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Still shipping?


goslingdkc

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Hello! I am new to this community! Anyway... I got the red blinking light of death on one of my 2.0 base stations... No misuse or mishandling... Just randomly poof! Started last night when I was trying to use it...

Anyway, I would like to find a solution for that issue... But for now... If those are going to bork easy... I may as well get a backup... Are you guys still shipping in the states? I was about to order another base station. But wanted to make sure. I didn't see any warning or anything when checking out..

 

Thanks guys! 

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@goslingdkc - we are still shipping outbound as of this post without any major service alerts. Our repair/RMA pipeline is however affected as RMA/repair devices need to be received and physically inspected/fixed. We are starting to see some impact on EU shipping, but we don't have formal advisories yet.

We're pausing shipments in Taiwan/China and some other APAC regions until April 5 due to COVID related impacts. There will be a banner on your localized webpage if there is an active alert for your region.

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@goslingdkc In short, basestations have a primary tradeoff. They offer the highest quality tracking system under $30-50K but it's enabled by the fact that the stations are high-precision mechanical devices that spin at high speeds. The rotors in a station spin at ~3600RPM which adds up to over 200k revolutions over the course of an hour. The can wear down and develop other mechanical issues. There are also laser sources in there which can burn out. The device may be under warranty depending on your purchase date an region.

The best way to prolong the life of a base-station is to never ever touch or move it while it's spinning and to enable base-station power management. The following setting will add a few seconds to  your VR startup routine  but will ensure the stations aren't just spinning 24x7 if they have power. I personally recommend all in home users use the following settings as they completely stop the motors from spinning:

image.png.240dc838721e21fc1fe7254b637339c1.png

If you use this - you'll need to ensure you close SteamVR for the stations to spin down - if you suddenly shut down (i.e. a hard shutdown on your PC), the stations won't get the signal from SteamVR to enter standby. An added bonus is that they'll make no noise while they're in standby.

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1 hour ago, VibrantNebula said:

@goslingdkc In short, basestations have a primary tradeoff. They offer the highest quality tracking system under $30-50K but it's enabled by the fact that the stations are high-precision mechanical devices that spin at high speeds. The rotors in a station spin at ~3600RPM which adds up to over 200k revolutions over the course of an hour. The can wear down and develop other mechanical issues. There are also laser sources in there which can burn out. The device may be under warranty depending on your purchase date an region.

The best way to prolong the life of a base-station is to never ever touch or move it while it's spinning and to enable base-station power management. The following setting will add a few seconds to  your VR startup routine  but will ensure the stations aren't just spinning 24x7 if they have power. I personally recommend all in home users use the following settings as they completely stop the motors from spinning:

image.png.240dc838721e21fc1fe7254b637339c1.png

If you use this - you'll need to ensure you close SteamVR for the stations to spin down - if you suddenly shut down (i.e. a hard shutdown on your PC), the stations won't get the signal from SteamVR to enter standby. An added bonus is that they'll make no noise while they're in standby.

Ok thanks for the info! I appreciate it. All though... is this info anywhere in a manual or anything? I tried to make sure I searched online for anything I should know that is not in the manual. I learned that lesson years ago with my first VR headset (cv1). But this is the first time I am seeing or hearing this... It might definitely be a good idea to put this in a manual that comes with them. Or at least easy to find online.

My base stations are brand new. They have been used for a total of MAYBE 5 hours. So they should be RMA'ed fairly easy. But I think 5 hours is a little TOO short haha. And these things are definitely NOT cheap.. 200$ a pop! So replacing in case of something like this isn't always easily done. I am fortunate enough to be able to currently.

Also good to know that they are VERY fragile. I don't think I did any crazy moving around of the sensors... The other one is fine thankfully.

But anyway I digress. Glad I was able to order another one. Speaking of though.. I did not receive a confirmation email with an invoice or anything. Should I have?

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@goslingdkc SteamVR is not something that lends itself to a traditional manual - it updates and changes way too frequently unfortunately. In 2019, Valve released ~300 beta updates to SteamVR and another ~12-15 or so major public releases and in 2020 they released a ton of major UI updates. I think I'm going to start trying to document it better more informally but it's a bit of logistical nightmare.

I'd personally recommend going through and clicking through every single option and menu within SteamVR and it's setting pages just to gain a baseline understanding of what's possible in SteamVR currently. Nowadays, when SteamVR updates - there will be a dialog box that pops up alerting you to the update with a link to "see what's changed". I'd recommend reading those so you're always in the loop for major changes. You can also manually access them via this page.

I'd definitely recommend RMA'ing that unit if it's so new. You can do by collecting the S/N off of the back of the unit and going to vive.com/support -> contact us -> contact us. Depending on your region, COVID will likely affect your turn around time but it really varies by region. You should receive an invoice/order confirmation soon - I don't work directly with vive.com so I'm not sure of what their overall status is presently.

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1 hour ago, VibrantNebula said:

@goslingdkc SteamVR is not something that lends itself to a traditional manual - it updates and changes way too frequently unfortunately. In 2019, Valve released ~300 beta updates to SteamVR and another ~12-15 or so major public releases and in 2020 they released a ton of major UI updates. I think I'm going to start trying to document it better more informally but it's a bit of logistical nightmare.

I'd personally recommend going through and clicking through every single option and menu within SteamVR and it's setting pages just to gain a baseline understanding of what's possible in SteamVR currently. Nowadays, when SteamVR updates - there will be a dialog box that pops up alerting you to the update with a link to "see what's changed". I'd recommend reading those so you're always in the loop for major changes. You can also manually access them via this page.

I'd definitely recommend RMA'ing that unit if it's so new. You can do by collecting the S/N off of the back of the unit and going to vive.com/support -> contact us -> contact us. Depending on your region, COVID will likely affect your turn around time but it really varies by region. You should receive an invoice/order confirmation soon - I don't work directly with vive.com so I'm not sure of what their overall status is presently.

Ahh ok. I mean that makes perfect sense. 

Again I really appreciate the help and the info. But seriously happy that there were sensors even in stock. Especially with what has been going on and with the popularity spike with VR hardware. I actually looked at Ebay first for whatever reason. To see if I could find another sensor there. I guess old habits lol. But I saw the inflated prices on the sensors there and thought ok... The online stores and main retailers must be out. 

I wonder how long it will take to get it to me. I still have not received a confirmation email... hmmm..

So what do you do if you don't mind me asking? And do you know if they ship from here in the states? I would imagine so? Since they offer 2 day shipping? 

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7 minutes ago, VibrantNebula said:

@goslingdkc we have a wide array of fulfillment partners. In the US, we ship out of a West Coast fulfillment center in East Rancho Domingue and I think we have an East coast fulfillment center in Indianapolis/Terre Haute but I'm not sure if that's still active. In any case, these are fulfillment centers we contract.

Ahh ok I gotcha. Cool. Well... hope it won't be long. Who should I ask about my order? I am trying to find out the status on the website but am not seeing anything. I want to make sure everything went through. Was definitely charged haha.

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