Is this a fault on my camera

[Steve Paterson]

Thanks for your replies so far.  I bought the camera from a member of the Facebook group 'Secondhand Astronomy Equipment UK - For sale /Swaps / Wanted' who, as I mentioned before, has washed his hands of the problem saying it's easily fixed online and no refund offered.  I'm checking with my bank now to see if they can do anything.  I've also contacted the group admin to ban him from the group for selling a faulty item without providing a refund.  I've since seen some online videos about cleaning the sensor including one where it was sent to 365Astronomy for repair.  I might end up doing this and have to pay for the repair whilst reminding myself never to pay for anything like this again using bank transfer.  Lived and learnt!

Update - the bank can't do anything as it's a bank transfer.  Note to self - Paypal in future.

Thanks all once again.

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Steve Paterson

[ollypenrice]

1 hour ago, Adam J said:

I could be wrong olly but I think there is a forum rule on naming and shaming?

Adam

I wasn't thinking of naming and shaming on SGL, just of what is required by GDPR legislation. We don't know whether the vendor is on here or not. If he is, I rather hope he will choose to remove himself.

Olly

[Steve Paterson]

23 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I wasn't thinking of naming and shaming on SGL, just of what is required by GDPR legislation. We don't know whether the vendor is on here or not. If he is, I rather hope he will choose to remove himself.

Olly

Hi Olly, is there a way I can check if he's in this group, like a member search function?  Apologies if it's obvious and I've missed it - been a long day!

Update - found the Members section and found a New Member profile having the same name.  I don't know if it's the same person though as there are very few details on the account.  I have however sent the member a message asking if it's the same person.

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Steve Paterson

[Steve]

8 minutes ago, Steve Paterson said:

Hi Olly, is there a way I can check if he's in this group, like a member search function?  Apologies if it's obvious and I've missed it - been a long day!

There is not. Even if you were to find a username the same that does not necessarily mean it is the same person. 

1 hour ago, Steve Paterson said:

I bought the camera from a member of the Facebook group 'Secondhand Astronomy Equipment UK - For sale /Swaps / Wanted' who, as I mentioned before, has washed his hands of the problem saying it's easily fixed online and no refund offered. 

It is best you discuss this with the Facebook group.

I can imagine how frustrating this is for you but please do not use SGL for naming / shaming someone on Facebook. 

[Steve Paterson]

1 minute ago, Steve said:

There is not. Even if you were to find a username the same that does not necessarily mean it is the same person. 

It is best you discuss this with the Facebook group.

I can imagine how frustrating this is for you but please do not use SGL for naming / shaming someone who posts on Facebook. 

I quite understand and have no intention of naming and shaming on this group.  My posting here was simply to understand the problem with the camera and seek feedback on how I can instigate a repair.

Best regards,

Steve

[newbie alert]

A friend is a moderator on that site, you can pm his details and I see if anything can be done.. can't understand why people would not want to help out a fellow astrophotographer when the fault is known and won't cost him a single penny to replace or cleaned..

This is what zwo have said

 

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/news/oil-leak-issue-on-asi2600mc-pro-and-other-cameras.html

[Adam J]

38 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

A friend is a moderator on that site, you can pm his details and I see if anything can be done.. can't understand why people would not want to help out a fellow astrophotographer when the fault is known and won't cost him a single penny to replace or cleaned..

This is what zwo have said

 

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/news/oil-leak-issue-on-asi2600mc-pro-and-other-cameras.html

Yes terrible behaviour. No skin off his back to sort it on ops behalf even if he refuses the refund. 

[tomato]

On a positive note, the issue has been identified by ZWO and can be rectified but I appreciate that’s no consolation for you if you end up having to foot the bill for the repair.
May I ask did the  seller post a photo of the sensor as part of the advert? If so I presume it looks pristine or else you wouldn’t have purchased it? However, I can’t see that amount of liquid ingress occurring in just a few days, but maybe camera owners who have experienced this problem could comment on how long it takes to reach the degree of ingress shown on your photo?

TS in Germany have repaired cameras with this fault but I have no idea what they would charge for the repair.  It involves a dismantle, clean and reassemble, the sensor is not replaced.

[MarsG76]

Thats disgusting behaviour... what a some dishonest people are doing is, after this oil leak issue has been shown to have been very common, they're palming off the oil leak problem onto unsuspecting buyers and getting the QHY268 series that doesn't seem to have the oil leak problem. They knock off a few hundred dollars from a new price and just go and get a new QHY which happens to be a few hundred dollars cheaper. 

Looks like cleaning it is your only option... if you're handy with small/jewelers screw drivers than it doesn't look like a difficult job... Look up "Windy City Astronomy" on YouTube, he goes through cleaning this kind of oil leak on one of his videos.

Problem is that this oil leak has returned for a number of astroimagers who had it cleaned or cleaned it them selves, so it might return, that said, I'm sure that there is a limit to how many times it will return.

[woldsman]

Bad luck. If it’s any consolation, people have been stung at times, myself included. Great majority of the Astro community are decent but not all. The biggest hassle is having to get a problem sorted - more £££ and more time. Spent the last few weeks doing just this. 

[Xsubmariner]

What I find unpalatable is that a manufacturing fault repair should be limited to the first purchaser. If the fault is determined to be the consequence of a manufacturing defect the manufacturer should honour their equipment and repair the defect. Where would we be if all car recalls were limited to the original owner of the car.

[Steve Paterson]

Good news everyone!  I saw a video on Youtube where someone had the same oil leak problem with his ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro and returned it to 365astronomy for repair.   So, I contacted Zoltan who later replied to say he contacted the seller and found out where he purchased it from and when.  He thinks he will be able to repair it for free or at least clean it and then see.

So, the outcome is looking positive.  Thanks to everyone for your replies and for keeping me on the straight and narrow.  We have a great community spirit here.

Take care all and don't ever forget to look up 🤩

Steve

[gorann]

This has so far happened to two out of my three ASI2600MC. Both were bought from TS about a year earlier and they fixed them for free. I had them back within a week. TS have a clean room and I cannot see any dust on the sensor. Importantly, TS also removes the oil behind the sensor so it should not happen again. My first ASI2600MC was bought from FLO a year earlier than the other ones and it has not developed the oil issue, so it seems to be a batch problem.

[Adam J]

1 hour ago, gorann said:

This has so far happened to two out of my three ASI2600MC. Both were bought from TS about a year earlier and they fixed them for free. I had them back within a week. TS have a clean room and I cannot see any dust on the sensor. Importantly, TS also removes the oil behind the sensor so it should not happen again. My first ASI2600MC was bought from FLO a year earlier than the other ones and it has not developed the oil issue, so it seems to be a batch problem.

I think that the current crop have moved to a different thermal pad. So hopefully its fixed going forward. 

[FLO]

50 minutes ago, Adam J said:

I think that the current crop have moved to a different thermal pad. So hopefully its fixed going forward. 

You are right, they changed to a different thermal pad back in October 2021 so cameras sold from November 2021 onwards are not affected. (Most sold prior to that date are also not affected). 

HTH, 

Steve 

[david_taurus83]

Tip of the hat there to Zoltan.

Still, shameful behaviour from the seller. Not cheap, even second hand.