Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi y'all.

I was using my B800 yesterday, not too intensely (maybe 200 pops at 1/4 power max) and when I pulled off my softbox, I noticed some smoke coming from the front of the strobe, and saw that the modeling lamp and flashbulb had black marks on them. For the hell of it (not smart safetywise, I know), I fired the flash a couple more times and it worked perfectly.

Could my B800 be damaged? Or do I just need to replace the bulbs? I attached pictures.



Note, the black marks were only on the top of the flash tube where they connect to the B800:

Smoke is never a good sign. However, it almost appears as though something got onto the model lamp and was burning off.

The burn marks on the flash tube are normal. It is impossible to get all impurities out of the Xenon gas, so the two round grey cylinders (called "getters") are there to collect those impurities and burn them off. This will result in small burn areas near the legs. This is normal and intentional, and typically occur before they leave the factory due to testing procedures.

You may want to press in on the flash tube to ensure it is fully seated. If it is not, then remove the tube and inspect the legs to ensure the metal legs outside of the glass are not burned. If they are, the light will need to be serviced.

I would recommend not using the light until I can review this with our engineers on Monday.

Thank you so much! Great service! I'll be ordering a beauty dish soon!

As tech says, the black ends of the flashtubes are part of the tube manufacturing process and are on every tube. But the black mark on the modeling lamp makes me curious if some loose part of the softbox fabric may have somehow been laying against the bulb?