Dead Strobe...

[sabbath999]

Bummer... another dead strobe story.

I bought the DC800 Maxx kit this spring (after getting 3 defective cameras they sent me a new DC1000), the right strobe is now dead.

Dead as in won't fire at all, red light won't come on. I dove with it yesterday, it worked fine during the dive... I got home and decided to fire off the strobes a couple times to test my settings on land and it wouldn't fire. The charge light was on, it wouldn't fire via the cable or the test function. Left one works just fine. I charged the batteries, and now it is doing something different... the red light won't come on when the strobe is clicked to the on position, but it the red light flashes on very quickly when the switch is about half way between on and off... no firing of any kind however, either via optical cable or with the test switch.

I switched out batteries between the functional strobe and the non-functional one, and the functional one fires just fine with either set... the other, the same reproducible deadness.

I am going to call customer support in the morning, I have a trip coming up and would like to have it fixed before I leave.

So far this is 3 dead cameras and one dead strobe out of this kit... not really feeling the love tonight.

 

[sabbath999]

OK, called Sealife and talked to Debbie... she confirmed what I already knew, that it was dead as a doornail and had me ship it in to them.

Shipping it priority mail insured with delivery confirmation (the only way I mail stuff that I care about) was another $19, bringing the cost spent by me returning defective Sealife products from this one kit to $88 over the last six months...

I wonder if we should count the shipping costs of defective products against a total cost of ownership when considering pricing on products.

I still have the other flash so I guess I will do my shooting over the next two or three weeks with one... I hope she gets it back to me before my Kona trip next month, I would be seriouly unhappy to not have the camera kit I paid for unavailable for yet another defective product... I had to reschedule my underwater photography class twice when I was going through the "can't find a DC800 that takes a clear picture" period of my Sealife ownership exsistance.

I am pretty easygoing, but honestly this is getting a bit silly.

 

[BrewingDiver]

Any chance of borrowing a strobe from your retailer for the trip? Or buying and then returning it when you get your new one? I bought my gear from Scubatoys and I wanted the wide angle lens. I think mine was scratched or something (this was back in 2005, DC500 then), and they told me if they couldn't get me one in time for my trip, one of the guys was prepared to send me his personal one. As it turned out I got the new one in time, but it was a nice gesture so I bought my DC1000 from them.

 

[sabbath999]

That's a nice thought... I bought mine from ScubaToys as well (they have been very helpful throughout the DC800 fiasco I went through)...

I still have one strobe, so worst case I could just do it with one (assuming that one doesn't die between now and then)... not my first choice but my first choice doesn't really matter when the defects keep showing up...

I don't really want to put anybody out, I just want my strobe fixed.

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

I had the same thing happen to mine. I took the cover off and discovered that there was a piece of matter from a dive that was blocking the magnet.

The switch has a magnet inside. That's how it connects the charging mechanism and the discharge for "test". Once I removed the foreign matter from the magnet and put it back together, it worked fine after that.

 

[scuba_frog]

Just had the same thing happen to me as well. This was my thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sealife-station/288546-dc800-pro-strobe-malfuntion.html Just sent it out yesterday so I will have to wait to get it back. Sounds like a quality control issue if you ask me. I just hope the other strobe doesn't crap out on me.

 

[sabbath999]

Ya, I guess we are just living in the "House Of Pain"

 

[sabbath999]

Delivery confirmation: the strobe arrived at pioneer research today, start the clock

 

[DandyDon]

OK, called Sealife and talked to Debbie... she confirmed what I already knew, that it was dead as a doornail and had me ship it in to them.

Shipping it priority mail insured with delivery confirmation (the only way I mail stuff that I care about) was another $19, bringing the cost spent by me returning defective Sealife products from this one kit to $88 over the last six months...

I wonder if we should count the shipping costs of defective products against a total cost of ownership when considering pricing on products.

I still have the other flash so I guess I will do my shooting over the next two or three weeks with one... I hope she gets it back to me before my Kona trip next month, I would be seriouly unhappy to not have the camera kit I paid for unavailable for yet another defective product... I had to reschedule my underwater photography class twice when I was going through the "can't find a DC800 that takes a clear picture" period of my Sealife ownership exsistance.

I am pretty easygoing, but honestly this is getting a bit silly.

Did you buy locally? If so, let them send it in at their expense.

You really should have talked with Karl; did you ask for Tech Support? You can still phone him to ask about your particular return. I was going to call him after a week or two of sending my last one in, but I got it back before then. My broken flash link was out of warranty and my housing damage was negligence, but - he fixed the link and replaced the housing anyway, for free.

Delivery confirmation: the strobe arrived at pioneer research today, start the clock

ph 800-257-7742, ask for Karl.

 

[sabbath999]

Strobe has returned. Actually it is a brand new one, the old one was screwed.