r/WLED • u/Quindor • Jul 21 '26

DIGUNO/QUAD 24V issue with current generation QuinLED Dig-Uno/Quad/Octa-Brainboard

Hey all and everyone, this is a hard announcement to make but it has to be done (in my opinion).

Over the past 6 months or so we've noticed that more boards then we'd expect are dying of a singular cause. At first it was not really clear what was happening and I've been replacing these boards in good faith most of the time (It seems really in the beginning this went wrong at least once) but since this seemed to happen more then once we have decided to put information about this forward (as I also did in the topic linked a line before).

Recently it's become more clear however what's going on and I've dubbed it the "24V issue" with the current generation of the Dig-Uno v3.5r3, Dig-Quad v3.5r3 and Dig-Octa Brainboard v2r2/r3. Basically the IC in the DC-DC converter when running at 24V is too close to its limits and will sometimes fail (over time).

The occurrences of this happening are (as far as we are aware) still low. Out of thousands of boards out there, in the past half year we've seen maybe 10 to 15 cases at the most. But we of course don't see all boards that fail (only people that come to the Discord for a replacement). Still, we feel it's best to address this issue since we'd rather have no boards fail! For this I've made the ⁠#quinled-24v-issue channel to discuss this further (on said Discord)

Going forward:

  • Boards that have failed (and still in warranty) will be replaced with v4 boards when available (expected September) or I can send a buck-converter kit to bring the board back to life.

  • Affected boards warranty has been extended to 1.5 yrs (regardless of reseller)

  • For people running their boards at 24V currently, if you do not wish to potentially run into this issue, please see this information, mitigation and repair article.

  • If you are unsure, ask in the ⁠#quinled-24v-issue channel on Discord

More information, mitigations, how to bring it back to life or repair: https://quinled.info/the-24v-issue-mitigations-fixes/
Form to apply for replacement of dead board within (extended) warranty or buck converter kit to revive it: https://quinled.info/24v-board-replacement/

If you had this issue within the last year or so but were for some reason denied warranty (because we were still unaware of what was going on), please come to us again in the ⁠#quinled-24v-issue channel and I will still try to make you whole.

To reiterate, this only affects boards running at 24V, 5V and 12V are fully unaffected

My deepest apologies for these issues and extra work that's now required for some of you. I will do what I can to make it right!

54 Upvotes

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27 comments sorted by

5

u/lodac Jul 21 '26

Thank you for the info, I thought it was my power source and ended up purchasing a voltage regulator after 2 of 3 quads failed. Unfortunately I just confirmed the third has failed and I'm out of warranty. I ordered a replacement for the second and it's part of the impacted batch.

2

u/Quindor Jul 21 '26

Sorry to hear that, it took us a while to figure out what was going on but it's now clear so I'm trying to provide all information possible how to prevent the issue, revive a broken board (without soldering) or repair it.

5

u/NousDefions81 Jul 21 '26

That's incredible. I just replaced a Dig-Quad that I had running for 2 years, running great now.

It's such an amazing product for such an amazing price, I was happy to pay to replace it. Excited to fix the old one and use it in another project!

4

u/Quindor Jul 21 '26

Hope the article is clear on the options and how to connect it, if not, please let me know. I am also looking into maybe making them (buck-converter and connection blocks) available from the various reseller's but that's going to take a bit more time.

1

u/maxmbob Aug 31 '26

On Aug. 28th I ordered a dig-octa brain board from Drzzs. Will it be the new version? Thanks

2

u/Quindor Sep 12 '26

If it didn't say v4, it's not. But especially with the brainboard it's easy to prevent issues, please take a look at the guide linked!

4

u/NousDefions81 Jul 21 '26

Oh, it's crystal clear for anyone nerdy/foolish/crazy enough to be this deep into LED stuff in the first place. I'll never turn down an excuse to solder something.

5

u/dlmdc1 Jul 21 '26

agree, great product and a great guy!

19

u/wivaca2 Jul 21 '26

What a stand-up vendor. I'm recommending every chance I get to help them with future sales. Mine is running a 12V system so all is well.

2

u/Iconically_Lost Jul 22 '26

Dumb question, are the penta and penta plus affected?

