Seba Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 Hi, today my front, white light lost about 95% of its original intensity. Rear light in white mode works OK. My wheel have about 1400 km of total mileage. Maybe this is just coincidence and this failure is not linked to recent firmware update (1.11), but I have always both lights on when riding (I just put black opaque tape on the light sensor). So the light worked flawlessly for over 1200 km and failed shortly after upgrading to 1.11, as with other users who reported the same problem after this update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomOnWheels Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 Same for me... First that happens on the front one, after I've updated firmware and then it happens to the rear one after I updated the app... So naturally I was thinking that KS added some new feature to let us choose between 2 light levels (one for make the wheel just visible and 2nd one to actually show the road at night). So I've asked @US69 if there is something new, and he confirmed that unfortunately there in nothing new on that... Then on the forum I saw some posts about 2 different versions of lights... in the 2nd version KS added a thermal sink. Also there is at last one person who reported that his lights are also dead even if it is the 2nd version with thermal sink... So, sorry my friend, but it's probably a hardware issue and you will have to change it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augus Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 It seems that it is a problem with the first version - the plate where the LEDs are fixed is made of normal plate material, which seems to heat up a lot and causes the LEDs to melt. The new version of the plate is made of aluminum and dissipates more heat. I put a link to a Russian forum that talks about the subject: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=es&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fecodrift.ru%2F2018%2F08%2F27%2Fzamena-fary-v-kingsong-ks-18l-stavim-obnovlennuyu-platu-ot-proizvoditelya%2F&edit-text=&act=url Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seba Posted September 7, 2018 Author Share Posted September 7, 2018 6 hours ago, Augus said: It seems that it is a problem with the first version - the plate where the LEDs are fixed is made of normal plate material, which seems to heat up a lot and causes the LEDs to melt. The new version of the plate is made of aluminum and dissipates more heat. I put a link to a Russian forum that talks about the subject: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=es&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fecodrift.ru%2F2018%2F08%2F27%2Fzamena-fary-v-kingsong-ks-18l-stavim-obnovlennuyu-platu-ot-proizvoditelya%2F&edit-text=&act=url Thank you, so it's clear now that there is a problem with heat dissipation on lamps fitted with FR-4 PCBs. I already reported this to my local dealer, I hope they will send me replacement PCBs soon. Because I ride a lot in evening, I will swap the lamps today and hope the swapped, working lamp brightness will not degrade until I get replacement boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fat Unicyclist Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 33 minutes ago, Seba said: Thank you, so it's clear now that there is a problem with heat dissipation on lamps fitted with FR-4 PCBs. I already reported this to my local dealer, I hope they will send me replacement PCBs soon. Because I ride a lot in evening, I will swap the lamps today and hope the swapped, working lamp brightness will not degrade until I get replacement boards. As you ride a lot in the evening, might I ask how you (used to) find the light angle? Did you find it pointed too high, or did you like where it was on the ground? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seba Posted September 7, 2018 Author Share Posted September 7, 2018 17 minutes ago, The Fat Unicyclist said: As you ride a lot in the evening, might I ask how you (used to) find the light angle? Did you find it pointed too high, or did you like where it was on the ground? I've calibrated my wheel so that front (according to the tire marked rotation direction) is slightly tilted downward, just about 3-4°. This causes front light to not blind other people, but still give quite long reach. Of course, this limits me from riding the opposite side as a EUC front. Anyway, with totally level calibration, both lights may blind other people during night. They are very bright and have a good beam shape, but are slightly too high and they are not adjustable. Of course when riding downhill, there is no way not to blind people below, but this is unavoidable with EUC. I usually turn off the lights when riding down the slope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
em1barns Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 I am actually experiencing the same issue. I thought the light was weak lately, but had no chance to test it at night to compare to my previous impressions. @US69, is this an acknowledged problem by KS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seba Posted September 7, 2018 Author Share Posted September 7, 2018 25 minutes ago, em1barns said: I am actually experiencing the same issue. I thought the light was weak lately, but had no chance to test it at night to compare to my previous impressions. @US69, is this an acknowledged problem by KS? My dealer responded that this is known problem and they are waiting for replacement lamps from KS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seba Posted September 7, 2018 Author Share Posted September 7, 2018 Ok - I just fixed my lamp. I hope this fix will work until replacement lamp arrives. I decided to use newer Cree XP-G3 diode and used neutral white (4000 K) color. This is warmer than original, but should be more "eye friendly" to others This is lamp PCB with original diode. You can see the yellowish part of the soldermask where it overheated. Here is the lamp mirror with attached PCB after diode replacement. ...and voilla! Lamp is working again... and I hope it will work for as long as possible! Or at least until new lamp with aluminium substrate PCB. As you can see light is warmer than original, but should work as well. Or maybe even better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirt Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 1 hour ago, Seba said: Ok - I just fixed my lamp. I hope this fix will work until replacement lamp arrives. I decided to use newer Cree XP-G3 diode and used neutral white (4000 K) color. This is warmer than original, but should be more "eye friendly" to others This is lamp PCB with original diode. You can see the yellowish part of the soldermask where it overheated. Here is the lamp mirror with attached PCB after diode replacement. ...and voilla! Lamp is working again... and I hope it will work for as long as possible! Or at least until new lamp with aluminium substrate PCB. As you can see light is warmer than original, but should work as well. Or maybe even better! Nice Work! Did you use a heat gun to replace the diode? Did you consider adding a heat sink to prevent overheating like the newer lights seem to have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seba Posted September 7, 2018 Author Share Posted September 7, 2018 26 minutes ago, squirt said: Nice Work! Did you use a heat gun to replace the diode? Did you consider adding a heat sink to prevent overheating like the newer lights seem to have? No, I used professional SMD rework station. Radiator is already on this board, but on the opposite side (invisible on this photo). The problem is with limited thermal conduction of the board, so even with radiator it's impossible to dissipate all the heat that diode generates. This is why KS switched from FR-4 (glass/epoxy laminate) to aluminium in new boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
US69 Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 On 9/7/2018 at 3:27 PM, em1barns said: I am actually experiencing the same issue. I thought the light was weak lately, but had no chance to test it at night to compare to my previous impressions. @US69, is this an acknowledged problem by KS? Acutally your seller should be able to help you out with a new light! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean eRide.ie Community Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 Replaced mine with the V1. 4 board now. It also has extra length to avoid the light to go too high and blind people. Kept the broken one on the back for now even if I've the replacement, as I only want the red light on the back. Here pictures of the differences: http://imgur.com/gallery/3DpFMP1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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