Pocket Wizard Warning

[PhotoJoe]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this....but here goes.

I have a PW Plus Transmitter and two receivers. I have fried on receiver and now the transmitter simply by leaving them on when putting them away. The battery goes to zero eventually and that fries the board. I called Mamiya and as soon as I said "I left them on and the batteries went dead, " , the tech finished my sentence with "and it fried the board". His was a statement, not a question, so the definitely know of this being a problem. It's a great system, and I'm dying without it until it's repaired, but I wanted to warn those other PW users. Just make sure you turn them off!!!!

[JDArt]

Yipes! Bad news. Are these newer pocket wizards?

[Mr. Pickles]

Dang. Hope they explain how a dead battery has enough power to fry the unit.

[PhotoJoe]

Yah, it seems odd to me too, but it's happened twice now. I'd seriously think I was loosing it except for the fact the tech knew what I was saying before I finished desciribing it. The transmitter was bought new in Oct 04 and the receiver Jan 05. Is that newer? Just an FYI. Hopefully I can save someone else from this dreaded frustration.

[mikej]

I've left mine on before and didn't have any problems... other than a battery needing replacement. I'll bet you they had a bad batch that over heated when left on for extended periods of time and that is what causes the failure. With as many people that have and use Pocket Wizards, this is the first time I've heard something like this.

Mike

[PhotoJoe]

Well, it's good to hear that I'm the only one who has had this experience here. And I didn't start this thread to slam on Mamiya/PW. It's a wicked-cool product that I'm really going nuts without. Figured if it reminded everyone to turn it off, MAYBE would save someone from this minor headache. That's it. No conspiracy theory.

[mikej]

Joe, I didn't think you did start the tread to bash PW. And it is good to know in case it is something that could happen in others. Although I do think that there was probably a quality issue or some other technical reason that yours did have that happen. And the guy could have known about it because they got several in from the same batch that did the same thing. I sure hope it was only a fluke with a few of them. I plan on buying a couple of more.

Mike