Godox RS600P problems

FreshpicsUK wrote in post #17128173
Jason-It seems the same as the Lencarta from what I can see, but yeah, maybe they do check them a bit more thoroughly before shipping. They must do, although the extra cost could be justified by the local warranty which is always a major selling point.

Update on what's happening; Godox are sending the eBay company that I bought it off a new set which they will forward to me tomorrow (takes about a week to reach me roughly). The eBay company have asked me to get a quote for returning the complete set which I have done. Trouble is, the company haven't expressly said that they will refund the cost of return shipment, just to get a quote, which is going to be a major obstacle, because 13kg packed weight to China from the UK costs about £130. A fair chunk of cash. Now I'm happy enough to return the item IF they will definitely refund the money, but there's no way of knowing until it gets to them if they will or not. I'm more than a bit reluctant to send it back if they don't.

In the words of many a crap soap opera, To Be Continued...

As it's only the controller unit that needs swapping, it's ridiculous to be shipping the whole thing half way round the world. The cost of shipping you a new controller unit, probably makes more sense than them getting the knackered one back.

That's probably why they've not committed yet and have asked for a price first.

I bought a dodgy Octobox from China, it bust on the 3rd opening. They just refunded my money, shipping it back would have been loads of hassle for no real gain.

Just left me with the task of bodging a repair I wouldn't call it 'as good as new' but it's certainly usable.

This thread has been emailed to godox and hope this gets fixed

Phil V wrote in post #17128189
As it's only the controller unit that needs swapping, it's ridiculous to be shipping the whole thing half way round the world. The cost of shipping you a new controller unit, probably makes more sense than them getting the knackered one back.

That's probably why they've not committed yet and have asked for a price first.

I bought a dodgy Octobox from China, it bust on the 3rd opening. They just refunded my money, shipping it back would have been loads of hassle for no real gain.

Just left me with the task of bodging a repair I wouldn't call it 'as good as new' but it's certainly usable.

I know, it's crazy isn't it? But if they want it back broken bits and all then who am I to refuse? And if the company decide that they don't want it back due to the cost of shipping the whole kit back then I'll be a head, cable and battery up, which would be a result. And if you didn't use Gaffa tape in your repair then you're not a real man. Real men can Gaffa tape EVERYTHING. Funny thing is, I've bought hundreds of camera bits from China over the years without any issues at all, but it's always been small value <£50 things. The first time I try and get a major item it's DOA! Just hoping that BuyBuyEasy can sort it in a relatively timely manner without it costing me anything above and beyond what I've already paid. It does make me wonder whether it's worth the saving buying from the Far East if it's going to end up as a huge amount of hassle!

Hopefully Godox will react to the thread Scott. All they have to do is pop the flash a dozen times and change the power up and down before it leaves the factory to check it works. Thanks for forwarding the thread to them. Whether they act on it or not will remain to be seen!

abbadon31 wrote in post #17128235
This thread has been emailed to godox and hope this gets fixed

Just to put your mind at ease, Godox are shipping me a new IC unit (which I assume is the controller unit on top of the battery) and don't want the old one back, the company that I'm dealing with who've been speaking to Godox said that the manufacturers were aware of the problem as soon as they mentioned it to them/showed them my video and they couldn't do enough to help. Hopefully this will give you a bit more confidence in their products seeing as you've just ordered so many of them!
Hopefully the new IC will sort out the problem and that will be the end of it. If it comes before Saturday then I'll try it out at my next wedding and report back with the verdict-if it doesn't get to me in time then I might just borrow a good looking friend to try it out in the following week. Unfortunately the wedding I'm shooting after Saturday is in Malta so I won't be taking it due to my luggage allowance, but I'll definitely get some results up here soon!

Turns out that the IC that Godox were sending me is just that-an IC (integrated circuit microchip) and it didn't stand for something else! This is not a user replaceable part as it has to be soldered onto a board which is basically right next to the uncovered main capacitors carrying a massive electrical charge.

I have now escalated the case to eBay customer support in an attempt to get it sorted. I can't even see a way to get into the top controller to uncover the board, let alone doing it myself. Plus I don't think that as a consumer with no previous electrical engineering experience I should be held liable for fixing a brand new RS600P!

The situation has become a little bit ridiculous as well as completely unacceptable. Looks like I might not be showing everyone what the light can do after all! Just thought I'd keep the thread updated!

OMG.. sorry to hear about your issues Freshpics. What were they FREAK'N thinking??!!

Seriously, what if you really tried to change the chip and then the whole thing blows up and lit the venue on fire?

Godox gave me similar run around ploy before and this has gone too far.

Not something I would attempt without the proper tools and the know how.

I don't intend to! I did take the pack apart to have a look where the IC's are, but they're almost inaccessible. I've raised a case with eBay now though and they've stepped in and are getting the seller to send a complete control unit as I originally thought they were going to. I'm more than a bit disappointed in the whole situation though. I just want a flash that works! Definitely won't be buying direct from China again-too much hassle unless the item turns up perfect.

Brilliant-Just to top everything off I've just had to trawl the internet for over an hour to figure out how to pay the customs charge that I've been landed with for my replacement controller! It just gets better and better.

Not the vendors fault, I realise, but it feels like I'll never get this thing working!

Received he replacement unti today. Just ran a few dozen pops through it at varying power levels using both the button on the pack and the remote and everything seems to be working fine. Time will tell and it will probably take quite a few shoots for me to trust the pack in the long-term, but for now everything seems to be working great. The head's cooling fan slows down when the flash is popped, but I would assume this is because power is redirected to the bulb instead of the LED modelling light. The fan doesn't kick in at all until the modelling light is used, although it may do if the flash was used in anger with repeated pops, but there's no airflow available to the flash bulb so I would again assume that it's purely for the modelling light. The unit itself is fairly heavy, but easily manageable, but I'll have to see what my human light stand says about it after holding it in various ridiculous poses for an hour of bridal and family portraits. The head is VERY light though for such a big unit, feels solidly built and feels like it will last the course.

Thanks for your comments and help on the previous posts-I'm enough of a geek to post a proper review and example pictures of the system in a later review, but I'll probably start a new thread for that over the winter months when I have 5 hours of my life to witter away.

Glad you got it sorted.

Also glad that you have now a working unit.

The LED is probably mounted on a heat-sink as used in computers to cool processors. The fan is then directly mounted on the heat-sink and the holes drilled in the cooler are to accommodate a LED. They even put the same heat conducting pasta between the heat sink and the the LED to have an optimal thermal transfer.

I thought I would update, received my unit. All is working as expected after a number of test shots.

Seems like a nice piece of kit just need to find some time to use it

Forgive me for hijacking your thread but I am just about to pull the trigger on 2 of these units and would like some clarification on what I'm buying.
Being in the UK my options are limited to ebay or Lencarta.
On ebay I am looking at this: Link
Two of these will set me back £738 and are shown as UK based so there shouldn't be any additional charges.
Two Safari 2 units from Lencarta cost £1299 + £5.99 postage. Which is a staggering 76% markup for what seems to be exactly the same unit! Now I know they provide a decent warranty but I could buy a third Godox unit as a spare and still have nearly £200 left over!
To give myself some degree of comfort before I commit can anyone confirm that the units shown in the ebay listing are the latest version i.e. XExpert vs XEnergizer. The RS units don't even appear on the Godox website and I can't find any other references, in the internet, to XExpert other than in this thread.
Thanks very much.
Ralph