Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi!

I own a Vagabond II that stopped charging the battery a few months back. When I plug it in the power socket, nothing happens. I use a workaround and charge the battery with a charger you would normally use for car batteries.

The Vagabond II is about two years old now, so there's no warranty... The workaround is pretty annoying and sending it to the States to have it repaired would cost me as much as buying a new inverter unit.

Has anyone ever had this problem? I asked a local tech shop here in Germany if the'd be able to repair it. They said the'd need circuit plans which Paul C. Buff obviously don't provide.
Has anyone ever tried to fix this problem themselves?

Any hints would be appreciated.

If the battery itself is fine, then the entire unit would not have to come in for a repair, only the inverter (making sure the battery stays fully charged). Also, you may want to look at the charging cord as a suspect. If the cord has a short, then it will not charge the battery or cause any change to the LED status. These cords are fairly common, and can be found plugged into laptops, stereos, game consoles, printers, etc. They are refered to as C8 unpolarized appliance cords, and can usually be found in retail outlets, such as our Radio Shack. If aquired locally, they will use the native AC socket found in your region, precluding the need for an adapter.

I tried different cables, looks like there is something wrong with the inverter. Still, I guess shipping the inverter to the US, have it repaired and ship it back to Germany will cost roughly the sam as ordering a new inverter. That is if they are still available... Can you tell me how much a new inverter + shipping to Germany would be?