Ready to buy 1600 Smart String nodes from Ray - Concerns

[dpitts]

I have read posts out finding bad nodes and strings not working. Have the quality issues been sorted out. Or, should I expect to be troubleshooting nodes and hacking strings up to find bad nodes. Just trying to get a feel for what I am in for.

Thanks.

[taybrynn]

I would still be prepared to have some bad nodes.

I would buy the 1804 tester or have SSC ready to go when they arrive.

I still think its possible to have 5-10% of the order be defective in some way,
but hopefully its much better than that now.  You can return for replacement but thats a time consuming and slow process.
 
I ordered early and had lots of problems.  On my re-order they were better, but still had some
bad nodes.  Ray did replace the bad ones and even sent some bonus ones for my trouble, but even those had a some bad ones in them.

I had read in other places to plan on a fairly high number of bad nodes and be prepared for the
possibility of extensive splicing.

I'm not saying Ray is bad, he is good to work with ... but I think you could anything from a great experience to maybe 5-10% bad ... so why not plan for the worst?

[dpitts]

Do you have a link to where i should buy the 1804 tester.

[aich75013]

I believe this is what he is referring to:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

I'm gonig to add one to my order.

See this thread for additional details:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[dpitts]

Thank you for the info.

[bcstuff]

Just in case you didn't know here is a post recently by RJ. Just something to think about for the future.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[dpitts]

Do you mean 5-10 % of the pixels or the strings. Big difference.

I still think its possible to have 5-10% of the order be defective in some way,
but hopefully its much better than that now.  You can return for replacement but thats a time consuming and slow process.

[taybrynn]

Well I meant just the nodes.  I had about 10% overall I had to splice out.

I suspect that ordering these days that number would be much lower, but not zero.
Maybe just plan for 5% bad on the nodes, just so you can handle worst case.

Again, Ray actually replaced all the bad onces and even gave me some extras ... so
no complaints, just a lot of splicing.

I bought 4 SS flex strips and they are all perfect.  To me, the quality of those
and even the modules was much higher than the nodes, no failures on any of those
thus far.

[rm357]

Mine was one of the first orders and my failure rate has been less than 1% overall. Of about 1400 nodes, I've only got about 8 or 10 bad ones. The bad thing is that it tends to be one or two on a string, but I've also had a number of good strings.

RM

[tng5737]

I agree the quality of the strips is excellent.  The modules have a few more issues but not many.  It is hard to say how bad the strings (nodes) are, since many of my failure were before RJ discovered the 150 ohm resistor and as such I might have some failures which were due to that.  Overall I would say that 10% sounds about right.   

[RJ]

I also would be in the less than 1% area. The problem is that I believe there was one of the batches with quality issues outside of normal so those people will have a higher issue.

I just received the test batch of nodes from ray and they are sealed totally shut in the back and look good. Dad and I were looking at them last might and wish all ours were like this.

RJ

[taybrynn]

Mine were part of the bad batch (early order), so hopefully not representative of current orders.

I got some replacement for free, but they were also a high percentage bad.  But in the end, I'm ok with it because I have more working nodes than I originally ordered.

[mokeefe]

I also would be in the less than 1% area. The problem is that I believe there was one of the batches with quality issues outside of normal so those people will have a higher issue.

I just received the test batch of nodes from ray and they are sealed totally shut in the back and look good. Dad and I were looking at them last might and wish all ours were like this.

RJ

I wonder if I order some nodes now if I will get this "new and improved version"? Do you know if Ray will be shipping this kind now?

-Mike

[tng5737]

I just received the test batch of nodes from ray and they are sealed totally shut in the back and look good. Dad and I were looking at them last might and wish all ours were like this.
RJ

As an aside - does this mean you will be waterproofing your earlier strings?

[RJ]

Have not decided yet. Likely will do something. Not sure if we will dip them or just put some on the ends. If there were like the test ones then no I would not be even thinking about it.

RJ