.

[tp4tissue]

Muahahahahaha.... ha... haa...ha...............

So I've been sayin' it for years: "Where would you find a -matching- replacement led when your backlite keyboard breaks?"

Best of luck, but it's probably Not happening.

Now' you'll just have to live with the gimped board forever.

Everyday you'll tell yourself and pretend like nothing's changed

Remaining ever delusional

But the truth claws at you around each corner

The world loses it's luster

The sky endlessly grey

Your happiness is dim and flickering just like that aged crested LED.


To most of us at Geekhack, We would buy a batch of 500 leds and replace Every Single One.

[f/64]

I was looking at photos of the Race and, in most of them, it looks like the caps lock led isn't activated. If it is a faulty bulb in the Q, you could switch it with the caps lock one since it'd be rarely used anyways?

[tp4tissue]

I was looking at photos of the Race and, in most of them, it looks like the caps lock led isn't activated. If it is a faulty bulb in the Q, you could switch it with the caps lock one since it'd be rarely used anyways?

I've always thought it was silly for them to Not light the caps lock. They should keep it lit with one color, and have another different color for when it's activated. That would be awesome.

[Cindori]

Muahahahahaha.... ha... haa...ha...............

So I've been sayin' it for years: "Where would you find a -matching- replacement led when your backlite keyboard breaks?"

Best of luck, but it's probably Not happening.

Now' you'll just have to live with the gimped board forever.

Everyday you'll tell yourself and pretend like nothing's changed

Remaining ever delusional

But the truth claws at you around each corner

The world loses it's luster

The sky endlessly grey

Your happiness is dim and flickering just like that aged crested LED.


To most of us at Geekhack, We would buy a batch of 500 leds and replace Every Single One.

from what i have read, it is the capacitors failing on the Race, not leds themselves.

so it should be an easy fix, and I know several people have done this.

[dorkvader]

Muahahahahaha.... ha... haa...ha...............

So I've been sayin' it for years: "Where would you find a -matching- replacement led when your backlite keyboard breaks?"

Best of luck, but it's probably Not happening.

Now' you'll just have to live with the gimped board forever.

Everyday you'll tell yourself and pretend like nothing's changed

Remaining ever delusional

But the truth claws at you around each corner

The world loses it's luster

The sky endlessly grey

Your happiness is dim and flickering just like that aged crested LED.


To most of us at Geekhack, We would buy a batch of 500 leds and replace Every Single One.

Oh, new depressing metal song idea.

from what i have read, it is the capacitors failing on the Race, not leds themselves.

so it should be an easy fix, and I know several people have done this.

That's interesting. What capacitor is it?

[BoxWithADot]

Muahahahahaha.... ha... haa...ha...............

So I've been sayin' it for years: "Where would you find a -matching- replacement led when your backlite keyboard breaks?"

Best of luck, but it's probably Not happening.

Now' you'll just have to live with the gimped board forever.

Everyday you'll tell yourself and pretend like nothing's changed

Remaining ever delusional

But the truth claws at you around each corner

The world loses it's luster

The sky endlessly grey

Your happiness is dim and flickering just like that aged crested LED.


To most of us at Geekhack, We would buy a batch of 500 leds and replace Every Single One.

Only on Geekhack would the world lose its luster due to a faulty keyboard led  )

Also interested where you read this Cindori, I haven't seen this. Would be nice if it was a simple fix!

[Kokin]

I'm curious as well. I know for sure that the LEDs themselves are still working. I had half a row of what I thought were "dead" LEDs come back to life (at full brightness too) for a few days, but they went back to being dead.

I took out the PCB and all, but I couldn't find out a solution. If it is just replacing some capacitors, that should be an easy fix. Could you link us any info on those capacitors Cindori?

Here are photos of the PCBs:

[tp4tissue]

I'm curious as well. I know for sure that the LEDs themselves are still working. I had half a row of what I thought were "dead" LEDs come back to life (at full brightness too) for a few days, but they went back to being dead.

I took out the PCB and all, but I couldn't find out a solution. If it is just replacing some capacitors, that should be an easy fix. Could you link us any info on those capacitors Cindori?

Here are photos of the PCBs:

Show Image

Show Image

I think he meant "Resistors" I don't see why a keyboard would need caps, because micro-controllers are very low noise these days and power from the PC is already clean.

[BoxWithADot]

That's what I was thinking, seeing as there aren't any capacitors on the board as far as I can tell. This weekend when I get some time I'm going to test the resistors with a multimeter and see if any are faulty.

[Kokin]

I'll try to do that as well, and report back here.

[tp4tissue]

Um.. you don't need a multimeter. It won't tell you anything in this case.

The resistor is to Protect the led from overcurrent, but it isn't actually necessary. So just desolder the resistor under the broken switch and briefly bridge the gap, and see if the led reaches full sustained brightness. It's unlikely that you'll kill the LED.

[BoxWithADot]

Um.. you don't need a multimeter. It won't tell you anything in this case.

The resistor is to Protect the led from overcurrent, but it isn't actually necessary. So just desolder the resistor under the broken switch and briefly bridge the gap, and see if the led reaches full sustained brightness. It's unlikely that you'll kill the LED.

You can tell if a resistor is faulty by testing it with a multimeter. If a resistor is faulty/blown, usually no electricity can pass through it, or it will be way out of the tolerance marked on it. So in a sense, no, I don't HAVE to test the resistors, I could just bridge the gap, but either way is pretty simple.

[BoxWithADot]

Just turned the lights out and more LED's are flickering at full brightness  it's now tab, Q, W, E, R, T, Y, U, and the backspace key... It's on and off though, they're not doing it right at this moment. BLEH.

