Broke 2 yn460's in a week . . . help?

Had the modded yn462 working great on the job today. All of a sudden it stopped working. It wasn't triggering with my skyports, it fired 1, maybe 2 more times with the pilot button, then it didn't work again after that.

I have had this thing inside out working on it and there are no visible defects to it. Capacitors not distended, no bad connections. I have tried several different sets of batteries. Now both my YN flashes have broken in a week, the only consistent factor between the two was the mini-mod (both which worked for a short time then quit) and then the batteries I am using: Energizer 2500mah.

Anyone have any vague guess as to whats going on here? I have 4 more 460 ii's I'm going to be using in a week and can't afford to keep blowing them up.

same exact problem as here: http://www.flickr.com …iscuss/72157624​025640303/

I cannot help you with why the flashes are quitting on you, but I would pickup a couple of these hotshoe adapters with the cord and mini-plug attached and save your self the work of converting flashes. With these it does not matter what flash you have. Slide it in this shoe, plug the connector into your triggers and start taking pictures.
http://www.flashzebra.​com/products/0126/inde​x.shtml

My 467's just crapped out on me after popping them off for 8 hours. I opened it up(just for fun) and didnt really see anything that would indicitate that they were broken. They just stopped. Sounds like almost the same scenario as you almost.

Yup, the flickr group I listed above has a ton of problems and a ton of solutions, none of which worked for me.

I'm certain it wasn't the mod. I know about the adapters, and have 4 of them, but the costs add up very quickly, its $3 for 3 mono inputs at radio shack. Going to wait until these finish dieing out on me and start buying up sunpaks or vivitars for extra lights.

dedsen wrote in post #11375233
I cannot help you with why the flashes are quitting on you, but I would pickup a couple of these hotshoe adapters with the cord and mini-plug attached and save your self the work of converting flashes. With these it does not matter what flash you have. Slide it in this shoe, plug the connector into your triggers and start taking pictures.
http://www.flashzebra.​com/products/0126/inde​x.shtml

Yes, I second that suggestion. So, if the flash does break, you can send it off to the maker or seller and have it fixed under warranty (assuming there is such a thing with the units you bought).

If you broke two of those flashes (and it wasn't your fault) and other people have reported the same problem, then I would think twice about getting any more of those flash units, at least until they've figured out what's causing those flashes to break and have fixed it if it was a design flaw.

I would say if you did a self-mod and it is now dying, that's a pretty good indicator.

The mod in question is pretty straightforward. I will admit that the build quality on the YN's isn't exactly the most sturdy, but I've not had any problem with mine. I just think that they use the least expensive parts to make some of the least expensive flashes out there. You take your chances with a flash that isn't built like a 580EXII, but it doesn't cost like one either.

the biggest drawback here and reason to not mod myself I guess would be so that I can return it. That didn't occur to me 100%. And I did take a big risk, I guess I just probably asked too much of them. Used the two for 100-200 pops in a 1-2 hour period out in the cold and the elements.

css7493 wrote in post #11378217
the biggest drawback here and reason to not mod myself I guess would be so that I can return it. That didn't occur to me 100%. And I did take a big risk, I guess I just probably asked too much of them. Used the two for 100-200 pops in a 1-2 hour period out in the cold and the elements.

yes, and if you read other threads here repeatedly firing a flash over a short period of time is not good for the flash

Sounds like you need to upgrade to some form of mobile monolight or perhaps a q flash.

watt100 wrote in post #11378270
yes, and if you read other threads here repeatedly firing a flash over a short period of time is not good for the flash

Yup! Canon and Metz both have cautions about thermally abusing flash units in their owner manuals. So many 580EX owners burned out their flashes and got ticked for their stupidity, that Canon designed the 580EXII to have a thermal protection circuit to FORCE users to slow down after a period of rapid usage!

I had one stop working on me, took it apart and the wire that hooks to the flash bulb un-soldered itself from to much heat / use. Found the problem and soldered it back up, still working.

I really want to get some nice monolights, but I limit myself to spend what I make off of photography. I wanted a 7 light setup to work on a project for a client, and this was the best I could do for so many lights without having to wait a year or two to afford such a massive setup. Not forgetting I have to slowly upgrade everything, not just lights.

You might look into renting as well if you're not needing the big light setup that often.