Can I FIX Various CORSAIR Gaming Products? - PART 1 

There are certain lengths that only Vince will go to fix something... You're too kind Vince, didn't expect the shout out. Thank you once again.

Good repair. This could also be the best advertisement for keyboards with hot-swappable keys :) They cost a little bit more, but have the key and LED in one unit that you can pull out to the front. without having to desolder single keys. For repairs that can be such a time saver.

Ayyy that's exactly my keyboard!!! I've disassembled it too many many times to fix drink spillage 😄 Not the easiest to work on! The easiest way to remove the Corsair logo is to flood it with isopropyl alcohol, and gently tap it so the isop slowly goes under the logo letting you gradually lift it without bending it too much. Also, for testing matrix LEDs, I think it would've been easier if you tested them with primary colors - all red, will let you check all the red rails, then blue, and green and so on - if you test with mixed colors, you'll end up with a rainbox of colors without having a clue on what actual rail is malfunctioning (rail cause they are in chain, so if one fails, the whole rail will fail as a waterfall).

Corsair: specializing in "gaming" peripherals and $200 RGB fans

Great job, Vince. I had one of these keyboards a few years back. Spilt water in it, and when I went to fix it, I took one look at the amount of pins I needed to desolder and gave up immediately 😂

That absolute patience.. desoldering keys for 1 1/2 hour, putting so much work in it, solder them all back and it works! Great!

Beyond the call of duty! When testing the LEDs, you could set your power supply to, say, 3V and set its current limit to a few milliamps. Then it would work for all colours without blowing the reds up.

Not for the first time, whilst watching your video's I must offer my compliments, as to how much effort, dedication and skill you bring to each repair. Like you mentioned 'no sane person would do this,' I genuinely hope you are in a good state of mind, and everyone else enjoys these videos as much as I do. Think I'ld have given up, after the first reconstruction, and the fault remained, if not before.

Basically, corsair cheaped out on a premium keyboard by not using conformal coating on a PCB that's likely to receive some liquid damage over its lifetime.

Hi Vince , I've followed your channel for some time now and a big fan of the trying to fix and Rolls Royce series. One thing that has just occurred to me is that PCB way sponsor your channel but as far as I know, I've never seen you use their products. This isn't a criticism because I totally get the association, but it gave me the thought that maybe you could ask them to send you some kits to build and you could turn those into their own mini series. You'd get a different theme for the channel and your viewers would get to see what kits could be available for a hobbiest. Just a thought of course

I love these videos learn so much but don't have much to try and fix but absolutely love these vids thanks vince for the entertainment

The windows lock key at the top stops the windows key at the bottom from working. The purpose is to stop you accidently pressing the button while playing a game causing you a lot of issues.

You're a trooper Vince! What a mission it was to get that keyboard working again. Well done!

That’s awesome! A really interesting video and not the outcome I was expecting! Thanks so much again for another great video ☺️

lovely fix mate, the off coloured lights would have really bothered me too. I think it's funny when people bring up the hours spent on fixing things in cost breakdowns, because if you like doing that then it's actually hobby time, and time well spent. When you get some fun out of fixing things, then that is all the reward you need. Keep it up Vince.

What a huge undertaking! I wish I knew if it was possible to fix mine, since I have a laptop keyboard with a couple dead keys. Replacement requires changing out the whole deck.

Nice job with the repair. Lots of patience needed for this one.

Been watching you for a while now and your videos never disappoint! You are easily my favorite channel on the platform. Keep up the good work!

Spilled coffee on my K70, thought I'd cleaned it up ok but after a while the LEDs started to shimmer slightly and many had a warmer colour like the blues were fading. Opened it up and saw the extent of the task to even get to the LEDs and...I really like this HyperX keyboard :) I like illuminated keys but my must have is a volume roller and mute key. Well done repairing that one though, what a task.

Heat with exacto knife/spudger to lift the entire Corsair badge off works without bending it. Then 2 sided tape to replace, good as new. I’ve personally done it a few times.

What a marathon! I have to admit I would have tossed it but your patience is next level. Gaming devices have a hard life.

I really loved this one Vince. I admire your dedication to the de-soldering!

Literally binged watched your entire back catalogue over the last few weeks. Super entertaining to watch.

Nice Job Vince 👍An alternative method of doing the LED's would have been to tin board, add some flux, place the LED into position and heat the board from the bottom with the rework station, or use a hot plate. Very odd about the microscope not recording, I could see how frustrating that would be! All the best Mick.

