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SainSmart 21-Segment Music VU Meter Tower LED Kit
01 / 07
SainSmart 21-Segment Music VU Meter Tower LED Kit
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Product Description
Learn to create and manipulate LED lights with the SainSmart 21-segment music VU meter tower LED kit. Designed to pulse at the beat of whatever music you’re playing, each of the 21 segments can be programmed to display different colors, animations, and lighting effects Read More
Customer Reviews
1.5
(6 reviews)
5star(0)
4star(1)
3star(0)
2star(0)
1star(5)
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keyboard_arrow_downBagman57
15
Sep 19, 2018
checkVerified Buyer
I just got mine and there's just a bag of parts. No instructions or operation manual. And there's no manual to be downloaded either. The description on the SainSmart site says the LEDs ARE soldered to the board but they are NOT. I figured there would be some assembly but still no instructions? For instance how do you solder the USB socket, the solder points are right next to each other. There's a good chance they'll be soldered all together. Also the protective paper on some of the Acrylic segments is scratched off.
Update 9/19/2018: I started putting mine together. As I said the LEDs are NOT soldered to the board as described. I did get the USB socket soldered right after three tries trying to keep the solder points separated. I started soldering on the LEDs from the bottom up. When I got to the 3rd and 4th pink LEDs I noticed the resistors for both of them are gone and the resistor for the 2nd blue LED is missing too. It looks like there were resistors soldered on at one time but were knocked off and I didn't find any loose ones in the bag or anywhere else. Very poor quality control and packaging.
Update 9/19/2018: I started putting mine together. As I said the LEDs are NOT soldered to the board as described. I did get the USB socket soldered right after three tries trying to keep the solder points separated. I started soldering on the LEDs from the bottom up. When I got to the 3rd and 4th pink LEDs I noticed the resistors for both of them are gone and the resistor for the 2nd blue LED is missing too. It looks like there were resistors soldered on at one time but were knocked off and I didn't find any loose ones in the bag or anywhere else. Very poor quality control and packaging.
blessedsilence
1
Sep 16, 2018
checkVerified Buyer
This item is not as described, it is a Kit that requires you to Solder it to put it together, even missing the USB Power Supply. It did not even come with any instructions if I were inclined to put this kit together. I would leave less stars but the lowest this allows me is 1.
Good luck even trying to contact support about this, they probably put the ticket in the roundfile.
Good luck even trying to contact support about this, they probably put the ticket in the roundfile.
Bagman57
15
Sep 19, 2018
blessedsilenceSame here. I just got mine and there's just a bag of parts. No instructions or operation manual. And there's no manual to be downloaded either. The description on the SainSmart site says the LEDs ARE soldered to the board but they are NOT. I figured there would be some assembly but still no instructions? For instance how do you solder the USB socket, the solder points are right next to each other. There's a good chance they'll be soldered all together. Also the protective paper on some of the Acrylic segments is scratched off.
emahoney
1
Sep 21, 2018
checkVerified Buyer
Came completely unassembled with no instructions. I took 4 hours to assemble it, and never got it working. Tested LEDs and only about half worked. Not even bothering to test the rest of the components...
whipster
80
Sep 26, 2018
OK, are all of the 0805 surface-mount 1k ballast resistors installed? It's really unusual for LEDs like this to fail right out of the box.
emahoney
1
Sep 26, 2018
whipsterI desoldered each led and tested them on a breadboard. Unless I somehow misconfigured it in a way half burnt out, they had a 50% failure rate. Either way, Massdrop has refunded me as this clearly is a situation where a vendor tried to pull a fast one on them. So big ups to them.
GGGGGGGGG
5
Sep 20, 2018
checkVerified Buyer
Product arrived late, un-assembled and in a bag from somewhere in China. The stated manufacturer’s brand name is not on the package. This was not worth the time and money spent to get it.
higyigma
17
Sep 12, 2018
checkVerified Buyer
After soldering it, it doesn't even power on, so pretty much useless.
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Really this review needs to be in two parts: one review for the kit itself, and another for how it was advertised and delivered.
The kit is really cool; it works well and is very eye-catching in operation. It's not especially difficult to assemble, but attaching all the lenses to the PCB was tedious; I wish they were just drilled for self-tapping screws. Also - why is there not just a single sheet of paper with instructions? I figured out the kit on my own - because I'm an electrical engineer - but it's kind of shitty to just dump a bunch of loose components on anyone who doesn't work with electronics all day long.
The other aspect of this drop has already been taken care of: MassDrop issued a full refund because the boards were supposed to ship fully populated (no soldering) and ideally should have included an AC-to-USB power adapter. So, I've got nothing to complain about. If you got one of these and can't get it assembled, or you're having trouble making it work right, get in touch with me and I'll try to help you out.