Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

My large soft box fell off the light a few days ago. It bent both bulbs a bit, I replaced the bulbs, but now the light keeps randomly not firing and blow bulbs. What can I do?

It depends on what you mean by lowing bulbs. I this the doughnut shaped flash tube, or the long Tylenol shaped modeling light?

If it is the flash tube, check the outer metal legs to see if there is any charring (black marks will be inside the glass, that is normal). If so, then there has been some arcing, which has damaged the legs as well as the brass posts inside the flash unit. This damage on the inside of the unit will in turn damage legs of new flash tubes. This damage will require the light to come in for repair.

If, by blown bulbs, you mean the modeling lamp, the flash unit should still fire if the damage was localized only to the model lamp.

If you could please specify which bulb it is, we may be able to isolate the problem and may have a remedy that does not require the light to come in.

The legs of the donut shaped bulb are charring, so I am assuming there is damage on the inside of the unit. I don't know if damage was done inside around the modeling light, I don't currently have any extra bulbs for that to see if it still works.

How does it work with sending it in for repairs, and how much would it cost?

White lightnings have a 5 year warranty and the Alien Bees and Einsteins have a 2 year warranty. If it is under warranty, then there will be no charge. Out of warranty repairs will vary depending on light type. More information about our repair service can be found here: http://www.paulcbuff.com/repair.php. Be sure to note you are having problems with the flash tubes and model lamps, and what happened that caused this. While we do inspect the lights thoroughly, it can be helpful to know what we are looking for.