Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Well, the first impression with my new E640s was less than I had hoped. I ordered two units. The first one I plugged in, powered on, tested, powered up all the way, tested several more times. It seemed great. Hurray.

The second unit. Not so much.

I plugged in the second unit. Did a couple low power tests. Looked good. Went to power up the flash (just powered up, didn't hit the test button). About half way up: *BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!* Ripped out the power cord in a hurry. After freaking out everyone in the neighborhood I carefully inspected the unit. The modeling lamp looked burnt out. Wondering if it was just a strange modeling lamp failure, I replaced it with the included 250W lamp. Powered on. BANG! BANG! BANG! (smoke, and stench). Ripped out cord. :cry:

Then, I tried to put the glass dome back on so I could box it up. It was quite difficult to line the clips up. I guess I pressed just a little too hard as it shattered in my hand. Very fortunately I only received a minor cut. A slip could have easily resulted in a trip to the ER. The shards are thin and sharp. After cleaning the glass out of my carpet I'm left with the joy of having to return a bad unit.

So, some questions from the community, and for Mr. Buff.

1) Are all flashes tested multiple times at full power before leaving Tennessee?
2) If so, what could have happened during shipping to ruin this unit?
3) Has anyone else out there had a unit fail in a similar way before?
4) Has anyone broke a glass dome trying to install it before, or was that me being clumsy? (I really am careful, honestly. It seemed to break easily.)
5) Those of you who may have had to return a unit, how long does it usually take to have a replacement shipped?

Some additional facts:
* All the boxes arrived by UPS today. I ordered a lot of gear, 7 boxes total. They all looked good. No signs of being dropped, etc.
* The unit was well packed, no damage to the unit. Looks perfect. The two flash boxes were taped together.
* The first modeling lamp is obviously destroyed. The second lamp looks okay, but I'm not going to risk messing it.
* After the failure, I noticed a metal ferrule inside the flash tube. You can see it in the photo below just to the right of the bad lamp, inside the tube. There must have been some serious juice going to the head of this unit. Considering how loud it was, these units must put out some impressive voltage.

Of course, I'd much rather have a unit fail right at first than in the middle of a shoot. These things do happen. I'm willing to give Paul Buff a chance. I'll be putting the Paul C. Buff company's customer service department to the test. I'll be sure to update this thread with how things go. I believe in being honest and fair. If PCB makes it right, I'll update everyone.

Honestly though, I am now a little worried about quality. I'm going to extensively test the one good unit I have before using it on a job. I simply can't afford to have that kind of failure happen on location. Hopefully someone at PCB can explain what happened to this unit when I send it back. If there is a QC issue, hopefully it can get solved. If it failed due to a design issue, hopefully those can be addressed. If it is just a freak one-off failure, that would be good to know. I will also be testing the other items I received to ensure they are reliable.

Here is an image of the modeling lamp and flash tube, sans the glass dome. Unfortunately I didn't get to the dome with the camera before it ended up in the trash.



Now to get back to testing everything else I received. I'll update the thread if I find any other irregularities.

Thank you for your time.
-Ryan Simpkins,
Utah

I appologize for the inconvenience. However that is a symptom I have never seen before. It is certainly not normal or even frequent. All units go through several extensive tests before they ship, on the component level and as an assembled unit. I won't speculate on what happened, as we have not inspected the unit. Replacement should be rather quick since this was just recieved. You will need to give Customer Service a call on Monday (or email them) to make arrangements.

Wow bummer of an experience but so totally different from mine. I had the V1 E-640's 2 units which worked great they were replaced with the V2's and they have been fantastic. I all my dealing with PCB they have been honest and very quick to respond to any issues I've had with their products. Their customer service is the best I've dealt with anywhere.I love the E-640's so much I ordered a third unit the other day and it is scheduled to be delivered on Monday so we will see how it goes.

I have 3 E640 and 2 AB800 - all worked perfectly upon arrival and ever since. I did receive one PLM with a metal piece broken off the end - the piece was right there in the bag. The PLM still worked but you could see the edges of the fabric where it all meets in the center. PCB sent me a replacement as soon as I provided the UPS tracking # for my return.

I received a call from Paul C. Buff customer service today. The representative offered to ship a new unit out via 2-day UPS. I will be receiving a shipping label for the return. I'm awaiting confirmation and shipping information.

I'm encouraged to hear from others that this may be a one-off failure. I put the good unit to use over the weekend. Single E640 through 47" foldable octabox. Triggered with cybersyncs. B&W conversion in LR. No other touch-up:


Quite satisfied with the gentle modeling of this setup.

The replacement unit arrived today. It is working great. I'm quite pleased with the way PCB handled this.

Another oddity...
Finally unpacked the other 8" reflector I ordered to put on the replaced E640. It was scratched up and and had something on it, like water or chemical stains. Not that it is a big deal, it's a reflector. It still reflects. It just looks like it was refurbished or recycled. Just mentioning it for those that may follow.

I had a flash tube on an AB800 have that metal post separate and float freely within the tube. It didn't seem to cause any other problems. Just replaced the tube.