how to fix my YS-D1

[Hike]

[h=2]How to fix my Sea & Sea YS-D1 Strobe?[/h]

I have a new YS-D1 and after using it one time to try it out, I went to try it out a few days later and it had no power. As I just put in batteries a few days before and only done one 40 minute dive, that I only snapped maybe 20 photos, I thought this was odd. I opened the battery compartment and it was completely corroded inside. I am not sure if it flooded or not (but I really dont think so, as I didnt see any water inside and the oring was fine when I closed it and it appeared ok when I opened it also, I also dunked the strobe underwater before diving to make sure there were no leaks. Anyhow, I have basically considered this to be a battery exploded inside. I know the Sea and Sea strobes have a completely isolated battery compartment, so even if it was a flood, I should still be able to salvage this strobe?
The real problem comes now, as one of the connectors is broken off do to heavy corrosion from the battery acid, I want to send it to Sea & Sea to fix, but I live in China and sending it out of the country and getting it back is very difficult. I contacted Blue Water Photo (where I bought the strobe) but there is not really much Scott can do for me unless I ship the strobe to him anyhow, i have asked him to help contact Sea & Sea to see if I can get this fixed in china or hong kong and am waiting a follow up.
I contacted Sea & Sea directly via their website three days ago and have hear nothing back. I also contacted their distributors in China and Hong Kong and got no reply.
Is this a real minor job that I can just have a regular electronics repair shop work on? I would prefer to have it serviced professionally, but want my strobe up and running over all else.

Please help.

I just managed to get somebody from the Chinese distributor on the phone. He told me basically they were new with Seaand Sea, but for about $50, I could send it them and they could forward onto Japan, where they would assess it. Right now, this sounds as the best option, but I am still waiting to hear back from Sea and Sea and their hong kong distributor.​

Last edited by Hike; Yesterday at 12:57 AM.​

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[SEA&SEA]

Hi Hike-
Unfortunately for warranty the strobe needs to be returned to the original dealer/distributor for evaluation and/or repair/replacement. In your case, it would need to be sent back to the US. Of course, this is not an ideal situation. Please email SEA&SEA Japan at intl-sales@ss-sp.com directly and hopefully they can offer a solution. We will also forward them this thread to review.

 

[Hike]

Hi Hike-
Unfortunately for warranty the strobe needs to be returned to the original dealer/distributor for evaluation and/or repair/replacement. In your case, it would need to be sent back to the US. Of course, this is not an ideal situation. Please email SEA&SEA Japan at intl-sales@ss-sp.com directly and hopefully they can offer a solution. We will also forward them this thread to review.

Thanks for the information. I actually got in touch with the china distributor and they are shipping to Japan for me. I figured they would be able to deal with shipping it in and out of china

 

[Hike]

Thanks for the information. I actually got in touch with the china distributor and they are shipping to Japan for me. I figured they would be able to deal with shipping it in and out of china

This drama seems to drag on and on. I just heard from the Chinese distributor for Sea & Sea (the only one I could get to communicate with me) that the strobe is absolutely useless now and cannot be repaired, with no further explanation. I was under the impression that the battery compartment was isolated from the rest of the strobe, so it should not really be a problem? Am I wrong with that? As I know there are always scams in China to get a few bucks off people, I immediately asked for the email communication from Japan to prove that it could not be fixed and they told me they could give the email to me this afternoon. If they already had this information, why would it take several hours to give it to me. I wish I could get somebody from Sea and Sea to actually respond to my emails, so I could check with them. I was very excited to use this strobe, and understand there will be problems in the manufacturing process, but I think A company is only as good as the way the handle these cases. To ignore it is just disrespectful, you can be assured, if I have to use my money to buy a new strobe, it will not be from Sea & Sea, as I know if I have a problem, there will be no customer service to help me solve the problem. I have contacted international sales again, hopefully they respond this time

 

[deeper thoughts]

I flooded my ys1 strobe. I sent it to backscatter and they repaired it for around 100 and something bucks(if I remember correctly). They took much longer than they promised but did a good job.

 

[Hike]

I bought my strobe through Scott at Bluewater Photo and while he has been helpful as always, and I really take advantage of the after sales questions, but as I am in China right now, it is difficult for him to help me as he has to deal with the Sea & Sea USA people. I am just outraged that Sea & Sea feels they have no need to reply to me after several emails to several different email addresses at several different times. A good product is great to have, but worthless if the after sales service is non existent. If nothing is done, I will never purchase anything from Sea & Sea ever again.

 

[Hike]

The more questions I ask the Chinese distributor the more my B.S. radar is up. I really dont think the strobe was ever even sent to Japan, as they are telling me that they cant get any reasons why the strobe can not be fixed as Japan is on holiday. As the japanese holiday is ending now, how would they have ever found out the strobe didnt work, everybody was on holiday, so your BS excuse proves you wrong.
Also, how come they can not give me any kind of communication from japan telling them that the strobe is unrepairable? They must have an order # or something, but they keep telling me they have to wait for the office to open to give me a test report. I would assume that they already received this when they were told my strobe was unrepairable.
Sea & Sea continues to be of no use, the only contact I had form them was here where they told me to email international sales, but of course no reply, I have since learned that Sea & Sea does not and will not communicate directly with the consumer, only distributors, so why would they give me a email address that they know will not answer me.
The china distributor at best provides a level of service that is just unacceptable, more likely they are just a thief that took my strobe without sending it to Japan and probably repaired it and are trying to resell (they were quite surprised when I told them I wanted the broken strobe back), or maybe they are smaller scale and just wanted the $50 they charged me to ship it to Japan.
Either way, they are unacceptable, as Sea & Sea is the one that refers their customers to them, obviously they did not even bother to see if it was a reputable company.
Anybody have any recommendations for a strobe that is NOT made by Sea & Sea as I consider their products worthless. My strobe flooded after one dive (and not just the battery compartment according to the Sea & Sea authorized retailer and Sea & Sea head office) and it seems to be a common issue as nobody is surprised by it.