It's even Way more fun to use a manual desoldering pump 👀🤣

I've got the same microscope. Pretty sure what's happening is stopping the recording isn't closing out the recording file/updating the file listing table. It only does that when it turns off properly which is a really weird way to implement the sd card management. This one's on whoever wrote the firmware, it's probably an afterthought or maybe there's a really niche technical reason why it has to be done this way in relation to the rest of how the firmware works but in either case imo they chose the implementation poorly. It should close out files and finish writes to the sd immediately on stopping recording to prevent file corruption.

Your persistence is an inspiration sir!

I don't know from video if your okay button is serving as a start/stop or a start/pause. So when you hit power it is not saved cause it was only paused. Or maybe there is an autosave feature in settings? But as for the Mains Switch. Put it in a box or something. I have a Smart Bulb installed in bedroom so I can use my Echo Show to turn the lights on and off. It's been years and I still try to flip the wall switch to turn off/on the lights. So, I designed and printed up a safety switch that blocks anyone from flipping the switch by accident. Muscle memory a double edged sword in some instances.

The EAST1616RGBB4 datasheet gives great information on soldering temp and technic, as well as, the current limits for each led (60ma for the red and 100ma for the other two) and said that a current limiting resister must be added.

re: the microscope, it might be something similar to OBS, where it says if you use mp4 and you close the software it will completely get rid of the recording appreciate the large dedication to fix a small issue

Another great video with plenty of top tips for makers/repairers everywhere. I do have a quick question Vince, where do you get your Leaded solder and which brand do you use???? It is getting more and more difficult to get quality Leaded solder at a reasonable price, so I wondered where you get yours??? Many thanks and please keep up the great work, Joe

these microscopes while don't advertise it do allow you to connect it to a pc from that top usb connector. I have the lower end version of the same microscope and I can use it as a camera on the pc.

Very nice work. Very patient too.

In hindsight, couldnt you have only desoldered the broken keys to get access to the leds? Excited for part 2, ive botched some mouse repairs before, whoops.

That's what I love about you, you never give up

I have a K70 keyboard, the original red LED only version. I call those 2 screws (the one under the metal logo sticker and the one hidden under the plastic clip next to volume roller) "the DIY Frustrator Screws". I've told Corsair support the same thing too. Of course they are. They want you to give up/break your K70 so that they may sell you another. Anyhow, my issue was the WASD keys were overused and chattering on the A key specifically. So I bought myself some new cherry browns (with the integrated clear plastic LED holder area) and desoldered the originals and replaced them successfully with my own ones. Still use it after this repair. The other gotcha with this is there is a comb pressure connector which invariably will fall onto your desk/floor when you separate the two kb halves. I learnt all these tricks after watching others struggle with their own repairs. Glad I invested the time as it made my repairs so much easier.

Great Scot, you really have excelled yourself, truly an epic repair job. I have to say the two channels I really enjoy on fixes is yours and Northridge Fix in the US.

@My Mate Vince please don’t leave it too long for the next video, I can’t get enough of your uploads 😊

All the things that the donator of the keyboard described happened to me as well, with two separate Corsair keyboards, the K70 and Strafe RGB, random disconnections, and inconsistent key operation on specific keys, sometimes working, sometimes double or triple repeating, and the RGB issues. I elected to throw them away, and after the K70, my second Corsair keyboard suffered these issues, I put Corsair peripherals on my do-not-buy list, over $300 in keyboards, and both failed in just over 3 years combined. Nonetheless, it was interesting to see this keyboard taken apart and fixed.

What an effort! Amazing fix, A1 plus 😎.

Loved this one !

You've got patience and determination Well done Vince 👏

Fascinating Vince! I have a Corsair Strafe mk II RGB keyboard, with the same lighting issue, but only affecting 2 of the keys, both at different sides of the keyboard. I shall have to investigate!

Your nailing the chip hand soldering. the best ive seen, I wasn't expecting that level of complexity from a keyboard but mine doesn't light up, . when soldering rows i twist strands of solder together so you dont need to feed through your fingers as often. Epic video repair. Respect on the key desoldering. Thought they might be addressable leds, possibly a simpler driver than this 3 chip pcf? io expander.

Brilliant fix Vince very intricate well done 😊

Cant wait for part 2

It might not be worth the time of someone living in the West, but there are for sure lots of countries where a repair like this makes sense. This video is going to help those people.

34:08 all SMD LEDs are numbered by dimensions. A 5050 is 5.0mm x 5.0mm etc.

Yes, a desoldering station is definitely worth the investment... Imagine doing all this with a solder sucking pump instead. I also use it to add solder, when it doesn't seem to work. I also have a little bit different technique for tight places where I can't add solder from the side - I add some solder right into the nozzle before putting it on the pin.

