Bad luck or low standards?

[Jesse Phillips]

So for the last half of 2015 I have been plagued by malfunctions. Tomorrow will make the third time I have to send back a power supply from Critical in less than a year as well as the second time ill have to send back a machine from Swashdrive. These companies have been great about standing behind their products, but for the love of the tattoo gods I wish they would own up to their shit. The emails I get from them read as if I am the only one to ever have problems!

[Vinoshitto]

Some people just have runs of bad luck sometimes. I think we all do. Latter part of -15 sucked ass for me as well.
Maybe it was that part of that year rather than something weird with you..?
Sooner or later that bad luck streak gotta come to an end right?

You should get one of those bench lab power supply. Costs about $60 (just a guess by me calculating the price for them here in Sweden)
They supply a steady current. They have banana contacts however so get a couple of high end connectors of those to go with. They are pretty bulky but really reliable!
I switched out the small potentiometer knob and switched it with a 40mm big one on mine to get better precision tuning.
Good as a back up PS. Not so good for travelling thouu

[nivek]

Tell them that - Critical sent me a updated power supply when I had an issue with my cx2 - they upgraded to the one with the pedal transmitter built right in.

I have had mine at least 5 years and they have yet to charge me anything more than shipping - not to many companies doing that.
I send back a pedal for repair - they fixed everything - new batter case cover - new underpad - essentially send back ad new pedal for the cost of shipping, all because a screw mount broke.

Lemons happen, when you are dealing with electronics they have tests and tolerances but sometimes they get through.

[OwlsDen]

It's a hard nut to crack with critical. I have the cx1-g2 one died and had to send it in for replacement. Now this one seems to get a little erratic with longer usage around an hour or more I can feel slight voltage shifts. I first assumed it was my RCA cable and tried a battery power supply ( steadiest type of power ) and can confirm that it is my critical acting strange. I don't know if it's the unit itself or the wall plug but I don't think they last very long anymore. Maybe a year or two.

I may just switch back to battery power.

[S_Trofatter]

So for the last half of 2015 I have been plagued by malfunctions. Tomorrow will make the third time I have to send back a power supply from Critical in less than a year as well as the second time ill have to send back a machine from Swashdrive. These companies have been great about standing behind their products, but for the love of the tattoo gods I wish they would own up to their shit. The emails I get from them read as if I am the only one to ever have problems!

if I were you, i would invest in a very good ups. it sounds like the power in your building is especially dirty. are you subject to many brownouts? is the building old? what you described really screams something in the overall power to your studio.

[Jesse Phillips]

if I were you, i would invest in a very good ups. it sounds like the power in your building is especially dirty. are you subject to many brownouts? is the building old? what you described really screams something in the overall power to your studio.

I suspect this too, the building is at the most 25 years old, but my space itself has been a few different businesses over the years and some of the wiring in there makes me scratch my head.
I tried my co-workers ups on battery mode and it didnt change the problem my Swash gen 8 was having.
Swash acts like they have never seen a machine do what mine is doing, but including the thread on here Ive heard of about 7 people having the same issue. They are replacing the machine with a Whip at my request, but after all is said and done because of shipping its going to be a 700$ whip. Wtf...
With Critical, the first return was due to something faulty in the supply that made it do weird shit at low voltages, the second time was because the inputs got so loose after 3 months use that the current was cutting out when I moved my clip cord to tattoo and the third time my cx-1 stopped working in the middle of a tattoo after only about 6 months of use.
They replaced it no quiestions asked a paid for return shipping.
And this is all fine and dandy, these guys are giving me the benefit of the doubt and replacing their faulty products, but this shit has disrupted my work flow and cost me many wasted hours of trouble shooting and emails.
Its really frustrating.

[nivek]

I have had the same critical since they send me it - couple of years now. Hassle free

[Jesse Phillips]

I have had the same critical since they send me it - couple of years now. Hassle free

Lucky you. I say that with a smile.

[Colby]

Who knows? I get weird stuff happening all the time...the motor shafts breaking off my motor bolts, etc, but I've had my original ancient CX-2 for so long I can't remember. It's outlived 2 Eikons and at least 4 run of the mill back-up power supplies...it's even had a mug of coffee dumped on it...and it just keeps on going.

[eduki]

It's a hard nut to crack with critical. I have the cx1-g2 one died and had to send it in for replacement. Now this one seems to get a little erratic with longer usage around an hour or more I can feel slight voltage shifts. I first assumed it was my RCA cable and tried a battery power supply ( steadiest type of power ) and can confirm that it is my critical acting strange. I don't know if it's the unit itself or the wall plug but I don't think they last very long anymore. Maybe a year or two.

I may just switch back to battery power.

Same problem here. I tried and tested everything to realize at the end that it was the fkn power supply, rcas, pedals, using a SAI... After hours of use, it starts dropping voltage... Time ago it was the cheapo power transformer...
Yes, the customer service is great but I'm starting hating it