Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

So, i'm headed out for a shoot in a couple hours. And i charged my vagabond II last night. I hadn't charged it for maybe a month prior. When i plugged it in to charge last night everything seemed okay, red light on, indicating that it was charging. I woke up today, and both the green light and red light were solid. I took a shower, then noticed the green light was solid, and the red light was pulsating. I'm confused, because when i unplug it, green light stays solid and no red light occurs, and will fire my AB800 normally. No weird sounds, nothing. Then i plug it back into charge, and once again, charges normally for a while, then the red light starts pulsating again.

any advice?

Depends on when you got the VII. It may be as simple as the charge was/is nearing the end of the charge cycle.

i think i bought it mid 2008

That sounds right, unfortunately I cannot confirm that until tomorrow.

thank you for the replies.

i hope it holds up for this shoot, if it is abnormal...

OK, I double checked with the rest of the tech staff. This could be low charger output from the inverter. If you are inclined to do so, you can check this yourself (read below). If not, you may want to send the unit in for service. Low charger output can not fully charge the battery, leading to a progressive premature demise of the battery.

If you want to check it yourself, you will need a multimeter set to DC. Disconnect the cables from either the battery or the back of the inverter, making sure the cable leads do not touch in either circumstance. With red to red and black to black, measure from the free ends of the cables (if you disconnected the battery from the cables), or at the contacts in the inverter. You should read 13.8 VDC.