Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi all I just acquired a vagabond II and was wondering if it is safe to use and whether it is one of the older ones that have no GFI. The numbers on the unit are......... Vagabond II white label is 003273 model # is PSI900gf. Thanks. Also, where can I find a battery for this.

Since the part number is PSI900GF, the GF stands for ground fault, so it is the ground fault type.
We do carry the battery here: http://www.paulcbuff.com/b20a.php, and you may be able to find them at battery specialty stores. I have also heard of people finding them at golf accessory stores, as they are used in motorized golf caddies.

To my knowledge, no other battery/inverter manufacturer includes a GFI, nor recommends grounding rods or such. Nor do safety regulations require grounding, since they have no connection to power lines.

On rare occasion, earth-grounding these devices improves performance on some flash systems, so that is why we include a small ground point on the newer VML design. VLM does not contain a GFI because it is not actually need for safety.

Perhaps the inclusion of GFI in Vagabond II was just an exercise in excessive and unnecessary concern for safety on my part.