580EX II Failed IGBT - Worth Repairing?

My 580EX II has failed in a similar manner to others when used with a Pocket Wizard, unit will only output 1:1 power.

My question is not to re-hash the technicalities of the IGBT failure, that has been beat into the ground enough, but what to do with the flash now that it has failed.

Options:

1. Do it yourself repair - (cheapest option, but PW says that replacing the IGBT Transistor is only a short term fix, it will blow again)

2. Send to Canon for repair - Concerned that they will just replace the IGBT with same result as #1, or they will want to replace the entire flash head. I speculate Replacing the flash head would be cost prohibitive for a 4 year old speedlight even with the CPS repair discount.

3. Find some use for it at 1:1, or toss it in the trash.


I'm sure there are others on here that experienced the same failure, which route did you take to resolve the problem. Has anyone managed to convince Canon that it was a manufacturer defect and get a free replacement, probably not likely as it would open the door to a flood of returns.

Option 4 sell on eBay for parts.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17832774
Option 4 sell on eBay for parts.

Possibility - This guys has one listed with BUY IT NOW @ $139 and his wont wont turn on at all:

http://www.ebay.com …4420ad:g:jKYAAO​SwxN5WZdyA


I placed him on my watch list, want to see if it actually sells and at what price.

I broke the pull out wide angle panel assembly on one of mine. I thought about getting a do or for parts but they still seem to be worth more than my need for the panel so I'm sure you can find a market.

A repair at Canon would be $180. Time to go sell the PW and go dedicated RT?

digital paradise wrote in post #17832794
A repair at Canon would be $180. Time to go sell the PW and go dedicated RT?

PW did extensive testing and claim its a defect in the 580EX II, of course Canon will never admit such to avoid liability. My 550EX is fine with the PW, and using that when I need ETTL outdoors or to trigger other slaves. Just want to recoup some of the $$$ invested; the unit is still like new condition, shame to sell it for parts but that may be the only option.

DanangMonkey wrote in post #17832815
PW did extensive testing and claim its a defect in the 580EX II, of course Canon will never admit such to avoid liability. My 550EX is fine with the PW, and using that when I need ETTL outdoors or to trigger other slaves. Just want to recoup some of the $$$ invested; the unit is still like new condition, shame to sell it for parts but that may be the only option.

It is kind of strange that the TTL PW seems to exploit this defect, so I wonder who really is not admitting the blame. So according to PW, Canon is responsible for not making their flashes work with third party radio triggers, or should I clarify, with their radio triggers? You do not hear of Radio Popper PX, or Yongnuo 622c, or Phottix Odin users having all the issues TTL PW users have. I have never had a 580EX or 580EXII fail all the time that I used them with 3rd party radio triggers. Now some of the very early, cheap Ebay triggers drove them nuts and would not work with Canon flashes, but never once have I had one cause one of my flashes to fail. Then again I never used the TTL PW's.

DanangMonkey wrote in post #17832815
PW did extensive testing and claim its a defect in the 580EX II, of course Canon will never admit such to avoid liability. My 550EX is fine with the PW, and using that when I need ETTL outdoors or to trigger other slaves. Just want to recoup some of the $$$ invested; the unit is still like new condition, shame to sell it for parts but that may be the only option.

The PW report on their testing was a bit self serving.

agv8or wrote in post #17833121
It is kind of strange that the TTL PW seems to exploit this defect, so I wonder who really is not admitting the blame. So according to LPA Design (A.K.A. PW), Canon is responsible for not making their flashes work with third party radio triggers, or should I clarify, with their radio triggers? You do not hear of Radio Popper PX, or Yongnuo 622c, or Phottix Odin users having all the issues TTL PW users have. I have never had a 580EX or 580EXII fail all the time that I used them with 3rd party radio triggers. Now some of the very early, cheap Ebay triggers drove them nuts and would not work with Canon flashes, but never once have I had one cause one of my flashes to fail. Then again I never used the TTL PW's.

Sorry, but I don't want to attempt litigation on the forum without my staff of MIT engineering expert witnesses. I posted the information from PW simply because they are the only ones to produce any hard evidence to support the origin of the failures; sure it was self-serving, but Canon has been silent on the issue. I don't think PW is accusing Canon of poor design, they are just pointing out an unintentional design flaw that they believe existed in some models. In the conclusion of their research PW actually described a set of conditions (a perfect storm) that came together, rather than a single component that is causing the failures. PW actually admitted some fault in that they may have over marketed the use of HSS in use with their triggers which they indicate contributes to the failure.

