Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I tested on the 2 Einsteins I received, they fired well. Even with my triggers. I noticed that the modelling light on both Einsteins seems to flicker continuously when turned on clearly visible in low power. And I heard a buzzing & high pitch sound. In one of the Einstein, smell like something was burning while i did my test while the other is not. And this particular unit seems hotter than the other one and took longer to cool down even with the power cord unplugged.

I have written out the S/N of the unit and the tested result with my Sekonic Lightmeter started from the lowest power setting to full power in 1 stop increment, they get exact 1 f-stop different, but starting in 1/16 power, the reading are 2/3 stop from the previous power setting. It's random, sometime in 1/16 power sometime in 1/8 power and 1/4 power. And continue 1 stop increment from whatever reading onward on both Einstein. I need to do more test on this to be sure.

Are this normal? Are the flickering, burning smell, hot and longer cooling down period damaging?

The burning smell of the modeling light might be normal at first, (specially on full power model) due to oil/mfr.residue burning off the bulb initially. My units smelled a little funny at first, but that was gone within an hour or two of use. You may also see a very thin plume of clear smoke at first due to this (also usually at full power model), but it also goes away quick. If it's really noticeable or smoky or takes longer to cool as you stated, then you might definitely want to place a support call.

As far as the flickering goes, that doesn't sound normal, but may be the actual bulb itself being faulty rather than the unit.. have you tried switching the bulbs from another unit to this one? That should give you some indication of the culprit, whether bulb or unit.

The buzzing noise is hard to gauge as describing sound is kind of subjective, so I can't really comment there. In one of my units, the fan is slightly louder than the others and 'buzzes' somewhat audibly but I haven't had any sorts of issues with it, possibly just manufacturing inconsistencies in the fan, no biggie. If it's clearly whining, then yes, call it in for some assistance.

Hope this helps, even if just a little!

Thanks Rhino...

I smell burning only from 1 light, the light that took longer to cool down after unplugged. I did not noticed any smoke, I tried to see, but failed to noticed.

As for the flickering, both light are flickering. So I did not switch bulb.

I need to checked again to be positively sure.

I'm afraid to fry up the units... :)

Well now I'm sure I have 1 faulty one.

I just turn it on, as suspected, it smells really bad. Can smell burnt in 7 meter radius and make me cough!

The modeling light stay dim no matter what power setting it's on (I set the modeling light to follow flash setting). The light on the "Ready" did not turn green. Cannot fire when I pushed the Test button. The info screen show I have 75 flashes.

i turned it off, then reset it to easy set, then power up to full, Test button did not work. I turned it off, unplugged. And then Plug it in. Modeling light now at full power, test did not work. Turn the power down, check the info screen this time it tells me i have 62 flashes!

Turn up the power, modeling light does not change, still dims, test did not work.

Press easy set, test not working. Turned it off again, unplugged.

Turn it on again, powering on the power does not effect on the modeling light again, test do not work as well, check info screen, it said I have 75 flashes again.

The burnt smell still on until now!

The weird thing is that the front part of the light not hot, but the bottom right part (below the power cord plug gets hot. It's the hottest part from the rest of the light.

Any technical help please? It'll be easier if there is an online solution for me to do other than shipped it back to Australia... :(

Any heat build up like that is going to be a hardware fault. This will need to be sent back.

Thank you TS, I have contacted Colin for this problem. Hope to get his response soon.

Out of my curiosity, can I open the bottom part to see what was burnt/fried? Will it void my warranty?

One more thing, since we don't know as to when the minis can be ready for shipping, will Tronix Explorer XT power up Einstein?