Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I purchased an older Ultra 600 locally a while back. One of the flashtubes was not firing, so before I bought I pulled the one that was not firing and moved the one that was to the other side to make sure both sides worked ok. They did, the one tube fired on either side with no problem.

I ordered a new flashtube and it arrived yesterday (straight wire type). I installed the new tube and it won't fire. Even though the one working tube I have will still fire on either side. The new tube seems to seat correctly, the packaging was perfectly fine and I can see no damage. Could there be an issue other than the new tube being bad?

I have no way to test the new tube. I do have another older Ultra 1200 but it has the plug type tubes.

It is likely a bad tube. However, a few things to check:

Make sure the wire wrapped around the tube is not touching and is not close to the metal flange (face) of the light. If it is, you should be able to bend it out of the way. Also, be sure the three legs are properly installed, as the wire types can be more difficult to install.

If these check out, then contact customer service to let them know you received a bad tube, and we will get that corrected. Also, just an FYI, it is possible to upgrade that light to the banana plug style.