As Promised here is Jason's response.
Happy new year Prometheans!
Sorry about the delay in this update. I managed to get quite sick and spent 10 days in bed (not Covid thankfully). I've been going back and forth with the factory for the last month. If you've been with us for a while, you know that I make updates when there's actual information. If an update is later than expected, there's also a reason for that
You also know that I'm 100% transparent and never feed you BS to look better.
So here's the current status:
The good news is that we've identified the problem.
As you already know, the factory changed the PCB design without telling us, and made an error in the firmware. The reason they made the change was because they were observing a short circuit between the pill and the PCB during assembly. So that's a valid issue. Making unauthorized changes is a violation of our contract, but contracts are basically hot air. They certainly don't solve problems.
After days of diagnostics and testing I confirmed the short circuit, but I also confirmed the short circuit occurs because the PCB is installed backwards. They were claiming a large component near the edge of the board was shorting out, but it was actually a different part of the PCB. The pill has a cut out "window" on one side that leaves an "air gap" so the component (a capacitor and the + LED wire) will not touch the pill. So if you install the PCB correctly there is no short.
They found a legitimate issue, but did not correctly diagnose it. I have asked them to confirm my observations on their end, but they have not done so at this time. However, I'm about 99% certain that incorrect installation was the issue. I attached some photos so you can see what is going on.
The bad news is we are probably still two months from shipping.
As I mentioned this order contained 4K lights and about 600 of them were sold in the pre-order. Right now the plan is for them to manufacture 600 new pills ASAP, using the correct (original) PCB design. A "pill" is a subassembly containing the LED, PCB, and a machined aluminum carrier that holds both of them. They will ship us the new pills and we will rework the pre-order lights at our shop here in the US. I'm not sure what's going to happen with the other 3400 lights, but that's my problem, not yours.
The trick is getting those parts shipped from the factory before Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb 1st, 2022. The entire country is on holiday for at least 1 week, but generally speaking, no manufacturing happens for two weeks. Just making the pill requires parts from 5 different vendors, and they are on different schedules.
I'll make another update when I have an idea of when we expect to receive the replacement pills. Once we receive them, we'll start reworking and shipping lights as fast as we can.
Thanks again for your understanding and sorry for the continued delays. I hope you recognize that we are doing everything within our power to get these lights to you as soon as possible. This is #manufacturinglife at its finest.
Cheers,
Jason
