Clear Alternatives.......AAAAAARRRRRRRGH!!!!!!

[lazarus7]

i think that ive been extremely patient, but im about to run out.....





had to call them on the phone to get a response, after waiting on hold for 10 minutes,
was told that
one;
they cant repair them there, theyre manufactued overseas and they dont stock spare parts
two;
they dont have ANY stock in their transition to the new factory/ warehouse, maybe in a month or so....
three;
that aside from daily operational emails, they wont reply, so maybe call back in a month....?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

i chopped off the date in the email pic....JUNE 16.
2 months with ZERO response;
when i had to initiate communication today, told,
"ehh call back in a month, we probably wont answer emails".....

WOW.
just wow.

[Heath]

If it is just detached you can fix that with a quick solder.  Go into a computer electronics shop and see if they will do it for ya.

I have soldered at least 10+ spots on my CA taillight to keep it working lol

If you can't find anyone I will fix it for free if you pay the shipping both ways.

[lazarus7]

yeah i can fix it here, got a good guy right next to the bike shop...
thats not the point;
its the HORRIBLE attention to detail/ customer service from them that im talking about here...

[Monster Dave]

Wow, that's awful. When I got my C.A. tail light there was a mixup and I had to call them to get the correct light sent to me, then when I got that correct one part of the LED board was nonfunctional, so I again had to call them for a replacement. Although I had to deal with them twice over the phone, they were really understanding and they shipped replacements to me very quickly. It was just a pain in the arse since I had to wait to have installation complete, but other than that my experience with them was fine.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. 

[lazarus7]

yeah you cant really tell in the email,
but ive had ZERO problems with my CA unit on my 06 speed triple...
10,000+ well ridden miles with zero issues...

guess its just the vibration of the v-twin killed it....

nonetheless, their customer service in my case has been outstanding in its complete incompetence.....
frustrating and irritating;
ive kept my mouth shut since the end of june, but enough's enough......

JUNE 16 AND ZERO RESPONSE......

[Bill in OKC]

guess its just the vibration of the v-twin killed it....

After you get the connection soldered back together, maybe put a drop of RTV between the transistor body and the board to dampen the vibrations.  That little thing is probably like a tuning fork vibrating constantly and eventually cracking the leads.  It almost looks like someone used acid core to solder that thing - lots of corrosion-looking stuff on the legs instead of nice and shiny like the other joints.

[He Man]

same thing happened to my light. exept ALL of the those things ( i think there are 3 of them??) shook loose. i ended up removing all the LEDs to put SMDs instead. the board is brighter, but it still sucks. im going to try to put reflective tape on the inside so its a bit brighter in the day light cause you cant see jack.

[ProTeal55]

Sorry to hear you guys are having so many issues with your CA setups..
I read about stuff coming losse from vibration and incased all the connections with silicone before I installed it on my bike and
not onen LED has gone out yet.

[CairnsDuc]

Looking at that photo I would also just resolder the leg, I would also suggest touching up the solder joint directly under that leg, it also looks a bit sad, I soldered a number of dry solder joints on my CA LED brakelight before installing it.

I also saw a number of parts like that sticking up much higher than they needed to be, I desoldered them, trimmed the legs down and then resoldered them in place, and dropped a few dollops of silicone around on other components I figured may vibrate loose.

2 years on and it's still seems to be working fine.

[Ohmic]

I've too had major issues with these for both form and function.

...they cant repair them there, theyre manufactued overseas and they dont stock spare parts...

This is true. They can't repair them because CA is just a middle man. Nothing more nothing less! Let's face it. These boards are pretty simple. 1970's technologies. Any body with a basic high school understanding of electronics can fix these. So why don't they(CA) just fix them?

This is why: These boards are manufactured in Ningbo China. I looked into this when i was researching/developing Vizi-tec's SupaNova SN490i. The factory sent me a list of prefabricated LEDs of popular motorcycles. The price for the Monster LED integrated board was quoted for ~$4.50 each for qty of 100 min. If i remember correctly the price dropped to ~$3 - $2 for 500-1000 or more pieces.

It will cost CA more to fix these then to send you a new replacement.

[Kopfjager]

i think that ive been extremely patient, but im about to run out.....

What's your plan?

[Triple J]

I had a CA integrated taillight on my 848 for 2 days before it failed (left turn quit working). Sent it back, got a brand new one, and sold it. What a POS.

[RBX QB]

Devil's Advocate... 

14k on my CA integrated... no failures. Smoked lense, still pretty damn visible, except at hard angles.

Finally replaced it with a full custom tail, requiring a different light setup. Now my CA is sitting in a bucket... along with the reflectors, beer tray, emissions canister...

That said, from your experiences, it seems their "customer service" leaves a LOT to be desired.

[caboteria]

Wow, that is some seriously craptastic soldering there.
The parts on the other side aren't bad, but the parts on this side are scary.
They look like some of my 4-beer work.

[Bill in OKC]

Wow, that is some seriously craptastic soldering there.
The parts on the other side aren't bad, but the parts on this side are scary.
They look like some of my 4-beer work.

I'm confused - is the proper word "craptastic" or "craplacular"?