Quantum Turbo troubleshooting help

[windhorse]

Hello, I have happily used a Quantum Qflash T2 with Turbo battery all over the world for several years, replacing the battery cell twice with no problems. But now the battery is misbehaving and I am stumped, so any advice would be most welcome.

So far, after (too) long period of storage without use:
1) the battery was dead, no lights, no response when hooked up to flash
2) I replaced the dead battery cell with a new one
3) Now when I hook up the flash, turn battery on, all four green charge level lights come on, but no red high voltage light on battery panel, flash comes on works normal (about 2 secs) then beeps and indicates "check turbo"
4) turn off, wait 3 seconds, turn on again, same as (3)
4) charge overnight, both yellow power and pyramid (charge) lights constantly on, no flashing
5) same as (3)

My guess is the new battery cell works fine, but there is likely some other problem with the battery circuit board (indicated by the "check turbo" and red high voltage light on the battery panel not coming on when the flash is turned on).

One other relevant points:
When I removed the battery I noticed a small amount of corrosion on the circuit board that may have damaged the circuit board and explain why the battery fails to deliver high voltage to the flash? Hence the failure of the red high voltage light on the battery and the "check turbo" message on the flash? Or some other component on the circuit board may have given up the ghost?

If so, anything to do with repairing the circuit board is beyond my DIY capacity, so I either have to send this in to Quantum to repair (expensive and not easy as I am outside the USA) or (quite easy) find a secondhand Turbo battery and put into it the new cell I have already bought for mine.

But before taking this "drastic" step, I would like to do all I can to troubleshoot the problem, what would you do?

 

[koraks]

My guess is the new battery cell works fine

My guess is it doesn't and that your new battery won't supply enough current to charge the flash cap, resulting in the HV failure issue. Another possible failure mode might be the HV capacitor itself, also going by what you describe w.r.t. the alleged corrosion issue.

When I removed the battery I noticed a small amount of corrosion on the circuit board

Please post a photo. The questions are (1) what caused this apparent corrosion, if that's what it is and (2) which components may be affected.

what would you do?

Start by tracking down the specs of the replacement battery you've installed, and perhaps try another one. Especially if you're putting an old stock battery in there, it's quite possible that it's defective. If it's a new, 3rd party battery, it's possible it simply doesn't really meet the requirements (which may be the case even if the official specs of the battery suggest it should be OK).
In parallel I'd look at the PCB anomaly you noticed to get a feeling for whether it's actually part of the problem, or just a fluke or even a false positive.

 

[windhorse]

 

[koraks]

Oh, I see. That's a royal mess. This is mainly moisture damage, so the unit was apparently stored in high humidity and/or it suffered water damage at some point. It's also literally all over the place, so definitely not a localized problem.

Sorry, I'd consider that a loss unless you want to try rebuild it. You might be able to clean it out and replace some of the heavily affected components, and this might actually help. But this would be hobby project taking many hours of painstaking disassembly, testing individual components and sourcing replacements, and then building it back up while verifying correct operation. Without specific electronics knowledge as well as experience/awareness of high voltage circuits (there's obviously some danger involved), I wouldn't even start. As it is, it's to be expected to malfunction and/or develop additional failures on top of what you're already seeing.

The realistic way forward is to look for a replacement of your flash unit.

 

[windhorse]

Thanks for your reply!

As far as I can tell the new Power Sonic Ps-832 battery that I just bought on amazon and installed is recommended and used by quite a few others as a replacement cell for the Quantum Turbo, so that ought to be ok? It gives a strong fully charged signal on my little battery tester.

I also just disconnected and reconnected the cell to be sure that there was no problem with the connection of the battery cell to the turbo.

Do I understand right that the red high volatge inidcator lamp on the battery should come on almost immediately and stay on when the flash is turned on?

Also, ought not the yellow pyramid charging level indicator on the battery flash when charging or go off after some hours rather than just staying on when the battery is being charged?

 

[windhorse]

Oh, I see. That's a royal mess. This is mainly moisture damage, so the unit was apparently stored in high humidity and/or it suffered water damage at some point. It's also literally all over the place, so definitely not a localized problem.

Sorry, I'd consider that a loss unless you want to try rebuild it. You might be able to clean it out and replace some of the heavily affected components, and this might actually help. But this would be hobby project taking many hours of painstaking disassembly, testing individual components and sourcing replacements, and then building it back up while verifying correct operation. Without specific electronics knowledge as well as experience/awareness of high voltage circuits (there's obviously some danger involved), I wouldn't even start. As it is, it's to be expected to malfunction and/or develop additional failures on top of what you're already seeing.

The realistic way forward is to look for a replacement of your flash unit.

Good to know! You are right this old turbo battery has travelled quite a bit. Thanks to your advice I can go ahead and replace it without being in doubt that it is the right solution.

 

[koraks]

Do I understand right that the red high volatge inidcator lamp on the battery should come on almost immediately and stay on when the flash is turned on?

I'd expect so based on my experience with flash units in general, but IDK about this particular one.
Same with the battery charge indicator - I'd expect it to turn off once the battery is fully charged, although it depends on the particular implementation of the charge circuit (it may continue trickle charging as many old-fashioned chargers used to do). The user manual should be a good place to start looking.

Again, given the degree of corrosion in there, I'm not surprised there's some kind of malfunction.

 

[Chan Tran]

I don't think the battery is the problem. I think the inverter circuit to generate the high voltage from the battery is bad. I believe the Quantum Turbo supplies high voltage to the flash directly and bypassing the inverter circuit in the flash.

 

[windhorse]

Thanks, good to know. I will get another preloved Turbo and hope that solves the problem.

Looks like Lumedyne also has a battery that works with the Qflash t2, but that's the only option apart from the Quantum Turbo, 2x or Z.

The T2 is a big monster and so is the Turbo compared to other old ducks like the Nikon SB900, but hard to beat in terms of reliability durability and even diffusion of splendid light, right.