This is almost certainly a problem with the antenna itself and not the chip-to-antenna connection. The MOB packaged Apex chips have huge “pads” that would break off the chip before breaking solder connection with the PCB.. that’s why we needed to solder it to a new antenna and not just re-solder to the existing antenna.
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Repair of the resin implant is highly unlikely. If a failure occurred because the resin was somehow bent, chances are very high that;
- the resin would have cracked / shattered instead of bending.
- the forces involved would likely have damaged the MOB packaged chip inside, likely bending the “lead frame” (even though they aren’t made of lead anymore) and cracking the ABS potting, again shearing the wirebonded connection between silicon die inside and the “pads” on either side of the frame.
This is what MOB packaged chips look like without their potting;
Those get wirebonded, then punched out which cuts the frames out and forms two separate pads, one on either side.
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I see, I misunderstood. Do you think it was caused by the same repeated flexing/stressing? Just the failure point is different?
Thank you for all the info 
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Yeah the problem with PCB manufacture, particularly flex PCB out of China, is that defects in the board’s manufacture are not easy to see or find or even test against without x-ray inspection of each individual antenna.
The reason for this is that the types of defects are often in the copper traces and in fact in the copper quality itself. These traces are covered so you can’t really see them, and in the case of copper quality you wouldn’t be able to detect them visually.
The pcbs pass electrical conductivity tests and will even totally work fine as an antenna, until thermal compression is put on them from the polymer encapsulation process, then you add a little bit of wiggling back and forth.. flexing.. and suddenly that weak spot becomes the point of failure.
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Will the implant being stiff have any impact on comfort for a back of hand install?
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@Az_F, I think that you might be able to answer that question.
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Aye. I had a stiffened flexnext on the back of the hand. It didn’t feel different than the normal one but it was more prominent visually and physically and occasionally got caught on stuff. Not bad though.I have a normal spectrum now and it’s like it’s not there at all.
TLDR: it will be more visible. Might get caught occasionally.
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Do you miss having the large visible implant?
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It felt weird the first couple months like my hand didn’t look the way it was supposed to be but then I got used to it
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Undoubtedly yes.. but whether or not that matters will depend a lot on your body and exact placement etc.
Biopolymer is omewhat flexible. The idea behind this material being flexible and calling product line made with it “flex” doesn’t have to do with actively flexing the material or the product over and over again, it has a lot more to do with the material and product flexing to conform to slight curves like the hand and forearm.
@Az_F had a very large flexNExT product on the back of the hand, which presented certain challenges outlined above such as the edge catching on things etc. However, if this same implant was made with resin, the edges would be far more pronounced because there would be zero conformance to the slight curvature of the hand, and it would look pretty obtuse. Not to mention it’s three or four times thicker than biopolymer encapsulated flexible PCB material.
That said, the Apex Mega Spectrum is nowhere near the diameter of the flexNExT, and it should be possible to locate it somewhere in the hand where there is a flat enough profile that it won’t stick out too badly.
Personally I still highly recommend the forearm for these types of installs. I have an Apex Mega Spectrum (biopolymer version) on both wrists and they are basically invisible (on me).
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How does the LED brightness compare to the LEDs in the x-series implants?
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I would say technically better since it’s directly facing up out of the optically clear resin, unlike the green tinted bioglass x-series where the led faced sideways out the glass “lens” cap.
That said.. it looks the same to me haha
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Would something like this help the company to produce /try the community intrest in newer products? So you can work in batches… know you can produce in a good size batch, entice people who are interested but can pay a full the price of a single made custom chip, and you don’t have product left on the shelf because there was too little intrest. Example:
“If we get xxx people to back [insert product] in red by new year, we will make the batch somewhere around July - september.
Or to put products on the store as [out of stock] new batch will be produced in January, click here to reserve your spot for $$.
We did exactly that with the Titan, so it’s definitely possible. However the Titan project was a cost issue not a time issue.
The issue right now is simply bandwidth. Single color Apex Mega Spectrum might be a possibility on the future once things settle down a bit. Managing a presale or crowdfund is more effort than simply doing it.. so for now we’ll just wait until we are in a better place to manage multiple colors.
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How long have you had yours? I absolutely love mine but am slightly worried about longevity.
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I don’t need it.
oh but you do……
I shouldn’t.
Oh yes you should…
Do I need a 2nd apex?
2 is 1, 1 is none….
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If I recall correctly, around 3 years or so now. The LEDs aren’t as bright or blinky as they used to be, but I had a beta (maybe alpha?) version so I can’t complain. Everything else works perfectly.
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We all got AMS beta units around the same time.. both mine are about the same age. Lefty lost it’s LEDs about a year ago.. maybe more.. but I use it more? Righty is still blinkin strong.
Actually this is what lead me down the path of zeroing in on LEDs specifically. If the NFC silent NTAG on the AMS used for energy harvesting came loose from the PCB due to solder issues, then the tuning would be thrown way off and the Apex chip would basically stop functioning.. but that hasn’t happened.. only the RGB LED stopped working.. as it has on 2 other AMS beta units.. but the Apex chip continues to function perfectly on all 3 with this reported failure.
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