Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

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Tue May 20, 2014 6:39 am

Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 5:59 am
Posts: 2

Hello, I've purchaced two of my vegabond mini a while ago via a frend in US (I live in Europe). With both of them I had issues like after some time they stop working in a way when all the indicators are glowing, fan is woring, even the inverter can charge the battery but it does not give power out neither for power plug nor to usb. First unit broke relatevly soon just laying on the shelf, another one after a year in the middle of the shooting (I'm not a power user, 2-3 shootings a month for the summer mostly). After second unit broke I brought both of them to company that imports and service all kind of paul c buff (sbf-moscow.ru) and as far as I understand a partner of Paul C. Buff of some kind. Guys there fixed it. I had paid for repair, although quite expensive one - price is comparable with new unit in US. One of those units broke right away, and they re-fiexed it pretty fast, but I had to bring it back to them again. Now, after the winter (one of the units broke again). Again same issue with inverter. Batteries are working fine with another unit. Having some education in electronics this time I've disassembled unit to see what is wrong. There issue is not apparent though. The only thing that looks altered by service guys is this two elements:
Image
and the rubber between those elements and radiator does not look like one comming from factory
Image

So now I'm could only wait for the second inverter unit to fail in the most unconvinient moment and I don't feel comfortable paying for repair that won't likely lasts even several shootings.

I have a few questions:
1) Does it make sence to repair those units again? Maybe it is known issue and there is some data to answer this question?
2) Could it be the issue that have easy fix that can be done without sending to service with certain knowlege in electronics?
3) Is it possible that 230V units are less reliable (or less tested) than 120v units? I use them only for Einsteins so as far as I understand it does not matter which on I'll use (or does the charger is different)?

SN numbers for my inits are v23001513 and v23001514




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Tue May 20, 2014 3:58 pm

Site Admin
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:43 am
Posts: 5266

The fact that it is a 240V version should not matter. However, it would be hard for us to say what is wrong with the unit unless we have it in hand. We can only recommend repair if it is by us, as there may be an obvious problem, but a latent problem that others don't know to look for. We do not have authorized repair facilities outside the US (and Canada for some items).




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Tue May 20, 2014 4:21 pm

Site Admin
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:49 am
Posts: 1432

This is odd to me. Sales of VML have been enormous and very few complaints have been received.

The parts you circled are Mosfets, and are the most likely part to fail on any inverter. It's possible that the 230VAC VMLs could have a higher failure rate than the 120VAC units because the Mosfets are subjected to higher voltages. Both version are made by the top global manufacturer of pure sine inverters and they are very diligent about quality. Of course, we fully test all units before selling.

I will ask my tech staff to look into this. Only a small percentage of VMLs are sold in the 230VAC version, so we may not have a lot of failure data.

This is exactly the reason we don't promote International sales . . . the costs of shipping and service, plus various taxes and duties applied by different countries make purchasing and service very difficult for both us and the customers.




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Tue May 20, 2014 4:37 pm

Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 5:59 am
Posts: 2

Thank you for answer. I'm looking for information tech staff... Even if it will not help solve the issue but get some understanding.

I really like your product. Functions+low weight+price make them stand out. I wish I had better experience with reliability.

As for international sales, I can't say anything for bussiness part, but as a customer it makes it ten times more difficult without having manufacturer support distributed sales. This means troubles with buying product directly or much higher prices, troubles using it and troubles when someting goes wrong. Because in the end somebody will do that with or without head company just because there is some demand on the market, but will have to add all the risks to the price, and will have what appears not officially trained repair personel as well as other possible downsides.




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