Ray Wu failure ?????

[NTJP]

Bought several strings and other supplies from Ray Wu.  Tested all of the lights.  Had 4 string bad out of 24 of the RA-2811-12V-IP68-B-100-18AWG   Bought 20 strings of 60 count icicles and they all tested good.  Does anyone know what the failure rate is for his lights?  E-mailed him and he sent e-mail back offering to send me 200 as replacement.  I sent e-mail back asking if I needed to send the 4 bad strings back or keep them.  I have sent other e-mails since then with no reply.  Not sure what he is doing about the bad strings at this point.  Going to wait a few weeks and see if some strings comes to me.  I assume I can keep the 4 bad string.  Told him I would use them to replace nodes that go out. But, then hate to assume....  Seems that hardly ever works out right.

[MrChristmas2000]

It would cost too much for you to return strings to him.

He will send replacements but you need to be specific as what you want.

Sometimes they are on Holiday so you need to check their national holidays.

He will ultimately respond.

Put a note on his facebook page that you e-mailed him and when but have not received a response.

He is a good vendor, just sometimes a little erratic.

Tom

[NTJP]

Thank you that is very helpful.  I have been trying to be nice but, that may not be the way to go.  Basically have told him I would love to have 4 new strands but will except whatever he decides.  Do not want to be pushy.  That may not be the right way to do it with him.  Do not know how China works as far as being mannerly.  Guess I should just e-mail him and say I except the offer of 200 lights and keep the 4 I have. 

By the way notice your title....  Mr. Christmas2000.  Have only been doing light for 2 years.  Added a pixel tree last year and Santa mailbox for letters...  Going all pixel this year.  Last year people started calling me Mr. Christmas.  Kinda like it....  Have been called worse in my lifetime...

[RandyS]

Thank you that is very helpful.  I have been trying to be nice but, that may not be the way to go.  Basically have told him I would love to have 4 new strands but will except whatever he decides.  Do not want to be pushy.  That may not be the right way to do it with him.  Do not know how China works as far as being mannerly.  Guess I should just e-mail him and say I except the offer of 200 lights and keep the 4 I have.

I'm afraid that Ray has just gotten way too popular and busy.  Be polite.  I have always had nothing but outstanding service from him.  He will not want you to return any defectives, and he will offer replacements free of charge.  Just let him know what you need replaced. 


I may have just been lucky, but I have never had an out of the box failure from Ray.

[poporacer]

I have bought several times from Ray (and others) and Ray's products have been superior to most of the others (18 AWG wire is actually 18 AWG wire and pixel quality is better) When you say that the strings were bad and then you say you are going to use it for replacements? How are they bad? Depending on what your definition of bad is, then 200 might be a generous replacement (he has been more than fair to me and others that I know) He won't want the bad strings back. China has some weird holidays and literally ALL work ceases, it might even be a law there, but he will take care of you! I have had a VERY SMALL percentage of failures from Ray, it shocks me that you had that many. I have had a higher percentage of failures with other vendors.

[MrChristmas2000]

I have bought from him many times very large orders. Sometimes he responds fast, sometimes not so fast.

I believe that being cordial but persistent is the best way to go.

He has always been a straight up vendor, but has become very busy with incoming/outgoing orders so just be patience.

Tom

[NTJP]

I tested each strand for red, green, blue, white and a chase sequence.  4 strands failed. 
One had the last 12 not work, one had the last 32 not work, one had the last 39 not work and one had the last 63 not work.

When I researched where to order from, everyone spoke highly of Ray Wu.  So, I am sure he is very busy.  From my research it said he makes his own lights and that was a big plus.  His quality has always been talked about is being great.  Figure I just got hold of a bad batch.  People on the form talk of using his lights for several years with little to no failures. 

Thank everyone that responded.  I have learned being polite is far better and you receive respect back when given.....  Most of the time

[Ebuechner]

From what you described chances are you only have about four nodes that are bad not passing the data.
There are many reasons why this can happen such as a bad connection, or the last working node is not sending the data to the next or the first bad node isn't working.
This is fairly common stuff and why you should always order an extra string so that you have matching nodes to replace the bad nodes that are going to pop up.
I've had better luck with rays lights then some other vendors but still always expect that there's going to be a few failures.
This definitely isn't a plug-and-play hobby and some soldering is required from time to time.

[Gilrock]

I once had 4 strings out of 64 that tested bad.  I saved them and when I ran low on pixels I cut the first pixel off of each string and all 4 strings worked.  I could have been the one that blew them since back then I used a SanDevice e6804 and was hot swapping and I later found out that controller was famous for blowing strings when hot swapping.  I've never had a problem on other controllers.

[poporacer]

I tested each strand for red, green, blue, white and a chase sequence.  4 strands failed. 
One had the last 12 not work, one had the last 32 not work, one had the last 39 not work and one had the last 63 not work.

So worse case scenario you had 146 bad pixels, but more than likely you only had 4 bad pixels (if you have a pixel that does not pass on data, even though the rest of the pixels are good, they don't light up because they don't know how to light up!) So a replacement of 200 pixels to me seems pretty fair since you more than likely are getting 200 pixels to replace 4! Yes, a little labor involved, but not much.

[babybear]

Do you realize that this is a good thing. This is a learning experience. Now you get to learn how to trouble shoot and repair a string of lights. This is going to happen every so often in the future. when a half of a string on your mega tree fails you will know just cut out the last working light and the first one that is out. soldering wires up at 15 feet in the air sucks. I don't I use jell filled connectors

     https://www.amazon.com/100pcs-Crimp-Wire-Filled-Connectors/dp/B005IKCLPO/ref=pd_day0_hl_0_1/132-5513634-1806016?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B005IKCLPO&pd_rd_r=3855653a-5409-11e9-abae-3f87a4435dcd&pd_rd_w=BvsyM&pd_rd_wg=ydwye&pf_rd_p=ad07871c-e646-4161-82c7-5ed0d4c85b07&pf_rd_r=K9NRRDS3WS8VZ4MMX5BC&psc=1&refRID=K9NRRDS3WS8VZ4MMX5BC

[NTJP]

Thank everyone for your answers.  Sent e-mail to Ray Wu the 200 pixels would work great.  He replied back quickly they are in the mail today keep the 4 bad strings.

babybear you are correct.  I have learned more over the years from project that have had problems than when everything worked perfect.  Guess I will be researching on how to debug a bad string.  New to this so have no clue. 
Have not seen the jell filled connectors.  Bought these to use https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N2G71C2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

also bought different sizes to use depending on size of wire.

[babybear]

I talked about the connectors  as fixing lights in the middle in a snow storm on a 10deg day sucks been there. even today we got 4' of snow and its 27 out. Good old spring is here. LOL Also at the end of the season you just squeeze them the opposite way and then do a permanent fix. There is really no testing you can do for bad lights. As before cut out 2 lights, the last working and first dark one.   

[Ebuechner]

Usually you replace the last working pixel and the first non-working pixel.
But if you want to test you would cut the wires after the last working pixel and temporarily connect a known working pixel.
If the test pixel works you know to replace the pixel that was next in line.
If it doesn't work then you know to replace the last working pixel.
Make sure you're paying attention to the arrows or markings on the pixel so you know which direction the data is flowing.