Considering the huge amount of 580EXII speedlights in use with PW triggers the amount of failures should be statistically larger, but in reality the number has been rather low. This would suggest that an earlier subset of 580EXII speedlights had the "perfect storm" that allowed the design flaw to emerge when used with PW. Either Canon changed one of the flawed components (breaking the chain), changed the design, or PW modified their device. The only way to tell for sure would be to catalog the serial numbers of the failed speedlights to see if they were limited to a certain date range or manufacture plant.

Perhaps we can contact William Shatner at the Law Offices of DAN DAVIS for assistance!

Despite who is at fault , the loser is the consumer, and in this case it's me. My post was only intended to determine how others in the same boat mitigated the damage, and at what cost. Parts Cannibalization on Ebay seems to be the only avenue at the moment to recoup any loss.

I've destroyed 3x 580exii's and they've all been with Pocket wizards flex units. It's ok I'm now using $1000 as dummy triggers for my strobes LOL!!!

I'm in the same situation. I've again killed another 580exii recently so I'll probably consider letting this thing rott in my cabinet or buy another 600ex-rt .

I still think the 430exii has been the most robust canon flash that has lasted in my gear. The 580exii's have be great for consistent ETTL exposure as I ride the FEC. I'll have to say my 600ex-rt has been giving me a good change in kelvin from cool to acceptable colour temps. All of the 580exii's I've owned seemed much more consistent.

DanangMonkey wrote in post #17832753
My 580EX II has failed in a similar manner to others when used with a Pocket Wizard, unit will only output 1:1 power.

My question is not to re-hash the technicalities of the IGBT failure, that has been beat into the ground enough, but what to do with the flash now that it has failed.

Options:

1. Do it yourself repair - (cheapest option, but PW says that replacing the IGBT Transistor is only a short term fix, it will blow again)

2. Send to Canon for repair - Concerned that they will just replace the IGBT with same result as #1, or they will want to replace the entire flash head. I speculate Replacing the flash head would be cost prohibitive for a 4 year old speedlight even with the CPS repair discount.

3. Find some use for it at 1:1, or toss it in the trash.


I'm sure there are others on here that experienced the same failure, which route did you take to resolve the problem. Has anyone managed to convince Canon that it was a manufacturer defect and get a free replacement, probably not likely as it would open the door to a flood of returns.

Heya,

Sell for parts.

Move on to flashes that are not going to fail over and over doing what you do with what gear you use.

Very best,

AlanU wrote in post #17834763
I've destroyed 3x 580exii's and they've all been with Pocket wizards flex units. .

MalVeauX wrote in post #17834780
Move on to flashes that are not going to fail over and over doing what you do with what gear you use.

Very best,

Agreed, to parts is goes... Still have my older 550EX I picked up cheaply on Fleabay, it works flawlessly when I need a Master or ETTL in the field, and my slaves units are just Chinese knockoffs which get the job done. Still hard to stomach the lack of accountability from either Canon and/or PW for all these fried units.

I've now resorted to Cactus RF60 flash units and Cactus v6 tranceivers to do remote manual flash with full control of power levels remotely. Awesome for the receptions and dance floor madness

Lately I haven't been running and gunning remotely with ETTL so I'm I'm fine with my current 2x 600 ex-rt's for infrequent use.

The cost of repairs is hard to swallow but the canon 580exii has rock solid shoe mounts and decent/acceptable quality standards. The new YN clones seems to work but you roll the dice with durability. However for the cost of the YN flash units it's cheaper than fixing an authentic Canon flash.

I recall one of my 580exii's MELTING the printed cct board. Canon basically gutted the entire unit and rebuilt it from scratch.......fine and dandy but my PW fried it again LOL!!!!! Oh well at least now I use the PW flex as dummy triggers praying no breaking shoe mounts as they dangle on studio strobes. Now that was a waste of money!!

So OP....what's your plan???

AlanU wrote in post #17835184
So OP....what's your plan???

Plan ranked in order of execution:

1. Post a few more times in the thread and whine about the problem

2. Think about ordering an IGBT transistor, and repairing it myself

3. Give up on #2 and consider listing on Ebay for parts

4. Give up on #3, and throw it back in storage for another 6 months

5. (6 months later) Return to #1


Hey, at least its a plan....

don't mind me, i'm just here for the continued whining.