Brilliant! They take ages to fix these modern keyboards! There are 'nets' of them that are in series - they are wired in series as you discovered. They probably use I2C or something like that.

you done hell of a job getting that keybord working well done

I'm glad you did a keyboard thanks, do you have a link to your extracter fan?

Nice work, Vince

Now Vince. You are correct about the microscpe. I had one the exact the as yours. I now bought a new on and it now has a seperate usb cable to power it. The lights are now seperate. Do not know about the remote yet. Not used it.

I usually give up if more than 2 screws are involved. LUV IT.

Love a good gaming repair video. 👍 Wonder if in the future you could maybe try to fix a gaming pc, custom or pre built. I would love to see that one day, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Hi Vince, it is not the voltage that is killing the LEDs, it is the current. So next time you test them, just limit the current on the lab power supply to 30mA at 3V and you should be fine.

@48:00 my guess is a short on ONE of the LED's is messing up the entire line that feeds them, by back feeding a voltage to the channel.

28:54. I would guess the microscope is recording to buffer memory and then writing it to SD, or writing the last x amount of MB to SD. If you kill the power while it's still flushing its buffer, the file has no end and is considered corrupted or the FAT has not been written until the end of the file is written.

Full marks for persistence! I now know why I don't need an illuminated keyboard 😎🤣🤣🤣🤣

It would have taken me a lot longer than that to desolder all those keys! I was amazed how cleanly it came away 👏 You've got a lot of side-to-side play in the nozzle of your desoldering gun compared to my (less-used) one. It might just be wear, but I'd suggest checking that the screws at the base of the metal piece are still tight.

I have the same keyboard and about 30% of my keys colours don't work correctly, I watched a video on how to fix them and I just never bothered, it was wayyyy too much effort just to get some colours back!! Great work tho Vince!

When the doorbell rang, I was hoping it was an electronic device that had escaped an e-waste bin and made its way to Vince's door for repair, like a Tom Robbins book or a Pixar film 😉

Holy cow, give you credit for for taking that apart I had one myself I used to own and some keys wouldn’t work when I took it apart I said no way lol nice repair 👨‍🔧 Vince … by the way do you have the link to those LEDs? Those are cool LEDs.

Other RU-vidrs who have microscopes that have an HDMI out. They just capture that signal with a capture card. It eliminates all of the crappy software stuff

OMG.... the effort on this,, crazy

Hiya Vince can I ask you a question ? I've got a Roberts MP-23 cd/MP3/usb/memory card/Dab radio ...it came with its small remote but I can't access the radio....usb...or memory card function or turn the thing off via the remote ...I bought a replacement remote on eBay but that's doing exactly the same thing ....shame it's a lovely tone ...I bought it off the bootsale ...is there something gone in the unit ?or I'm just unlucky with both remotes ?hope you can point me in the right direction cheers Vince

With led strips that is so cheap, they are usually factory rejects,, ie in your case badly cut. I had a batch that the lenses were not stuck on properly and when I grabbed them with my tweezers the lens would pop off taking some traces with it. But you do find that you get a fair amount of leds that work well getting you a fair repair rate. You have now reminded me that I have to clean the keys etc on my laptop,,, not my fav job with years of gunge and workshop muck 🤧

have been in the trade along time but have to say there are some products over hyped for the quality. Well done vince

For the microscope issues, why not put a cheap powerbank at the back to keep powering the recording equipment until you switch it off 'properly'? Almost like a UPS.. So, power from the dongle thing, to the powerbank, and then out again to the microscope. So it never loses power regardless of the state of the lights button.

I have always been able to lift seals intact just by using isopropyl alcohol and lifting with a sharp blade. They stay perfect and go back down smooth. Once I even had to lift a calibration seal to repair a unit after calibration. Only my supervisor new and that was only because it was he that told me to do it. It stayed perfect until it went in for calibration the next time and was broken by them.

Wow crazy blew me away such crazy small components

The LEDs are individually addressable, but linked. When you have a chain of them, the electronics can say "third one along, red, fourth blue", etc.

Keep your eye out for an old-fashioned binocular microscope, and snag it if it's a good price (and nearby). The weight is the biggest factor. If you have a base, you can then get a used trinocular head (stereo view + camera mount) later, and you will be insanely happy.

Nice job, Vince. I would have probably destroyed the thing trying to get it apart.

