ND2/D2X/YS90DX problems

Hi all, as most of you will know, the ND2 housing has some issues with the strobe connector. To avoid these, you need to remove all pins except for the trigger pin. So far so good. I did that, and our second ND2 housing even came like that from backscatter.

But, ive now got 5(!) YS90DX strobes that are fried somehow. I had 2 repaired by Mike from underwatercamerarepair and he said the main board was damaged. He couldnt tell me why/how. At that time, I blamed the fact that I still had all 4 pins connected (I never had problems, so why fix them) and removed the other 3 pins. I tested all my remaining strobes at that time and except for the 2 broken ones all were fine.

The problem is a bit hard to detect. You may not even notice it for a long time. Once every so many shots it doesnt fire. It can easily be mistaken for it not being charged, or some strobe positioning problem and be overlooked. During testing of the 2 broken ones, I also noticed that sometimes it will do a full dump even though they are set to -7. Mike verified these problems and repaired the strobes.

I just came from the Solomon Islands, and somewhere in the middle of the trip I noticed I was getting too many weird lighting issues. It turned out both strobes I used were faulty. I also have 2 spare strobes, and 1 of those turned out to be broken also (I went to PNG in between and most likely used this strobe there). Again, same issue. The strobes wont fire once in a while, about once every 5th shot. It's not an issue of the strobe not being ready, the ready light is on, and I wait an extra 10 seconds after that.

Theoretically it could be possible that these strobes were somehow damaged before, and the problem didnt manifest itself yet. But maybe there is some other problem that is damaging my strobes. Sofar it only seems to be my housing, not my wife's, although that is not 100% sure.

Does anyone have any theories on what may be happening here?

Things I can think of:

- they were damaged before, and only now displayed the problem.

- its a battery issue. Im using 2500s, although so is my wife and her strobes are fine.

- its a problem with the wiring/electronics in my housing (or camera?).

Regards,

Cor

Just a thought, in the housing there are 2 locations that connect the strobes to the small board that is inside, are you using the right ones? you can only use 2 with the SB TTL strobes, all others must use the other 2. Hope this makes sence.

Hi Kriptap, im using the correct connectors. I use the 2 3-pin connectors, not the 5-pin connectors for the SB-TTL.

Cor

Cor, nothing to add other than to say I've used my YS90DX strobe often with my ND2 housing over the last year plus with no issues. I've made no modifications to the hotshoe pins. Just used it as it came from the factory.

Rand

Cor ,

I have had a number ( 5 also ) of YS90DX's unexplainably fail. I thought it unusual for what had been such a reliable strobe - sent them to the local agent for assessment and repair. They for some reason shipped them to Japan.

3 months later all returned working - no charge - no explanation.

Hi Peter, what were the symptoms you were seeing? Anything similar? You're using a D2x/ND2? Ive been wondering if the YS90DX cant take 2500+ batteries, although it seems like Julie's housing is fine with 2500s. I have had a response from someone else that they also had a few YS90DXs fail recently. Weird.

Unfortunately i am being billed for repairs, so this is getting costly. Any word on the YS110 yet?

Cor

Cor,

Will have some better info in a few days .... I cant wait to finally get my hands on the suckers.

With the YS90DX - They say the repairs were no charge because of the protracted time invovled in getting them back to us.

I can't really put a definitive cause - certainly 3-4 had been in fairly constant contact with my D2X/ND2 and as is well known that I am pretty hard on gear , that said never had any issues except suddenly they just stopped working.

Maybe a indicator of pending failure was a irregular " no images in this folder" after shutter activation, or a "is not a compable file" message and thenworking again until failure.

2500mah batterieys could be the common denominator as they are pretty common in this day and age.

Still i do not know for sure what went wrong other than something sure did.

Switched to a combination of ds125's x2 , YS350's x 2 Inon Z220 x 2 and the latest addition is a new INON Z22 ring flash and port for the subal - should be good. ALSO GOT A COUPLE OF SNOOTS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE for the inons that should be interesting.

Peter

Peter, where did you get the snoots for the Inons? I have been wanting to get some.

Thanks..

Peter, where did you get the snoots for the Inons?  I have been wanting to get some.

 

Thanks..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ditto!

+1 for snoots

I made the snoot out a PVC floor waste & grate that I found in the hardware store for $5.95.

Simply inverted the waste , drilled a 1/8 hole in the flange , fixed with a 3mm bolt , secured the grate with an o-ring .

In all it took about 5 minutes work and 5 minutes walking around the hardware store with a strobe in hand trying things out for size.

I will probably paint the inside a non reflective flat black - any suggestions here ?

There is some paint around that you can use to colour UPVC window frames that will just about stick to most things.

Matt black might be a tall order but gloss black and hit it with a fine wet and dry or wire wool may be worth a go.

Concrete floor paint seems to attach to most things - we use it in bilges of boats and on the deck, seems to cover most things - oil, bird do do, small pebbles......

You may want to try a sample first ( or at $5.95 a go you may not ) - pop around to a mates house and have a go under his kitchen sink - don't do your own sink, the missus is seldom amused.

Paul C