Sea & Sea YS-D2 Strobe Problem

[CaptainJack28]

Problem

I have been using a pair of YS-D2 strobes for 7 months and have done about 90 dives with my set up. In this time, I have returned both strobes to have the flash tube replaced which suggests a serious problem with over heating. Here are the possible causes of overheating:

• Taking a rapid burst of photos. The dealer recommend I buy a TTL converter so that I never miss an important shot. This appears to be incompatible with the overheating problem so I definitely recommend not using a TTL converter with the YS-D2 strobe.
• Diving in warm water
• Using a high power setting. To reduce the power either use a higher aperture, ISO or faster shutter speed, which will affect your creativity underwater!

The first batch of YS-D2 strobes had a reputation for overheating. Either I have a pair from this batch, or the problem hasn’t been rectified?


Warranty

Be aware that Sea & Sea do not include the flash tube within the product warranty which suggests that this is a big problem with the YS-D2 strobe! The 1st time this happened, I had to complain strongly to my vendor to get the flash tube replaced under warranty. I’m waiting to see what happens the 2nd time but hopefully they will honour the warranty as its only 7 months since I purchased the strobes. The cost of replacing the flash tube out of warranty is over $200 so I’m inclined to buy a different brand of strobe should this happen rather than repair the YS-D2.


Recommendation

My recommendation is to avoid buying the YS-D2 strobe! Sea & Sea need to rectify the problem and include the flash tube within their warranty.

 

[Nivek Llekots]

I too have a problem with both my YS-D2 strobes! I bought these strobe as I had previously had the YS-D1 which served me faithfully for more than three years and hundreds of dives. However these new strobes have both failed me after only 15 months of ownership and about 200 dives! In one unit the "flash tube" has completely disintegrated into a pile of powder, and the other unit has a very dark burn mark on the inside of the front of the strobe and now emits hardly any light. These were brand new strobes bought from "Bluewater Photo" as I say only fifteen months ago, these are not "cheap" strobes and I am extremely annoyed with the quality of the devices.

To make matters worse I live and dive in Curacao, which due to shipping and customs makes returning the strobes for repair extremely costly and time consuming, not to mention the weeks that I will be without my gear.

I am currently talking to "Bluewater Photo" in the hope of having these strobes replaced, preferably, free of charge or at the very least repaired under warranty. As previously stated both these options will still cost me money, inconvenience and lost usage time however what can you do. I just wish manufacturers were a little more conservative with their designs, and did not try to squeeze "headline specifications" in this case power output levels, at the cost of reliability just to pick up extra sales, which is what I suspect they have done in this case!

Recommendation

My recommendation is the same as CaptainJack28s and that is to avoid buying the YS-D2 strobe! Sea & Sea need to rectify the problem and include the flash tube within their warranty!

I will keep you all posted on how I get on!!

 

[Cathy Church]

That is a very puzzling and worrisome post. We have been using these strobes hard for years and have never seen this problem.Yes, I have seen the normal number of failures we have seen with all strobes, but never the burned out look.
Regarding using the TTL -- that would allow the strobes to shut off with less than a full flash whenever you are close enough. That would reduce the heat production. Of course, slowing down between photos while you look at the LCD screen and planning your next photo would help, but you can't always want to wait. A sharp impact on any flash risks the flash tube. I wonder if they had a bad batch of some small component that shorts out. If that is the case they should own up to it. Otherwise, that sucks.

 

[fmerkel]

Ugly! My wife's flooded (not via the battery case). No abuse, good care, normal use. They made it good via Optical Ocean Sales.

 

[elanarchist]

I have a YS-D1 with a burst flash tube.. I'd like to fix myself, any idea on where to get a replacement flash tube?

 

[astralmind]

and here I was looking at upgrade from my YS01.. guess not.. thanks for the head's up!