14 months: Broken Ducky

[dotancohen]

Just 14 months ago I purchased a Ducky 1008 keyboard and loved every minute of typing on it. Today it stopped working, it seems that the contacts for the removable USB cable have gone bad. I tried with a second cable, same problem. I could probably tape down the cable to hold it at the correct angle, but I don't expect that to last long.

So beware: the Ducky was great while it lasted, but it _just_ outlived its warranty period. I'll try to contact the manufacturer to see what they might be willing to do, but I don't expect much.

[fossala]

That is supposed to be the problem with them, they don't last.

[damorgue]

Replacing the cable/contact should be fairly easy. If you don' know how to solder, just ask around, someone nearby will surely offer to do it. It is what, 4 pins to solder?

Edit: That is of course if your warranty or whatever don't come through. That would of course be preferable. Just sayin' that it is not that big of a problem to fix, so no worries.

[Charlie_Brown_MX]

It’s maybe not too complicated to fix, but it is pretty poor that the keyboard has failed — in any way at all — at 14 months old. I have several heavily used keyboards that are way more than 14 *years* old that still work perfectly. Even the Compaq rubber dome I used to use at work was five+ years old and still worked perfectly when it was retired in favour of an AT102W, so a Ducky failing after just over one year is really not acceptable.

[dotancohen]

My sentiments exacrtly, koralatov. I am certain that I can fix it. I'm not certain that after spending an order of magnitude more money on a keyboard than most people that I should have to fix it after an order of magnitude less time.

[dotancohen]

I called the phone number on the Ducky website, but nobody there spoke English, Hebrew, or Russian. I really need to start learning Chinese in Anki! I therefore wrote to the company, let's see if I will get any response.

[Icarium]

Soldering USB connectors can be very tricky, sometimes the housing is soldered to the PCB for additional stability, good luck getting that off. A dremel works better than a soldering iron in that case...

[hamza_tm]

I've tried soldering the internals of a USB connector, damn near impossible. Just saying.

If it doesn't work out for you, I would love to have a go at fixing it dotancohen

[dotancohen]

Today a Ducky representative contacted me and CCed another rep from the RMA department, asking him to take care of the issue. This story may yet have a happy ending! I don't mind that a mass-produced product has the occasional issue, so long as it is handled responsibly by the manufacturer.

[dotancohen]

I've tried soldering the internals of a USB connector, damn near impossible. Just saying.

If it doesn't work out for you, I would love to have a go at fixing it dotancohen

If I deem the keyboard beyond reasonable repair, then I'll send it over to let you have your try at it! Judging by your handle, we might even be neighbours. Of course, being neighbours in our part of the world means that our respective governments would do all that they can to keep up further apart, lest we learn that "the other guy" is really just like us.

[Scott_Tarlow]

any update on this... i saw this and got a bit worried because i just purchased a ducky

[dotancohen]

Happy ending!

In August I got the go-ahead to mail the board to Canada for repair, with no guarantee of them being able to fix it. Due to some problems I only got around to mailing it at the end of November! Today the refurbished board is sitting on my desk and I'm typing this on the board. They fixed the issue and didn't charge me anything.

Of course there was a very long wait period for which I was without the keyboard, but like most Geekhackers I do have other boards to type on and in fact I do like a change in keyboard every few months. After half a year on Cherry Reds at home and on a modified Microsoft 4000 Ergonomic with reduced-pressure rubber domes I am finding this Cherry Brown board a bit stiff. But it is a very enjoyable buttonslab and I'm sure that it will come in handy when any of my other daily drivers need repair.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Just curious, is this the XM or the Cherry version? Any difference in quality, or do all 1008/1087 Duckys suck equally? :-)

[Julle]

The mini USB port on Ducky keyboards is a poor design choice. It's in an awkward position and very vulnerable when the cable is removed and replaced often. It feels as if there's always some strain between the cable and the port regardless of how carefully you've installed it.

I hope that in the future they'll position the port on the surface facing away from the user, so that it is accessible without flipping the keyboard over. Furthermore, I'd very much like to see a B type USB connector on these things. It's never going to happen though.

[Hop-Scotch]

I'm about to purchase a Ducky Shine 2 (one it comes back in stock). Do you think this issue is bad enough for me to reconsider?

[Julle]

if you don't switch keyboards often using the same mini USB cable, it's not a problem at all. If your Ducky is plugged in a 100 percent of the time, you shouldn't have any trouble with the connector.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I hope that in the future they'll position the port on the surface facing away from the user, so that it is accessible without flipping the keyboard over. Furthermore, I'd very much like to see a B type USB connector on these things. It's never going to happen though.

Maybe they'll take heed of WASD, who have moved their connector to a safe position in the upcoming v2.

[Hop-Scotch]

if you don't switch keyboards often using the same mini USB cable, it's not a problem at all. If your Ducky is plugged in a 100 percent of the time, you shouldn't have any trouble with the connector.

Okay thank you. It will be plugged in 24/7.

And by any chance, does anyone know how often Ducky re-stocks their products? The Shine 2 (mx blacks) with green LEDs has been out of stock for awhile now...

[dotancohen]

Just curious, is this the XM or the Cherry version? Any difference in quality, or do all 1008/1087 Duckys suck equally?

