Noppoo Choc Mini White issues :/ (photos added)

[GeorgeStorm]

Hey,
Recently picked up a Noppoo Choc Mini in white with reds, and it looks awesome, however, the left modifier keys don't work, caps lock, tab, shift, ctrl etc.
The light doesn't even come on for caps lock.
This is on multiple pcs, and different usb ports etc.
Any ideas? :/

[Icarium]

Maybe a bad connection or a broken PCB...sounds like a nasty hardware issue to be honest. Can you open it up and take some pictures?

[off]

Maybe check first if that'll void your warranty, sounds like you might need it..

[Icarium]

Ooooh, good point!

[GeorgeStorm]

Mm, I very well may do, bought it off attarian last week, along with a PLU-87 with works perfectly, so not sure where it stands warranty wise.

[GeorgeStorm]

So it seems all 6 of the left column don't work, and I have no reason as to why



Not sure if it came out of the factory like that, those are the soldering bits for the LED for Caps Lock.



Obvious signs of attempted track repair :/

[Maarten]

Whomever tried to repair that track did a horrible job.... If you need someone to fix that for you but cant find anyone in the UK give me a shout, this is beyond any warranty.

[Icarium]

Yeah, but it's an easy fix. The line just runs from pad to pad as far as I can see. Just replace it with a wire.

[longweight]

That sucks George! I think I could fix it but I wouldn't want to risk buggering the PCB!

[GeorgeStorm]

So you reckon I could just solder on a wire from each pad?

Going to see if I can get a refund first, if not, then I'll give it a go, any recommendations on thickness of wire etc?

[CeeSA]

for keyboard modding i always use 0,14mm² wire.
thin and very good to handle.

less important: i use 0,8mm solder. so you can easily dose.
did you ever solder before?

if not, watch some youtube videos, it's simple.

good luck

[GeorgeStorm]

I've done some soldering in the past, I'm not too worried about doing the soldering.
But I'd rather just get a refund, since even if I were to sort it out and it then worked perfectly, resale value would be affected :/

[Maarten]

Do you still have some good old cat5 network cable laying around? With wireless becoming so mainstream everybody has those somewhere, just destroy one of those and grab a little wire from that itll be plenty good enough and like said before wire it from any pad on one side of the break to any pad on the other side. Quite easy if you know how to solder a little bit.

[GeorgeStorm]

So the seller got back to me, and says I have to return all or nothing :/

Think I may have a go at repairing it then since I want to keep all of the other items I got from him.

I'll have a looksie and see if I've got any spare, I left a lot of my spare computer stuff at home since my room at uni isn't big and I wanted to try to reduce the amount of clutter I've got lying around

[Icarium]

I don't think that's legal.

[GeorgeStorm]

It's not an official shop or anything, just a person, so in the end I guess he doesn't HAVE to take anything back at all.

And this way it means it'll give me some practise with me soldering

[CeeSA]

i hope the seller think about that statement again!

i would be very disappointed, if this the way he deal with the warranty.

[off]

So the seller got back to me, and says I have to return all or nothing :/
all of the other items I got from him.

You are very sure that that is what he meant to say, there is no miscommunication seeing how afaik the seller is not a native english speaker?
(i.e. it could be you asked for a part or something and he said return the whole board; iunno)

[gore]

For repairing tracks on PCB's I usually silver conductive paint - doesn't get much easier than that.

[off]

Any updates george? Seeing how he is a 'big' seller, and the way he handles thing like this is important to know for any prospective customers..