I'm new to the whole underwater photography scene. I have a D70 in an Ikelite iTTL housing and two SS200s. I'm trying to get the whole package to work. From what I've read I should be able to use the SS200s in manual mode without any trouble, but I can't get either of them to fire with the camera. SS#1 fires continuously as fast as it can cycle. SS#2 doesn't fire at all. I'm using a #4103.51 digital sync cable to connect the strobe to the housing. I've tried all differenc settings and haven't had any luck with any of them. What should my camera settings be? Is there anyone out there using this setup? What should I try to make this work? Keep in mind that these are my first strobes.
Hi Rob, I use two SS200s with my D2x and they work fine. You should set the iTTL converter in the housing to manual mode, have the strobes in one of the manual settings (full, 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8), and cover the monitor pin in the hotshoe, as explained in the second link that Ike provided above.
Let us know if it works.
Luiz
Ok, I covered the contact in the hotshoe according to the image on the website. The serial number on SS#1 is 5865, so it looks like it should already have the update. When I connect it to the housing it starts to fire continuosly, with or without the hotshoe connected. I don't seem to be able to do anything with the TTL converter; none of the LEDs illuminate and there doesn't seem to be any response when I press the buttons. I thought that might be normal when using a non-digital strobe since it says in the instructions that it is automatically disabled but it sounds like I might be mistaken. Should there be some status lights on?
SS#2 won't test fire when I short the terminals, so I guess I'll have to send it in for repair.
Thanks for your help.
Strobe firing continuously is an indication of a short circuit between the fire and ground pin. Short circuit is usually due to a faulty sync cord.
Cheers
James
I just checked the (brand new) cord with a multimeter and there doesn't seem to be any indication of a short circuit in the cord itself. It only starts to fire continuously when I connect the cable to the housing. Could there be a problem with the TTL converter?
After testing this some more I got the following results. When I connect the sync cord to the strobe and short the contacts per the Ikelite website, it fires and blinks the ready light. When I connect the strobe to the housing it's not firing continuously anymore; it just fires twice and stops. Is this normal? When I short the fire or quench terminal on the hotshoe it doesn't respond. Still no lights on the TTL converter.
Does anybody have any suggestions? Should I contact Ikelite directly to resolve this?
Rob
You should get some more feedback from Ikelite representatives who frequent this forum, but from what you describe I think you may have a faulty iTTL converter. Make sure you set the SS200 to manual (full, 1/2, 1/4, etc.) and not TTL when connected to the housing.
Luiz
The SS200 is not a digital strobe so the iTTL converter must be set to manual, and even then, I'm not sure it will work. Ike will need to answer.
The strobe should not be in TTL, it should be in full, half, etc.
Cheers
James
The strobe is set to manual, but I'm not getting anything from the TTL converter so I can't seem to set that to manual.
How about connecting the camera to the hotshoe without the flash, changing the iTTL controller to manual and connecting the flash only after that?
Still nothing on the iTTL controller. Shouldn't it light up when it's plugged into the camera?
I checked the voltages on the camera hotshoe. 5V on the quench pin, nothing on the fire or ready pins. Is that correct?
The iTTL conversion circuitry is powered by the digital strobe, but you don't have a digital strobe attached so how can it do anything? This circuitry works exactly like a Nikon camera. It senses a non digital strobe and only allows manual sync.
Ike, thanks for your reply. So there shouldn't be anything on the iTTL converter and I don't need to set it to manual? Shouldn't I be able to trigger the strobe by shorting the contacts on the hotshoe like it says on http://ikelite.com/faq/faq_syncwiring.html?
There is nothing for you to set on the iTTL converter. The strobe should certainly fire when you short center to ground on the hotshoe connector. I sent private message to you about calling one of our knowledgeable types to get this thing working.
We do have a dilemma using older non-digital SubStrobes with the conversion circuitry. Need a special sync cord or we need to do a special "conversion" to the conversion circuitry. Cheapest and fastest to send us the housing back and we can reconfigure the circuitry for the older nondigital SubStrobe use. Will update web site information to reflect this situation.
Ok, I will send it in. Thanks again for your help. Excellent customer service all around.
Mark it to my attention to avoid confusing the knowledgeable people who do receiving............
