Ducky Shine 2 problems (Tiger Direct/MechanicalKeyboards.com)

[SupaSebie]

Hey guys,

I just purchased a Ducky Shine 2 with a hand full of my co-workers from mechanicalkeyboards.com(Tiger Direct). Every single one of them that arrived at the office had major damage to the key caps(only noticeable from the top), and when the LED's are at their brightest setting they make a very loud high pitch "scream". Thankfully you can only hear the sound when your ear is very close to the keyboard.

Here are some low res pictures of the problem;
http://imgur.com/a/dAnsw#0

Every single key is damaged like this, it's really hard to tell from the pictures cause the LED interferes with my photo quality. Some keys have multiple scrapes and scuffs at the top, it's really bad on some select keys. Although I'm more worried about the sound that the keyboard makes, as it could be a serious issue.

I found it strange that all 4 keyboards that arrived at our office (different LED and switch combos) all had the same significant damage. I was wondering if anyone else had the same issue with their Ducky Shine 2.
I know mechanicalkeyboards.com sells damaged (Imperfect) keyboards such as the Vortex, but at a discount.

They offered me a refund, after I ship the keyboard back and they receive it in the mail. Meaning that I'm out a keyboard for about 2-3 weeks. I guess it's better than nothing.

Hope to hear back from some DKS2 purchasers.

[alaricljs]

Quick correction... Tiger Direct is a computer stuff etailer/retailer.  Tiger Imports is the parent of mechanicalkeyboards and has no affiliation whatsoever with TD.

edit:

Correction #2.. "every key is damaged like this"  should read:  every key is manufactured like this.  That's the sprue or injection location for the plastic to make the keys.  It interferes with the light-blocking coating.

[Hyde]

Yeah even regular non-backlit keycaps have those.  If you look up the same location on any other mechanical keyboard keycaps you'll notice a tiny bump, like alaricljs said it's how they make the keycaps.

Just....... try not to look at your keyboard from the opposite direction...... >____>

[SupaSebie]

Works for me! I'm not a fan of bright back lights anyway, they distract my peripheral. I was more concerned that there was some sort of defect.

[tp4tissue]

Ripster would say something here...

[rowdy]

My Ducky Shine 1 has those "little red dots" on the back side of each key - I had never noticed it before.  ^ What they said.  A normal part of manufacture.

Scream - I used to hear something like that sometimes from old CRT monitors, fortunately we have gotten rid of most of those at work so I haven't heard that noise for a long time.  I have never heard it from a keyboard.  Can you hear it at a lower lighting level?  Do you really need the keyboard on maximum brightness all the time?  My Shine 1 is more than bright enough at the second level, never mind the three levels above that.

[Skull_Angel]

I don't have the problem with my Shine 2, but I have encountered it with LEDs before. It could be a bad solder or just the resistor (normal thing depending on power-source), I'd be more inclined to think the latter being their build quality is very decent.

[dorkvader]

Scream - I used to hear something like that sometimes from old CRT monitors, fortunately we have gotten rid of most of those at work so I haven't heard that noise for a long time.

What are you talking about? CRT's are boss. I can't stand some LCD monitors (like those in apple's MBP) when they are at 60 Hz, too much flicker. My CRT's are set at 70-85 Hz at least, and when they start to whine, I strip it for parts and put it in the e-waste pile where I got it from.

It might be whining right now, but since the horizontal refresh rate is greater than 22KHz, I cant hear it.

Now, I really don't "know" why the LED's make a sound when they are on high. Are you sure it's the LED's? The only thing I can think of is they are driving them at a frequency in the audible range and the inductor (If there is one) is vibrating. I suppose the LED's could, but even semiconductors don't change size/position much in the presence of high heat or current. Hmm.

Also, the sprue mark is normal. They are on the front on SP ABS keycaps.

[rowdy]

LCDs shouldn't flicker - there is no electron beam.

I wonder if the scream is EMI being picked up by nearby speakers?

[dorkvader]

LCDs shouldn't flicker - there is no electron beam.

I wonder if the scream is EMI being picked up by nearby speakers?

If you get higher persistence phosphor, a CRT wouldn't flicker either. But you'd get motion blur, like on a LCD.

I think if you get a really fast LCD panel and drive it at "only" 60 Hz, it might have this issue. That, or all the ones I noticed had the MBP mid 2010 video issue. Or maybe it's something else. I notice (in yet another OSX failing) you can't change the refresh rate of the display. Just sayin'.
---
If the "scream" is EMI in nearby speakers, the sound would come out of the speakers. This is a very good thought, but I think it'd be noticeable. Didn't he say you had to get really close to the Kb to hear it?

[alaricljs]

There's too many possibilities... It could even be something really interesting like PWM induced vibration in a loose component producing audible results. 

[MissMurd3r84]

My YOTD shows the light through a tiny hole on each key when I turn the keyboard over and oddly enough mine makes that same noise yours does when the lights are up full.

[rowdy]

I can't hear anything on either of my Ducky Shine (version 1) with the LEDs on full bright.

Maybe it is something to do with the oscillator used for the marquee effect on the YoTD and Shine 2?  The Shine 1 does not have marquee mode.

[ShakeR]

Supa, I believe Caleb should have gotten back with you some time ago on this. I know he forwarded me your email and I've been going nuts trying to remember the Term "Sprue Mark" (thanks GH) I'm in Dallas on business and hope he wasn't waiting to hear back from me before responding. My apologies if that's the case.

We're looking into the "scream" issue with test models. I'm still waiting to hear back. Do you know if it could be speaker related as mentioned above? Most boards on their brightest settings are nowhere near Ducky on its brightest. Not sure if its the sheer amount of 'juice' being blasted through the LEDs, but this is the first we've heard of it.

Ducky is usually pretty good about catching any widespread problems pre-release so hopefully it's isolated. We'll let you know as soon as we find something.