YS-D2 Strobe burnt bulb after 24 dives

[aquaticexplorer15]

I just got back from the Sea of Cortez. I was using my two YS-D2 strobe hooked to my Olympus OMD-EM1 Mark II. On the last dive I noticed that the strobe stop working. When I got back to the boat the front cover was burnt. I only had 24 dives on the strobes and now it is shot. I have been reading up about it and I see it happens all the time. I will be sending it back to get fixed. Does anyone recommend any other strobes with less issues? I noticed that a few people on the liveaboard had the INON Z-240. I see that the Z240 is discontinued. Is INON coming out with anything new anytime soon?

 

[bvanant]

There will be a new Inon strobe, probably at Dema. S&S must have gotten a bunch of bad parts, I have an old YSD1 with several thousands of flashes and no issues.
Bill

 

[WS007]

I recently had the same problem with one of ms YS-D2, that I purchased just July/17 (< 30 dives): Black, burned, front plastic, still working but at lower output.

My dealer ("Unterwasserkamera" in Vienna) says, however, that burned tubes are a common problem to all UW-strobes, eben top-class as subtronic, not a peculiar problem of YS-D1/D2. Anyway the strobe is for repair under warranty now...

Maybe the new retra strobes are better in this respect, the review below says they are tested for repeated firing at full power 1000x at a frequency of 0,5 Hz (and the front glass is from quartz glass and not from plastic):

Field Review: Retra Flash by Alex Mustard and friends ::

Wolfgang

 

[fmerkel]

There have been some complaints on SB of the DS-2 frying the strobe. Not common, but it happens.
My wife's spontaneously flooded, somewhere through the main body. Battery compartment was dry. Odd for sure. Fixed under warranty.

 

[bvanant]

Yes it is true that flash tubes burn out or turn black but not after 25 or 30 dives (less than 5000 flashes). Most flash tubes that you can buy have MTBF of hundreds of thousands of flashes. Also, it is not clear that having glass vs. plastic on the front of the strobe could make much difference in the lifetime of the flashtube
Bill

 

[WS007]

Quartz-glass or plastic may not be relevant for lifetime of the flash tube, but quartz glass can not melt and burn and become black as above (and see attached my burned YS-D2 (the tube still works) - it is definitely the plastic that burns and becomes black - see also the grey patch inside the black area)...