Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

OK, just received a Vagabond II system a couple days ago.

Per the instructions, I put in on charge as soon as I received it to "Top it Off". The red light and fan came on when I plugged it in, then it the green light came on for a second (fan turned off at this point), then the red light came on for a couple seconds and the fan turned on, then back to green light with fan off for a second, and so on....I left it like this for 15 minutes with no change to the pattern.

Thinking this might indicate the unit is fully charged, I unplugged it and tested the unit with my AB400. Popped off several flashes in fast and slow mode. All worked well. I tried it at low power settings on the flash and high power settings and again all is well.

I then put it back on charge (right after shooting with it as recommended) and the red charging light came on and the fan turned on. I left it on charge overnight (15 hours) and the red light and fan were still on in the morning. Thinking it must be fully charged (and because I was leaving the house), I unplugged it. The fan kept running. I thought it may be on some sort of thermal sensor, so I left it and went to work. I came home from work and the fan was still running 9 hours later.

I plugged the unit in to see if this would change anything and it did not.

I unplugged it from the wall and then removed the positive lead from the bottom of the inverter and the fan finally stopped running.

I put the lead back on the inverter and the fan is now off. I put the unit back on charge, because I never did get a green light on the charge indicator. It is charging now, but the fan is not running at all (should it be)? Also, I can't tell if the red charging light is on. If it is on, it is very dim. The green light is definitely not on.

Please help me understand what is "normal" operation for this charger as it relates to the LEDs and the fan. How will I KNOW when it is fully charged? What should I expect from the fan in terms of being on / off during normal usage and charging operations?

Thank you,

Joe

My GUESS is that you had/have the switch on when you were charging it? The fan on mine never comes on during charging, only when the switch is on either fast or slow. Just a thought. :)

Thanks. I tried the switch position in slow, fast and off to see if it would impact the fan, and it made no difference. Even with the unit unplugged from the wall (not on charge) and the switch in the off position, the fan kept running.

The only way I could get the fan to stop running was to remove one of the leads from the battery to the inverter. After that, the fan seems to operate only when I turn the unit on. It is as you say above, the fan is now staying off when I charge the battery, but it was not clear to me if this is "normal".

I also don't understand why I am not seeing a red or a green light while the charger is connected to 110VAC. I would expect to see either a red or a green LED near the charging port.

As I have mine plugged in right now, there is a green light on meaning it is fully charged. When it is charging the red light should be on. I do normal a high pitched sound when it is charging, but when it is unplugged from the wall with the switch off, there is no sound. Did you hook the wire(s) back up to the inverter correctly? Does it still run your light if you plug it into the outlet and turn it on? I

t might be a defective unit, somebody with more experience can probably tell you more.

Thanks again. The behavior you described is what I would have expected, but mine is not behaving this way. There are no lights on when it is plugged in to charge. No green light and no red light. No sound difference if it is plugged in or not.

It does power my lights if I try to use it, but my fear is that is because it was shipped with a charge and once depleted, the unit will not re-charge.

It is also possible that whatever controls the LEDs to indicate the unit is charging / charged may have failed, in which case the unit would be charging, but not indicating a status. The problem is I have no way of knowing.

Hopefully someone from tech support can render an opinion on this soon...

If the fan ran for 9 hours unplugged, then something is amiss. You will need to contact customer service to arrange for that to be corrected.