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Broken LEDs - Ryos MK Pro

Wilf

This I have been meaning to ask for a while, just been busy...

 

Around October last year I bought a on-offer new Ryos MK Pro Cherry MX Black. Its great as I can assign short-cuts for advanced applications (and games), and works well with my typing (learnt on ancient membrane keyboard which actually require more force to press than a MX Black does...)

 

However, after a few months (say later November), I noticed after using the computer after a period of not being used, the M key LED was broken and the N key very faint (now pretty much dead). Photo attached (probably, first post :) )

 

Considering its kept on a clear desk in a usually locked room, I can't say what damage there could be other than faulty components/soldering, I doubt anything has been dropped on it.

 

I have been contemplating whether I should I return it to the manufacturer, retailer (probably SCAN), or fix it myself (I am fairly competent at electronics and soldering, to the degree I have modified high wattage power supplies, but am concerned at repairing a probably delicate item that normally retails at quite a high price...) - in which case is a guide such as this https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Roccat+Ryos+MK+Glow+key+led+and+key+switch+Replacement/66023

 

IMG_20170224_sml.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

According the retailer & the manufacturer the keyboard can only be refunded not repaired as they no longer stock it :/

 

So now to return or repair...

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Blue LED's dying on fixed LED color keyboards is a very common issue.  It seems to be the blues dying far more than reds or other colors.  This was seen on Duckies, Coolermasters, and especially the Corsair boards.  It's unknown whether static kills them from the keycap touching the diode, or whether its some sort of standby voltage cooking them, or why blue is more affected than others (there was a huge thread back in the Corsair K70 gunmetal thread with mass dying of LED's with time, but that's another story).

 

SMD RGB LED's are immune from this type of death, but usually it's the red channel people complain about there.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 28/03/2017 at 7:20 PM, Falkentyne said:

SMD RGB LED's are immune from this type of death, but usually it's the red channel people complain about there.

Do you know why the blue lights on the SMD's are immune, do they use a different semiconductor?

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  • 1 year later...

I know this is an old thread and I'm not looking to revive it. I just want to give my feedback about this issue and help some poor souls that bought this garbage of a keyboard.

I have an MK Pro Cherry Brown. The keyboard itself is awesome, very sturdy and the switches are great. The led's issue is very common. If you go to Amazon and read the 1 star reviews, everyone is complaining about it.

 

After 2 months of usage, my letter "E" key started to flicker and that got me worried. After some research I found a forum explaining the issue and how to fix it. I don't remember where I read it, so I can't share the link. Sorry.

 

It seems there is some electronics issue inside the keyboard. The leds start to "burn" If you use the supplied software and customize the lighting of the keys and or setup the keys to turn the leds off. It seems that when the leds are turned off, for some reason they are receiving reversed voltage, and after some time they will "burn" since they can't handle that reverse voltage. Led's have a polarity to work, and if you invert that polarity they simply die after some time.

After I read that article I simply went to the Roccat software, disabled all lighting effects, set the leds to maximum brightness and immediately uninstalled the software. Since doing that, all my keys are always turned on and on maximum brightness. I never saw the "E" key flicker ever again. Almost 2 years and all still working good. I have no customization on my keyboard, but I don't care. I ratter have alive leds in my keys. I bought some high brightness white leds, and I might replace them all. I'm kinda tired of the blue ones. I might even do the hardware fix, if I have the patience. 

 

There is an hardware fix, but is not very practical. Basically you need to install/solder a diode to every led. Every diode have a voltage drop of around 0,7 volts, so if you use this fix, expect a small loss of brightness.

 

Hope this helps someone of the relentless fight of burning leds.

 

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