Had a wooting two there i killed a led with tea, the led was burned out too. Also got a brownish tint to it. To the caputre issue. It lookes like a mini HDMI port at the screen side, could you use a external capture card? I do not know what is shown at the output but seems to be the camera feed logicaly. Yes it is a extra cost, but with the powerbutton so close to the light an so on at the controll it screems to be pressed by accident

19:35 quick question; I am trying to fix up a broken xbox 360 with busted capacitors but I can't for the life of me get the solder to melt ... even went and bought a de-soldering gun but it does not seem to make any difference ... could I be doing something wrong? Also tried a de-soldering hand pump and de-soldering braid. Have not tried my SMD station yet tho ... any ideas? (Also, I been using flux from AliExpress, would it make a big difference if I'd use a different flux?)

At the end there, that windows-key with the lock is to disable the windows key bottom left. When you are gaming and it gets intense, you may accidentally hit the windows key and that pulls you out of the game and onto the start-menu, not desirable so you just hit that lock-key to avoid that happening.

I have a logictech G213 keyboard that repeats charaters when it was brand new out of the box and a logictech G203 Mouse which I managed to still use until one the scroll wheel broke. I have sinced got both a replacement keyboard and mouse. So I am think of sending them over to you to see if you can fix them for me?

Enjoy the boiled pads yummy! Super nice fix!!

You have the patience of a saint

Very conscientious. A suggestion is to put something insulating between the microscope stand and PCB when injecting voltages. Not sure if your microscope has HDMI output, relying on SD in these devices has always been problematic. Your dinner looks a little disappointing.

If you like to test LED then i would limit the current to 20mAh at maximum of 3v...depending on the color it's safer to limit to 2v like red as an example. There is a chart for led colors for the maximum Voltage. The safest route is to use diode test on you Multimeter which allows you to test LEDs Visually without damaging them.

Cool keyboard, nice fix 👍 Talking about gaming, watched this episode using Xbox One S RU-vid app after some Forza Horizon 4 gameplay 🙂

i have a corsair was playing up did a firmware update and to reset keyboard FN and F4 key factory reset

What are the model numbers of the desoldering pump and microscope please?

I've got a K70 RGB LUX and it also seems to have a failed LED. The Z key only lights up red now. If I try setting it to any other colour, it'll go dimly red or completely off. The keyboard also suddenly started randomly disconnecting (would be fine for some days and then have a disconnect spasm). I disassembled the keyboard because I felt like inspecting it to look inside, cleaned the PCB with some IPA and that seemed to have stopped the random disconnects (hasn't had a spasm for several weeks now). I'm a little bothered by the Z key not working on this as I do like to have my keyboard set to a static colour. Seeing it off or red when set to a non-red colour is a little annoying. If this video is anything to go by, then it doesn't seem worth having to desolder all the keys just to repair one LED. I may do it one day, but for now I've just decided to ignore the issue. I don't have a microscope or an appropriate soldering iron tip for this job either. I use a TS100 soldering iron and only have the TS-D24 and TS-I (this doesn't seem to work very well any more) tips. This was a very interesting video to watch though.

That looked a proper chore!

would using the remote for the camera change your muscle memory into sorting your video issues? I personally don't record, i automatically turn off from the socket instead of the the front panel. Kudos for the extra effort to get it working. Great vid as usual.

If you add a resistor, something like 1K, when you test LEDs, it's unlikely you will burn them out even if the voltage is a little high.

my guess would be it saves footage to ram and dumps it to micro sd when you shut down, and i agree your best bet is buying a separate usb cable to power just the microscope/monitor so that even if you turn off the light switch that part stays on.

Thinking that the muscle memory switch should be stuck out of site to the back of the microscope. You will go to switch off and realise its not easily accessible and you will remember then to switch it off properly. Great fix

Can you use the HDMI output on the microscope with a capture card straight onto OBS rather than relying on the SD card

Wow. I think I got lucky. My kid has a keyboard from EVGA that he spilled his drink in the other day. I took it apart and cleaned it up. The main board though just pried right off - no soldering. They key switches were just kinda socketed in place.

I've got two compact mechanical keyboard one wired at my desk, and one wireless at the tv, same brand and model. reason I got the second one was, they're easy to take apart when I inevitably spill on them. had to repeair some traces on the first one after one of our cats knocked over a glass when I wasn't around, so it sat and corroded. Such an easy job I got the second one, which after a spill has a red key, but it still works so I´m good, just put all of them on red, job done.

I know your pain with desoldering all those keys Vince. I had to do that repairing a keyboard without a desoldering gun, just a manual sucker.

I think a lot of the time companies over drive those LED's or drive them at their limits and it makes for short lifespans. I would not be surprised if more of them fail over the next 6 months or so.

About the mystery red-windows-key at the top right, it could be a key to disable the windows-keys - it's often annoying when playing a game and accidentally touching the windows key makes the game minimize.

what is the desoldering tool Vince?

you have to buy solder paste, which has a lower melting point. really handy for sensitive components like a leds