Razer Chroma Hardware Development Kit

I really want to like this product but... the cost is just way too prohibitive. I understand there are R&D costs etc but when you can buy almost 10 meters of addressable RGB LED strips for around the price of the expansion kit alone personally i just can't justify it.

The control unit + expansion costs AUD$170 from the razer store - that's vastly overpriced compared to competing products such as the corsair node (less than half that price for a controller + 4 addressable strips). Maybe it's a problem with the web store's inflated prices (Blackwidow Chroma V2 is AUD$340 on razerzone compared to AUD$215 at my local PC store) but it's going to have to come down a lot for me to bite.

This would've been an instant buy if the price was just a bit more reasonable. Razer products are generally somewhat competitive on price for feature set compared to competitors but this one is vastly out of line with it's AUD$100 "works with synapse" surcharge

Developers?

The people knowledgable in this hardware know you can buy a 5 metre strip of digital LEDs for half the price as this. https://m.aliexpress.com/s/item/32688092455.html

They are charging for nice packaging and Synapse integration and warranty and support... they spend much more on software and support than they do on hardware. "Developers" would prefer to "develop" their own.

This is for end users who don't want to muck about with power supplies, interface chips, device drivers, people who want a warranty and some technical support if necessary: the opposite of a developer. You get none of that buying a bare strip.

EasyKillsGG
and still no new on when synaose 3 will support any thing else than the lancehead -.-

Yeah, would instantly buy it if they just tell a date or a month when it will be supported

FINALLY.. they added supported devices to the synapse 3 site..

Got mine today!

So, I've gotten a few thoughts thus far regarding this product:
- The lights are super fancy and of excellent quality, both in daylight and in the dark
- The package comes with four types of net power adapters: US, UK and 2 for european countries.. NICE!
- The power- and usb-cable connecting to the module are long enough for basic mounts
- The extension cables however, are rather short. I wanted to mount the module beneath my desk, but it appears that the extension cables are too short to mount it beneath the desk while having the led-strips on the top side of my monitors (Dell Ultrasharp U2414H) which are at their highest position. Extending the length of these extension cables with an additional 20-30 centimeters would be very nice.
- As stated many times before, the HDK is not supported by Synapse 2, but only with Synapse 3 (BETA), which does only support 2 devices thus far. You can however seamlessly use Synapse 3 alongside Synapse 2, so I don't really see a problem on this part for now.
- The option to provide the module with power through USB port, is sufficient, but the lights will be less bright compared to powersupplied through the net adaptor.

The point related to the extension cables forced me to just put the module at the back of my desk, which is rather unfortunate.

Note: The power connector is only neccesary when you would like the led-strips to be active 24/7 and/or desire more brightness. If you connect the module using the provided mini-USB cable, the module will shutdown itself when yoi shutdown your PC (Took me a few minutes to figure out). There is a 3rd power option, which is connecting it to your power supply, but the cable is way too short for that forcing you to mount your module inside or on your computer case.

Despite a few 'drawbacks', if you'd like to call them that.. I have no regret spending cash on them as they are of great quality (as to be expected from Razer) and I enjoy every second of the leds. Can't wait for Synapse 3 updates :)

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Dark room - Red static themed



Dark rood - Wave themed



(Semi)Daylight - Wave themed



Overall feeling:

Unrealxs
Got mine today!

Just saw the pictures you posted! Those are pretty sick! Can't wait to see what else you Razer Chroma geniuses come up with.

Craig Parker
Hey guys, question to see if anyone has had similar behaviour. I recently set the HDK up and have been generally impressed, all of it seems working and in general no hardware issues.
What I have noticed though is that while running Overwatch (or actually any app hat i have that is Chroma compatible) it does not override the lighting settings.

I can't decide if this is
a) Because the Overwatch App profile does not affect the HDK
b) Because i have new and old synapse running and the app can only take control of one
c) Something is wrong with software settings

Anyone got any advice?

This is likely due to Synapse 3 still being in BETA, and games such as overwatch not being able to control Synapse 3 devices yet. Though this is simply an assumption. Give it some time i'd say.

I expect it to be fully working asap Synapse 3 will completely replace Synapse 2.

EasyKillsGG
I have both synapse installed.. im using molex and usb all so. But i have no problem regarding lights when i power off my computer. The reason your blackwidow firefly and mamba works, is properly because they are not controlled by synapse 3.. :)

So your saying it possible a Synapse 3 Beta Issue, since my other Razer Chroma gear is fine?

i just ordered mine via zsilver ( not gonna pay for the bad implementation of led strips .. and i mean the way they get controlled and powered ) .. but i wil try andsee what i can mod with it maybe its possible to adress 16 x a 3pack of leds ? i got a strip that has 1 ic for a 3led 4cm piece that would give the option to light a case with 1 strip and use the other 3 ports for other stuff
... we will see

got my set .. directly inspected the LED strips ... and yea 20 pin connector for a special strip with 16 data lines for each led, propably 2 power lines and 2 gnd lines ( or 2 dummy lines and only 1 power and gnd )
why the heck choose that way ? no idea ... daisychaining the LED controllers would have worked ...( like any other company does ... ) extending the strip on your own ? only if someone manage to find 3rdparty strips with 16 data lines and gnd and vcc.. extending with arduino ? ( my old idea) .. im to bad at this neopixel what ever stuff .. if someone manages to make an arduino listen, on 16 data inputs from 16 data lines, and then convert the signal, to 1 output data line for the normal strips you can buy.. it might work ?! with some diy wiring and stuff ... unless razer admits, that they have done Shit .. and releases a firmware update, that removes the 1 led max for 1 data line, and makes it modular ( that you can say i have 16 leds on this 1 data line, and i want the code to go to those 16 leds .. ) then it mit work with other strips.. ( should be possible to do that .. maybe someone can manage to hack a hdk .. )

Is it possible to have 2? Thanks to zSilver I have two connected, but Synapse only sees one.

Hey guys! Wanted to give you guys a weird fix that I found!

I got tired of having to manually turn off my HDK before turning my PC off at night so I bought myself a smart plug from Best Buy (I bought the iHome iSP8W Wi-Fi Smart Plug) with the intentions of just using my phone to shut everything off remotely.

Now here's the funny part. After I plugged in my power bar to this smart plug, each time I turn my computer off at night, the HDK turns off with the computer! I dont even have to use the smart plug, just have my power bar plugged into it!

The smart plug ran me about 20$ so, if you're looking for a fix, I would recommend picking one up and trying it out.

Hope this helped,

Shaman Wolves

At this Point im realy disappointed about the HDK.

Yes its nice the LED Quality is realy Nice, and yes its make PC more shiny. But in a "productive" way there is no gaming scenarios to it for more than an indirectly lightning to be the same like 10€LED Strip. Yes Warframe an Deep Rock Galactic can show what it possible but there is still room for improvement. In the most Software solution the is simple not support for HDK.

Its my first Touch with Razer Software policy and im still frightened how incomplete the Featureset in Synapse it.
Its cant be true to relize a Systemsaling Reason to build an Ambilght like System with a Modder Community. Razer does not realy believe to say "Okay Guys here is the Softwareground, make our Hardware complete with the only realy Reason to buy it."

I see in the near Feature a Ebay Sale

RazerThe_Fiend
We did not. Our press release clearly mentioned it would be rolled out in Q4, which is still the plan. Development and testing takes time. :)

Well this clears it up. Didn’t put enough time to try to find the press release. Thanks for replying dude!