Jump to content
Corsair Community

K70 Keyboard, Eleven (11) dead LEDs


Fancayzy

Recommended Posts

Just registered to acknowledge I had exactly the same issue of LED failure with my Silver K70. I sent the KB back to the place of purchase on the 9th of Jan and a replacement is due back to me on Monday. The failed keys were F12 and Pause Break.

 

I will report back if my replacement keyboard suffers a similar fault.

 

http://s17.postimg.org/htz08b23z/K70.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 312
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I bought a K70 Blue two months ago, and so far so good: LEDs are still lighting fine.

 

I am however a bit worried with all these threads about dead LEDs, and I was wondering if you guys could give more clues about how you use your keyboard, so to possibly spot what would be the common factors that lead to dead LEDs.

 

Here are some questions that I think would be relevant:

 

- At what intensity (low, medium or high) are you setting the LEDs (I personally use them at medium intensity) ?

 

- What is the voltage at your USB connector (that's also what the keyboard is powered from and an over-voltage combined with too tight a tolerance on the keyboard components could be an explanation). Mine is 4.85V and a normal voltage should be between 4.75V and 5.25V (measured between USB pins 1 and 4, i.e. the outer pins of the USB type A connectors). BEWARE: be extra-careful with the multimeter leads when measuring the voltage: don't short-circuit the +5V pin with the shield of the connector (you don't want to blow up your mother-board !!!).

 

- What is the serial number of your keyboard (we could easily detect a bad serial, if all dead keyboards pertain to it) ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

- low intensity, worked till then. then 2 weeks LEDs off -> dead

 

- connected to USB3 directly to mainboard, dunno the volts but it's an asus p8z77-v pro

 

- serial: shouldn't matter, all K70 have those problems

 

- it's not related to hard button mashing. think i never used the numpad "-" since i bought it but it's led is dead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, it's definitely not button mashing or general use of the keys at all. I don't think I even pressed the Pause Break key once and the LED died.

 

- Low intensity lighting here

- Unsure of voltage - Asus P8P67 Pro

- Haven't got the serial as my replacement KB is still in transit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just figured out that I enter the custom back-lighting program mode and attempt to toggle a one of the dead keys -- it lights up different key. I didn't show it in the video, but the half-lit keys will STAY half-lit when they keyboard is taken out of programming mode and the custom profile is activated

 

Link to video of my keyboard

 

My mainboard is an Asus Sabertooth 990FX

Voltage off of the USB is 5.00 volts even -- don't have a spare USB cable to test the current the keyboard is drawing

S\N is 292313408412

Lot Number is 13408412

I ran both of my keyboards at various lighting intensities

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That video was very interesting. I also tested the faulty LEDs of my KB in the programming mode and found that the actual keys in question (F12 and Pause Break) were dimly lit, not random keys as shown in your clip.

 

I'm wondering if it's more of a circuit board issue rather than the actual LEDs themselves. LEDs typically are very rugged and tend to have a long lifespan.

 

That being said, I'm also not an engineer so I'll leave that to the experts to determine. I don't have a lot of faith my replacement Kb will fare much better than the original board. Regardless of what Corsair is saying, this issue is a lot more widespread than what they are letting on.

 

Aside from the LED faults, I loved using the keyboard while I had it so I really hope Corsair can find a solution for this.

 

Please, can anyone tell me if the Black K70 is also experiencing the same LED failure rate as the Silver K70? If my replacement board also suffers from faulty LEDs, I'd be willing to switch to the other model.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm wondering if it's more of a circuit board issue rather than the actual LEDs themselves.

 

Maybe it's a software issue? Do you think there is some kind of "hard reset" function on the keyboard? I doubt it's storing profiles/settings in volatile memory, so there would need to be some sort of hardware switch or jumper to reset the flash memory.

 

I found a thread where somebody disassembled a K70 and there seems to be some open connectors.

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=41795.0

http://imageshack.us/a/img12/4206/cpaj.jpg

 

So IF it is a software/firmware error, we could potentially fix it with a reset. Has anybody here tested to see if the LEDs are actually dead? I'm not too into tearing down my K70 as it cost me a lot of money, so I don't have any way to find out

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe it's a software issue? Do you think there is some kind of "hard reset" function on the keyboard? I doubt it's storing profiles/settings in volatile memory, so there would need to be some sort of hardware switch or jumper to reset the flash memory.

 

That would be great news if it were a software fault that a firmware update could fix. Since this issue doesn't appear to be affecting the Black K70, I'm guessing it may be a manufacturing fault as surely the silver and black K70 would be using the same software?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I've had five more LEDs die in less than 12 hours while the back-lighting was off....

