I have a UHK60v1 from the initial crowdfunding, and a year or so ago I added the backlight upgrade kit, which has been working fine. This winter for some reason I’ve had a lot of instances of static electricity causing the keyboard to reboot when I sit down in my chair. I can hear the sound of static electricity, then the keyboard reboots. It usually comes back fine. A few months ago the backlight behind the ‘B’ key stopped working after one of these incidents. I assumed it was dead. Removing power from the keyboard, reloading firmware, resetting the configuration didn’t help. However a few weeks later, and several static shocks later, it miraculously turned back on again during another static electricity incident. Fast forward another couple of weeks and the ‘5’ key’s LED went dead. This has yet to recover. I’ve had several more incidents of the keyboard resetting since then, and the LED is still dead.
Any idea what might cause this long-term behavior? I would have assumed some transistor or passive component died, but the ‘B’ key has been going strong since it’s resurrection. To clarify, it is just the LED that doesn’t work, the key itself is fine. Is there a specific component on the PCB that I can test and possibly replace?
Thanks. I missed that post from years ago. I’m sure that’s the issue. Not sure if it will be possible to repair the damage, but fortunately it’s only a single LED that stopped working. Not sure where I’ll source those springs from but I should be able to jury-rig something suitable.
Hopefully you’ll get lucky, and that one will start working again too. It may not be seriously damaged, but grounding the plates is a good idea regardless.
I also have a Crowd Supply V1, and I’ve seen it restart from ESD a few times as well. I’m in a wheelchair, which is basically a mobile static charge generator in the winter time. I’m embarrassed to admit, I still haven’t grounded mine either, but I have a V2 and a UHK80, so I rarely use the V1.
This is a first of its kind. We can supply springs and LEDs, but the shipping fee is relatively high, according to the webshop cart shipping estimator.
Had another static electricity event today which took out the entire left side of the keyboard. Unplugging it resolved that issue, and now the backlight for the ‘5’ key is working again!
I’m going to stop using the keyboard for now until I get the parts in to properly ground the two halves. I was able to order the springs from Newark for pretty cheap (most of the expense was the $10 shipping charge). I ordered 20 of them since they were only 15 cents each, so if anybody else in the US needs some I can mail them out for the cost of shipping. I already have some 26awg hook-up wire.
Is the air dry? If it is, a humidifier can reduce static electricity buildup. Minimum 30% relative humidity can make a huge difference. This would not be a substitute for properly grounding the keyboard unless you run it all the time.
It might be good to use a humidifier at least while you’re installing the springs and have the insides of the keyboard exposed. A running bathroom shower works pretty well for extremely short term projects.
It might sound crazy, but it could also be the chair you use. I’ve seen a lot of other forum discussions about office chairs causing people’s monitors to go blank.
Like i mentioned earlier, my wheelchair is a hazard sometimes. I’ve killed a couple of cheap mice over the years. I’ve just gotten in the habit of looking for something safe to discharge through before approaching anything sensitive. I have a bunch of audio gear in a small cage rack under my desk that i grab onto while rolling under, and when pushing away from my desk.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I was able to get the required parts and complete the soldering and installation. So far everything has been working fine for the last week. Re-installing the case on the right half was a little tight since the routing of the grounding wire results in it getting pinched between the PCB and the case. I used 26AWG wire, and I think if it was any larger I would have had a problem getting the case to align properly. There might have been a better way to route the wire, but I’m not taking it apart again to re-do it.