Cherry browns on the alphanumerical section, blues on the keypad.

[dotancohen]

if you don't switch keyboards often using the same mini USB cable, it's not a problem at all. If your Ducky is plugged in a 100 percent of the time, you shouldn't have any trouble with the connector.

Actually, this keyboard has not been disconnected very often, certainly less than 5-6 times. Also, I was made aware of the connection issue on Geekhack shortly before receiving the keyboard (after purchasing it) so I had been careful exactly about that spot.

[Julle]

I'm sorry to hear that. Being a Ducky owner myself, that's not very encouraging news. I wonder if adding a short mini USB male-to-female adapter in between makes a difference for the hardcore switcher...

[dotancohen]

I'm sorry to hear that. Being a Ducky owner myself, that's not very encouraging news. I wonder if adding a short mini USB male-to-female adapter in between makes a difference for the hardcore switcher...

I bought a small right-angle USB mini to USB female cable, with the intention of duct-taping it to the keyboard. I haven't done that yet, but I probably should.

[domin8r]

Have no connector problems with my Ducky 1087XM, but have had a few keycaps just breaking off. Have had it for 6 months, not supposed to happen. Coworker had the same board and also had a keycap just break off :s

[Daniel Beardsmore]

What broke, the keycap, or the switch slider?

[domin8r]

What broke, the keycap, or the switch slider?

The keycap broke, leaving a bit in the slider (real pain to get out) :



Replaced a lot of the keycaps with doubleshots and dyesubs now

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Ah. Just checking up on whether this was an XM switch failure :-) So far, I'm not aware of any XM switches having failed in a Ducky, only Ducky's parts :P

[domin8r]

Ah. Just checking up on whether this was an XM switch failure So far, I'm not aware of any XM switches having failed in a Ducky, only Ducky's parts

Nah the switches are all fine! Like 'em or not, but they don't break.

[Ducky Nordic]

Early last year i received a 1087 sample since i wanted to try out the XM-switch/board.

I skipped these for Nordics (and at the time for Europe, since there wasnt any others countries with Duckys on shelves/etail). Didnt want any. The 10** -line is the Ducky low end boards or how they described me "good for students"...was not convinced even for students part. The board and even the keycaps seem to come from elsewhere as they are not similar to 90**-series. Caps on 10**-series are superthin and the print is different.

If you are a 90**-series Shine2/G2pro owner u have nothing to worry about. This stuff dont come out the same line.

[aarondelani]

Early last year i received a 1087 sample since i wanted to try out the XM-switch/board.

I skipped these for Nordics (and at the time for Europe, since there wasnt any others countries with Duckys on shelves/etail). Didnt want any. The 10** -line is the Ducky low end boards or how they described me "good for students"...was not convinced even for students part. The board and even the keycaps seem to come from elsewhere as they are not similar to 90**-series. Caps on 10**-series are superthin and the print is different.

If you are a 90**-series Shine2/G2pro owner u have nothing to worry about. This stuff dont come out the same line.

This makes me happy, I have Ducky DK9087G2 Pro coming in today. I was going to mod the female usb part to be more stable.

[Brakels]

tl;dr: I fixed the broken mini-usb issue by resoldering it back in place.

long version:
My Ducky 1087's mini usb jack came loose last night. I normally carry this keyboard in my backpack with my laptop, and I usually leave the mini-usb cable plugged into the keyboard while carrying it around. I guess this put too much strain on the mini usb jack, because while setting up at a friend's place for some games last night, I noticed the usb cable had come out, and when I tried to plug it back in, the jack bent up and away from the opening in the keyboard, making it impossible to use.

I was able to temporarily fix this problem by removing three screws from the bottom of the board (two are obvious, and the third was under a sticker, so don't do this unless you are cool voiding your warranty), which allowed me to remove a piece of plastic from the top of the keyboard that spanned across the length (under the F keys and down around the arrow keys). With this piece removed, I could push the mini usb port back down into place. This was actually adequate to plug back in my keyboard in and play some games! However, I was lucky that the power and data lines were still connected, and it is more likely that if you get into this situation that it won't work at all, or only intermittently.

To fix this properly, today I opened it back up. I removed all the keys (they just pull off of the underlying cherry switches), and found 3 more screws: one between the "F3" and "4" keys, one between the "Pause/Break" and "Page Up" keys, and one between the "Caps Lock" and "A" keys. It looked there was a hole for a forth screw between "Enter" and "\", but there was no screw in it.

Once those screws were removed, I flipped the keyboard upside down and the pcb with all the switches on it just flopped out. From there I pushed the mini usb port back into place, and then resoldered the two ground/anchor points that had come loose. Some of the other 5 connections looked weak or broken, so I resoldered those as well.

By "resoldered", I just mean I pressed the tip of my hot soldering iron up against the existing solder point, added a little bit of fresh solder to help it melt, and then just let the melted solder reflow around the connections before releasing the soldering iron. I also used a continuity tester after to ensure that I hadn't accidentally bridged two of the usb lines that weren't meant to be bridged.

I'm no engineer, but I feel like I should reinforce the mini usb port with some glue or something. Anyone know if that would actually help?