[Ravenspurn]

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Hi guys,


I would like to share the experience I had when buying a 3 flash off camera set from ebay.
There is absolutely nothing wrong the flash units themselves, in fact the Yongnuo YN 560 IV is possibly one of the best manual flashes I have used in a while, and the 560 TX is fantastic (just make certain to get the Nikon model TX for Pentax cameras)
What I am referring to if the "NiMH" batteries that come with some of the units, these are dodgy to say the least, and dangerous at worst which could cause serious injury / property damage.


The batteries were indicated as 2600 mAh LR6 batteries, they were branded TangsFire, and each flash unit came with a set of 8, it was an extra $8 on top of the price without batts, so thought these would be of reasonable quality (I did not expect eneloop pro).
OK, the flashes arrive together with the 560 TX, great setup, works fine, charged 8 of the batteries, NiMH mode indicates "wrong type" on four of the batteries.
OK time to pull out the aging brick that is my Uniross NiCad charger, I was thinking, okay, NiCad batteries are good enough for the time being, it's just a stopgap until i can get another 24 eneloops... two of the four batteries got really hot REALLY quickly, started producing an acrid smell, started producing smoke and the charger shut down indicating a thermal runaway.


Those that were NiMH batteries (of the 24 that arrived, 16 were NiMH) held nothing like 2600 mAh, more like 600 mAh, pretty much junk.


I contacted the seller, advised the issue and they immediately refunded me for the batteries, explained that they buy the batteries in buk and they cannot test every battery, they apologised for the inconvenience.
Got a pleasant surprise when 1 week later another 560 IV flash unit arrived together with a set of rogue gels express air freight together with a letter of apology.
Great service from the store, cannot fault the sevice, nor the hardware, the flash units and transmitter are fantastic just really disappointed in the batteries.


Moral of the story is to buy the batteries separate.


Cheers


Leon

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Last edited by Ravenspurn; 01-14-2016 at 07:29 AM. Reason: bad spelling.

[wissink]

Or be willing to take the risk with a reputable dealer and get a free 560 IV. I'm glad nothing bad happened!

[Ravenspurn]

Thanks wissink,
I wholeheartedly agree, I usually stay away from Chinese batteries, but at $1 each, I was thinking it would be like the 1900 mAh GP batteries I purchased a couple of years ago.
They are Chinese, and have served me well for a number of charges.

I have had the YN 560 III in the past, and it was (and still is) fantastic, I would have gone through a store here, but nobody seems to sell the Yongnuo 560 retail in Sweden.
They have the YN 465 (Canikon), the YN 565 EX (Canikon), YN 467 (Canikon),, and the YN 468 (Canikon) I feel like there is a trend forming here


Anyway, the only option was to go out of Scandinavia.


Cheers


Leon

[awaldram]

I think its an issue of the technology

I had a uniross battery get really hot hot after charging

It was sat on my 'brand new' dresser and got hot enough to leave a brown burn in the wood.

Uni-ross replaced the charger-batteries and re-reimbursed me for the dresser.

Though a suspect the chance of getting problem cells is greater from no-name knock offs than mainstream manufacturers its not exclusive.

I now use intelligent single cell chargers rather than the dual cell fast chargers like uniross supply in their 4packs and have had no issues since.

[Ravenspurn]

Hi awaldam,

I personally use a Powerex C808M
it's a single cell smart charger, though it does not have a battery analysis function.
I found that occasionally it would display "wrong type" if the battery was completely drained.

I found that where this machine cannot charge a battery, the Uniross will.
It is a reverse pulse charger, so it should not have actually done this. (but it's quite old).

Cheers

Leon

[bigdavephoto]

Hi guys,


I would like to share the experience I had when buying a 3 flash off camera set from ebay.
There is absolutely nothing wrong the flash units themselves, in fact the Yongnuo YN 560 IV is possibly one of the best manual flashes I have used in a while, and the 560 TX is fantastic (just make certain to get the Nikon model TX for Pentax cameras)
What I am referring to if the "NiMH" batteries that come with some of the units, these are dodgy to say the least, and dangerous at worst which could cause serious injury / property damage.


The batteries were indicated as 2600 mAh LR6 batteries, they were branded TangsFire, and each flash unit came with a set of 8, it was an extra $8 on top of the price without batts, so thought these would be of reasonable quality (I did not expect eneloop pro).
OK, the flashes arrive together with the 560 TX, great setup, works fine, charged 8 of the batteries, NiMH mode indicates "wrong type" on four of the batteries.
OK time to pull out the aging brick that is my Uniross NiCad charger, I was thinking, okay, NiCad batteries are good enough for the time being, it's just a stopgap until i can get another 24 eneloops... two of the four batteries got really hot REALLY quickly, started producing an acrid smell, started producing smoke and the charger shut down indicating a thermal runaway.


Those that were NiMH batteries (of the 24 that arrived, 16 were NiMH) held nothing like 2600 mAh, more like 600 mAh, pretty much junk.


I contacted the seller, advised the issue and they immediately refunded me for the batteries, explained that they buy the batteries in buk and they cannot test every battery, they apologised for the inconvenience.
Got a pleasant surprise when 1 week later another 560 IV flash unit arrived together with a set of rogue gels express air freight together with a letter of apology.
Great service from the store, cannot fault the sevice, nor the hardware, the flash units and transmitter are fantastic just really disappointed in the batteries.


Moral of the story is to buy the batteries separate.


Cheers


Leon

Sounds like you got ahold of a seller that try's to do the right thing and make sure the customer is taken care of. Because of this, maybe you should put the seller's name out here so others might consider buying from him in the future.

[Ravenspurn]

Hi,

The seller is 44grandsun (Accessories, Speedlite Kits items in 44grandsun store on eBay!)

Cheers

Leon