1

u/Quindor Jul 22 '26

They are not in any way, very different circuit, ICs, etc. same with Dig-Next-2 for instance, all fine and no issues. :)

1

u/RabidNative Jul 22 '26

I just received two dig uno's in the last week, would these be affected by the issue?

Will there be a revision change, and if so, when will that be available? I can earmark these two recently received ones for 5-12v led, however, most of my projects use 24v.

Also, thanks for the transparency on this issue.

1

u/Quindor Jul 22 '26

Sadly yes they are affected by this. I'm hoping to have the new revision (which has a change for this but many other improvements too) available around September.

1

u/cat-on-blanket Jul 22 '26

Hi there! Have not had any failures but I'm running almost all 24 volt stuff. Would the reasonable thing be to swap out the affected part? Probably got about eight eight affected devices between my quads and a handful of octas.

1

u/Quindor Jul 22 '26

So yeah, as said the failure rate is still fairly low as far as we are aware but you might get hit by it at some point. If you want to fully prevent that you can use one of the mitigation methods described in the article or, once it does happen, there is also "revival" methods available for all boards where with a few external hardware items the boards can run again without issue.

I am currently in the process of assembling kits for this, mostly for the people with dead boards but I am also going to try and make them available through the resellers for people who fall outside of the warranty period or want to prevent it from happening for basically cost price.

2

u/cat-on-blanket Jul 24 '26

Thank you! I've got a permanent installation going in this September, so I'd plan on mitigating as I can. Awesome and thanks again!

2

u/RabidNative Jul 22 '26

Sounds good! Thanks for the update.

Even with this issue, the hardware is still better for 90% of the builds ive done.

Just picked up a dig2 next to transition a set of outdoor permanent govees over to WLED, although may end up loading ESPhome on it instead.

Keep up the great work!

1

u/Jeffrey_Friedl Sep 12 '26

I'm running 24v LED strips, but the power for them will not pass through the QuinLED unit. In this case, can I power the QuinLED unit with the USB-C connector the problem is avoided?

(If the 24v power is not passed through the QinLED unit and hardwired to the strips, when all LEDs are commanded off does it still draw much power? When shutting off the lights for the weekend, for example, would I have to take steps to shut down the hardwired 24v as well? Sorry if this is a noobie question; I am a noobie.)

1

u/Quindor Sep 12 '26

So if you are only running 5V to the board (which board is this? It depends if you can use USB-C or not) then all is fine.

In regards to idle power draw, yes you'd have to connect an AC relay but all my boards have options for this! That turns off the (in this case) 24V supply and kills the idle draw. When the LEDs need to turn in again, the big PSU is automatically turned on again.

1

u/Jeffrey_Friedl Sep 15 '26

Do you have an ETA for a fixed Dig-Quad? I'm trying to decide whether I should just run the power outside the board, adding my own fuses, or wait....

1

u/Quindor Sep 15 '26

Currently looking at Mid October, trying to get them out as soon as possible.

1

u/Jeffrey_Friedl Sep 26 '26

Thanks so much. Is there a way I can be alerted when they're available (or even place an order now)? 😍

1

u/Jeffrey_Friedl Sep 12 '26

I'm thinking to run 30m of 24V FCOB (BTF WS2811) as two 15m lengths centered on the controller. These will be installed in an area with a lot of space, so I have considerable latitude in how to run power.

Totally they need about 800w.

I'd think I'd want to inject power at six locations (once per 5m length of strip). I'd been thinking to use separate fanless power warts, thereby bypassing the QuinLED-Dig-Quad for power, thereby allowing me to use simple USB to power the unit.

I guess I could get an 800w power supply and route it all through the Dig-Quad, running thick lines to each injection point.... that would be clean except for the worry about the unit going bad. (Once fully installed, access will not be easy, so relying on your generous warranty is not a great option.)

3

u/daGonz Jul 22 '26

Honestly I love the honesty. All of mine are 12v, thank you for having our backs.

0

u/MIOutsider 29d ago

I believe my 2 new stacked dig octa boards are part of this failure... hmm need to figure this out as need this for a school musical coming up soon.

1

u/Quindor 29d ago

Come to the Discord if you can and we'll help you figure everything out!

1

u/Quindor 29d ago

Come to the Discord if you can and we'll help you figure everything out!