 

I've also thought up another possible explanation for my odd mix up shown in the video I posted [ame]

[/ame]

 

I'm thinking... IF the LED is indeed dead and not allowing any current to flow through it, maybe that current is bleeding into other keys/areas. Again I'm not an electrical engineer so I don't have any real experience to back up my theroy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had backlight also off since the last post. Another key dead, this time Numpad /

Every day another one dies :(

 

This can't be faulty LEDs. It's cheap mainboard design carried over to x versions of K70.

There is some event which triggers an overload and kills leds one by one after.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought a K70 Blue two months ago, and so far so good: LEDs are still lighting fine.

 

I am however a bit worried with all these threads about dead LEDs, and I was wondering if you guys could give more clues about how you use your keyboard, so to possibly spot what would be the common factors that lead to dead LEDs.

 

Not at home right now, though I noticed every time I switch off the LEDs when I leave my PC on to download stuff overnight, shut the PC down in the morning, turn it on at night then turn on the LED lights, I notice another random LED had died. :[pouts:

 

Now I don't touch the low/med/high/off switch if I don't have to. Leaving the PC on 24/7 made no difference, it was that switch. It's as if I'm turning an LED off for the final time every time I use it.

 

Meh, eitherway, I have enough dead LEDs now so I wouldn't be able to notice...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's taking all my restraint to not start typing mass quantities of profanity into this text-box. I turned on my computer this morning (with the K70 back-lighting off) and then turned the K70 back-lighting on to check the status of the keys. One more had failed.... So I turned the lighting back off and played some Insurgency for about two hours. Turned the lighting back on and THREE MORE had failed... in the span of two hours... with the back-lighting off...

 

I'm getting tired of this.... With my 6+ months of ownership of two K70s I've become VERY accustomed to it's feel. I REALLY don't like switching back to my old Razer Lycosa so I'm dreading having to RMA. Corsair managed to make a mechanical keyboard that (looked) well built, easy to clean, and with no extra garbage macro keys, displays, or other useless B.S and there's not gloss to be found anywhere. I want to use this keyboard and I don't to buy another one from a different manufacturer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sucks dude. I'm hoping my replacement doesn't share the same fate.

 

Would you be willing to replace it with a black K70? I haven't heard a single user mention LED failure with that model.

 

I'm not a fan of the red LED, but if this KB craps out, it'll be my next step.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can confirm there is something wrong using that light on/off button.

Every time I had it disabled, then turned it back on, new dead LEDs.

 

The worst thing is no response from Corsair at all. And they have none in stock to exchange before you send your dead one in.

 

/edit

yes. it's the led off switch. had it off for few days now, turned it back on and:

Q, A, ^, NUM Numblock, Enter Numblock, F4 dead. 17 keys bit the dust.

after 2 months since i bought it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just got a new K70 about a month ago and my first LED went out. It is not all the way out but it is quite noticeably dimmer than the rest of the keys. I really don't want to have to RMA it but I don't see any other option. How much are you all being charged for shipping?

Also, sorry for the bump

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I've had five more LEDs die in less than 12 hours while the back-lighting was off....

 

I've also thought up another possible explanation for my odd mix up shown in the video I posted

 

I'm thinking... IF the LED is indeed dead and not allowing any current to flow through it, maybe that current is bleeding into other keys/areas. Again I'm not an electrical engineer so I don't have any real experience to back up my theroy.

ok so i think i know what is happening and why led burn mostly when they are turned off

 

the cheapest led i found that looking like the one in my k70 is KINGBRIGHT - L-7104QBC-G - LED, 3MM, BLUE, ULTRA BRIGHT http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1519892.pdf now if you look at the data sheet it says rated voltage 3.3v and MAX reverse current 5v

while my keyboard is in use it's expose the led to up to 3.4 volt AC but while it's turn off the led are exposed to 1.7 volt AC and 4.547 reverse current DC while not outside the led spec it's terribly high and may cause early failure of the led as it's not design to have this kind of reverse current 24/7

 

 

EDIT: tested from the keyboard space bar led open lead with a FLUKE 115 meter

 

when i look at my keyboard the led that are dead are the one i don't turn on and there 5 or 6 that are about to go from what i can see

Link to comment
Share on other sites

while my keyboard is in use it's expose the led to up to 3.4 volt AC but while it's turn off the led are exposed to 1.7 volt AC and 4.547 reverse current DC while not outside the led spec it's terribly high and may cause early failure of the led as it's not design to have this kind of reverse current 24/7

 

Confirmed on my K70s space-bar LEDs. I get 4.4v DC while the LED is off.

Tested with my POS Cen-Tech Multimeter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did a quick tally of all the people that posted here, and most either said they had K70s with blue LEDs or did not say at all. However, nobody said they had red LEDs. Also ~30 people have posted here with successive LED failures

 

So it does seem like only the blue LEDs are failing

 

* Woo! Post 100! *

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...