[RickyJ]

I'm curious as well. I know for sure that the LEDs themselves are still working. I had half a row of what I thought were "dead" LEDs come back to life (at full brightness too) for a few days, but they went back to being dead.

I took out the PCB and all, but I couldn't find out a solution. If it is just replacing some capacitors, that should be an easy fix. Could you link us any info on those capacitors Cindori?

Here are photos of the PCBs:

Show Image

Show Image

I think he meant "Resistors" I don't see why a keyboard would need caps, because micro-controllers are very low noise these days and power from the PC is already clean.

He might have meant resistors, I seem to recall the Koreans losing that in translation when they said capacitors.  As to the rest of your post, I count 10 capacitors on the microcontroller board in the 2nd picture posted.  Can't live without caps!  Welcome to Electronics 101.

[BoxWithADot]

Ahhhh *facepalm* I see them. I always think of big shiny cylinders when I hear the word capacitor..

[quake4mhg]

I have some dim LEDs too. This is my first mech board in my life 
That's why we call "Race" an OEM board?

[BoxWithADot]

I have some dim LEDs too. This is my first mech board in my life 
That's why we call "Race" an OEM board?

Not sure what you mean. OEM stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer", so all the original parts, like the keycaps, case, etc., would be the "OEM" parts, whereas custom keycaps and cases for example would not be. And I'm sorry your LED's are dim  seems to be a pretty widespread problem with this board. However even with faulty LED's this keyboard is still 10000x better than any membrane KB! And when I get some time away from classes and reading this weekend I'm going to see if I can find a solution to the LED problem, hopefully I find an easy fix.

[Kokin]

I just noticed that there are 2 capacitors on the main PCB at the upper-right corner of the first picture I posted. It's inbetween the ESC and F1 parts of the PCB.

To test the capacitors, would a multimeter be harmful to use even if the board is disassembled and discharged? If it is, I have access to some electrical labs at school, so I could test it out using a capacitor tester.

[tp4tissue]

I'm curious as well. I know for sure that the LEDs themselves are still working. I had half a row of what I thought were "dead" LEDs come back to life (at full brightness too) for a few days, but they went back to being dead.

I took out the PCB and all, but I couldn't find out a solution. If it is just replacing some capacitors, that should be an easy fix. Could you link us any info on those capacitors Cindori?

Here are photos of the PCBs:

Show Image

Show Image

I think he meant "Resistors" I don't see why a keyboard would need caps, because micro-controllers are very low noise these days and power from the PC is already clean.

He might have meant resistors, I seem to recall the Koreans losing that in translation when they said capacitors.  As to the rest of your post, I count 10 capacitors on the microcontroller board in the 2nd picture posted.  Can't live without caps!  Welcome to Electronics 101.

Those don't count, because they're definitely not part of the lighting.

[tp4tissue]

I just noticed that there are 2 capacitors on the main PCB at the upper-right corner of the first picture I posted. It's inbetween the ESC and F1 parts of the PCB.

To test the capacitors, would a multimeter be harmful to use even if the board is disassembled and discharged? If it is, I have access to some electrical labs at school, so I could test it out using a capacitor tester.

LOL noob. to test caps, you use the multi meter on both ends, use the ohms setting, and if the cap is working, then it should blip and then return to zero. If it's busted, then the multimeter will give you a reading.

[Kokin]

I just noticed that there are 2 capacitors on the main PCB at the upper-right corner of the first picture I posted. It's inbetween the ESC and F1 parts of the PCB.

To test the capacitors, would a multimeter be harmful to use even if the board is disassembled and discharged? If it is, I have access to some electrical labs at school, so I could test it out using a capacitor tester.

LOL noob. to test caps, you use the multi meter on both ends, use the ohms setting, and if the cap is working, then it should blip and then return to zero. If it's busted, then the multimeter will give you a reading.

That much I know, but I've always thought that method was not really the best way to test it out. I don't have any ESR devices nor do I feel the need to remove them just to test it out. Just because a capacitor can be tested with a multimeter, it doesn't show that it is running in spec or may even have leaks, which in turn could be the reason why most of my "dead" LEDs are still functional, but super dim.

I am a noob when it comes to circuits, as I've only learned the basics of them, but that's why I'm here to learn.

[tp4tissue]

I just noticed that there are 2 capacitors on the main PCB at the upper-right corner of the first picture I posted. It's inbetween the ESC and F1 parts of the PCB.

To test the capacitors, would a multimeter be harmful to use even if the board is disassembled and discharged? If it is, I have access to some electrical labs at school, so I could test it out using a capacitor tester.

LOL noob. to test caps, you use the multi meter on both ends, use the ohms setting, and if the cap is working, then it should blip and then return to zero. If it's busted, then the multimeter will give you a reading.

That much I know, but I've always thought that method was not really the best way to test it out. I don't have any ESR devices nor do I feel the need to remove them just to test it out. Just because a capacitor can be tested with a multimeter, it doesn't show that it is running in spec or may even have leaks, which in turn could be the reason why most of my "dead" LEDs are still functional, but super dim.

I am a noob when it comes to circuits, as I've only learned the basics of them, but that's why I'm here to learn.

there's really no way around the hassle, if you want to "properly test" those things. I would first just pull the resistor off from behind the led, bridge the gap and see if it returns to full brightness.

[Cindori]

sorry, I don't know if it was resistor or capacitor, I just remember reading it somewhere.

I guess the easy way to test is to take a working led, like the one under SPACE which does not show anyway, and replace your faulty led.

works? then great! not? then the issue is not the led.

[BoxWithADot]

Except, I have lots of LED's flickering now haha. Thinking about just getting another board, I still haven't had time to deal with this one due to tests at school =\ maybe this weekend..