Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I recently acquired a used X800 that i was told worked fine. It does to a point. At the lowest setting and a little above the flash will not fire, it just beeps? At any other setting, it fires fine, but at the lowest setting it just beeps. I removed the flash tube with a cloth and re-seated it with the same results. Is this an easy fix, or does it need sent in for repair?

Did the flash tube appear burnt?

Do the contacts inside the faceplate appear burnt?

Have you tried a different flash tube?

Does it still fire when it beeps?

There could be an internal issue, or a case of a bad tube.

It does not fire when it beeps other than very, very faintly. Not like my Bees when they are at their lowest setting. The flash tube is a little dark, but not bad. I did not look at the contacts. Also, it appears like the little insulators are not on the hot legs of the tube, but there is one on the 3rd leg.

I do have 2 new flashtubes that I bought as spares for my bees but did not realize they are the same for the X800. I will try one of them. Another thing...... that X800 is fan cooled I believe, but it did not sound like a fan was running. Does it come on when the strobe is turned on, or once the unit heats up?

The X-series have a thermostatically controlled fan that only comes on when it reaches a certain temperature threshold.