Ranger Quadra owners? Want to hear your experiences.

Just wondering who's been using it, and how has it been. I'm asking because i've had mine for like two weeks. I got the double A-head set. Right out of the box, one of the heads constantly misfired. Missed more than it fired. It was annoying. I got it exchanged and it was good.

Then I was shooting casually one day and the skyport triggering totally stopped cold turkey. Wouldn't fire AT ALL. I tried two different skyport triggers, changed the group, but still no go. I had to finish the shoot with pocketwizards. I called the camera store I bought it from and asked them if they had trouble. They said they also had skyport misfires and had to change the frequency. It seems to work, but it's strange that it would work just fine and then suddely stop working halfway through a shoot.

Then at my last shoot, after about 20 pops, the recycling time suddenly got really looong. I didn't know why as we weren't even a quarter ways through it's capacity. Then I smelled a foul electrical burning smell, coming from the powerpack. I turned it off right away and disconnected the battery. I haven't tried it again since... I don't feel like setting something on fire.

So far I've been extremely frustrated with my $3000 investment into the Quadra system. I just want to see how other owners are faring with theirs. Is this a product that was released prematurely (i.e. new pocketwizards) or did I just get hit with bad luck?

No problems at all, sorry to hear about your bad luck. I would demand a new set with heads, cables.. everything.

A foul electrical burning smell tells me that something is terribly wrong. As Paul said above, I would demand an entirely new kit and not settle for anything less. You don't want to play games swapping individual components, etc.

You want the system you bought to work flawlessly and anything else is unacceptable.

Just on the Skyport issue; i was suffering from misfires on one of my Fx400's, turns out it doesnt like the "straight" plugs, only the "right-angle" ones. Seems it may be too much weight pulling down on the plug.
This may/not be relevant to your situation.
I bought a right-angle adapter and no more issues.
(yes i did try all cables/plugs/configura​tions in each of my Fx's for process of elimination and proving)

fivegallon wrote in post #8230103
Just on the Skyport issue; i was suffering from misfires on one of my Fx400's, turns out it doesnt like the "straight" plugs, only the "right-angle" ones. Seems it may be too much weight pulling down on the plug.
This may/not be relevant to your situation.
I bought a right-angle adapter and no more issues.
(yes i did try all cables/plugs/configura​tions in each of my Fx's for process of elimination and proving)

Wow, that's such a slight difference in weight or weight distribution. I'm surprised.

fivegallon wrote in post #8230103
Just on the Skyport issue; i was suffering from misfires on one of my Fx400's, turns out it doesnt like the "straight" plugs, only the "right-angle" ones. Seems it may be too much weight pulling down on the plug.
This may/not be relevant to your situation.
I bought a right-angle adapter and no more issues.
(yes i did try all cables/plugs/configura​tions in each of my Fx's for process of elimination and proving)

TMR Design wrote in post #8230113
Wow, that's such a slight difference in weight or weight distribution. I'm surprised.

Yeah Robert, i was very surprised also. Hence the reason going through all the different configurations to prove that was the issue.

Not relevant to the OP though since the Quadra has a buildt in Skyport reciver.

fivegallon wrote in post #8230103
Just on the Skyport issue; i was suffering from misfires on one of my Fx400's, turns out it doesnt like the "straight" plugs, only the "right-angle" ones. Seems it may be too much weight pulling down on the plug.
This may/not be relevant to your situation.
I bought a right-angle adapter and no more issues.
(yes i did try all cables/plugs/configura​tions in each of my Fx's for process of elimination and proving)

Hence the qualifier...

Sounds to me like you got a leman. It happens. Get it exchanged ASAP and put it behind you.

First report i've heard of a dud after some pretty extensive research.

Please post back here and let us all know what the problem turns out to be.

fivegallon wrote in post #8230547
Hence the qualifier...

Yes i understood that, my post was more to inform you then to correct you.

Kindest

MR do little wrote in post #8230898
Yes i understood that, my post was more to inform you then to correct you.

Kindest

Cheers Paul, always happy to learn. I didnt mean to sound like i was biting back.

Interesting. So it seem so far that I have a dud but everyone else is happy with them. Not that there are many quadra owners that have chimed in... but so far that's the story.

I braved it and tried turning it on again. It seems to work fine now but that smell came out again after about 30 seconds. argh I am so frustrated. I would love to smash it on the concrete but then there's no chance of warranty replacement.

Drawing any conclusion other then you have a dud is absurd, there are plenty of Quadras out there and people have had them long before you got yours, i havent heard a single report of anything similar to what you experience. I talked to the Nordic agent yesterday and he havent had a single return on the Quadras.


So what does your dealer say ? I would get it replaced instead of trying to see if your dud unit will come to life again.

Bad luck, pick your self up and get it exchanged or your money back if you doubt you got a dud.

Mine works flawlessly BUT the LED is very warm. I've informed the German dealer of this, they sent my comparison shot (of mine and another owner's head that is much closer to daylight than mine) but have yet to hear back. All the other heads this dealer had were the similar yellow/green of mine. It's more a manufacturer defect than something "not working" as all the triggering and controls work fine, just the color tint of the LED that is off. I don't really use the modeling light for my photography, just as a preview, so the color isn't really important, though I do want it fixed eventually. I just have the patience to wait for a fix.

Anyone else tested the color temperature of their LED modeling light? Mine had to be set to 4500k to turn white.