LED life expectancy for K70 RGB MK.2 SE

[TheMaskedShadow]

Hi

 

As the title says, I was wondering what was is the LED life expectancy for the K70 RGB MK.2 SE?

 

After having a white profile applied to my keyboard, I've noticed that some of the LEDs behind my keys are look as though they are slowly dying.

 

It might be hard to see in the attached picture (the camera always seems to compensate brightness), but we can see a ÿellowing glow behind the F11, Enter and Properties key (left to the Ctrl key)

 

Re-flashing the firmware or doing a soft-reset doesn't change anything.

 

Is this "normal" after such a short time considering that this model isn't old?

 

TMS

 

PS: Of note, I had to re-flash the keyboard firmware a few months back as some of the leds for caps, scroll, num lock where going green/red instead of white. At that time, the re-flash fixed the issue. I just find it strange that I had to do that in the first place.

[Corsair Blade]

Hi TheMaskedShadow,

 

Unfortunately we can't provide an exact life-measure for the LEDs -- generally speaking, for most people they should last at least 2 years, which is why the warranty for keyboards is as such. Please go ahead and open a ticket with support and if you're within that period (which it sounds like you are potentially) we can potentially replace that keyboard for you.

 

Thank you.

[phantomshroom]

LEDs were invented in the early 1960s & I have several computers for my business that are still functional since the mid 1970s that had LEDs & they are still working to this very day in 2021.

Many of the LEDs that I bought over the years are still functional 20 years later because I don't buy cheap quality ones but high quality ones that will outlive me. Any LED that only lasts a few years are junk & cheap quality. I am NOT referring to LED bulbs for house lighting that replaced incandescent bulbs but I am referring to LEDs for circuit cards & inside electronics for power LEDs, etc.

[LeDoyen]

back in the days they didn't drive them hard like now. just as indication lights.

now you have 3 LED dies in one tiny chip where we pump a ton of current to look shiny, and on white color, that's 3 dies per key on full current, so they end up popping one after the other.

It's not necesarely bad LEDs, it's just how they are driven. If you look in the cooling and iCUE section, you'll find more and more examples of people using QL fans with dying LEDs, pretty much all using white light presets.

I guess the LED drivers are set to give vibrant colors when using RGB, but that overheats the dies when all 3 colors are on at full blast.

 

Since i started using RGB, i never had a single LED die on me.. but i almost never use white. If i do, i drop brightness quite a bit, precisely to avoid killing them. but nobody warns the customers that they can pop leds this way

[TheMaskedShadow]

Hi TheMaskedShadow,

 

Unfortunately we can't provide an exact life-measure for the LEDs -- generally speaking, for most people they should last at least 2 years, which is why the warranty for keyboards is as such. Please go ahead and open a ticket with support and if you're within that period (which it sounds like you are potentially) we can potentially replace that keyboard for you.

 

Thank you.

 

Unfortunately, it looks like that I've had it a bit longer than I thought (from September 2018) so it looks like I'm out of a warranty since the keyboard is a little over 2-1/2 years old.

 

Wish I had tested the white profile earlier :-/

 

It's disappointing considering that I've done steps to try and preserve them as much as possible, such as:

• never set the keyboard at the brightest setting (level 1 normally, and sometimes 2 for darker colors)
  
• Created an "all leds off" profile in iCue for when I left the computer on unattended (like during the night)
  

[TheMaskedShadow]

If you look in the cooling and iCUE section, you'll find more and more examples of people using QL fans with dying LEDs, pretty much all using white light presets.

I guess the LED drivers are set to give vibrant colors when using RGB, but that overheats the dies when all 3 colors are on at full blast.

 

Since i started using RGB, i never had a single LED die on me.. but i almost never use white. If i do, i drop brightness quite a bit, precisely to avoid killing them. but nobody warns the customers that they can pop leds this way

 

In my case, I had never used white because of that, and like I said in my previous post, I also never used the brightest level either to try and preserve the LEDs as much as possible.

 

The only reason why I only found out now is that after installing iCue 4, it defaults to a profile that is white with some color circles appearing. I imagine that I won't be the only one discovering bad LEDs now that people are upgrading to iCue 4 :sigh!: