My Ikelite 100A stopped working?

The light is on, but the strobe does not fire. I tried another one with the same sync cord/camera and it works fine. So it is the strobe that's broken.

I really hate the idea of sending it to Ike. I had hard time talking to customs guys last time. I ended up paying customs for it and what's even more annoying it took several weeks to get it out of their greedy hands.

So, is there anything I could try myself?

Same thing happened to me recently with a SS200. The local distributor couldn't help, so it had to be sent back. Apparently that's the normal procedure for Ikelite products. On the up side, the turn around time was under 3 weeks for my strobe, including shipping and getting it back.

The problem is I bought it second hand and local distributor refused to help.

Just screw the thing open and look for yourself if there are some loose connectors or switches.

The on/off switch and the M-TTL switch is not too good. I had the same problem in Indonesia and I could "repair" the switches with some kitewire.

The light is on, but the strobe does not fire. I tried another one with the same sync cord/camera and it works fine. So it is the strobe that's broken.

 

I really hate the idea of sending it to Ike. I had hard time talking to customs guys last time. I ended up paying customs for it and what's even more annoying it took several weeks to get it out of their greedy hands.

 

So, is there anything I could try myself?

I would be inclined to have a look inside - these strobes aren't too complicated. I had similar problems with my MV recently which was due to one of the (now ageing) wires simply snapping off at the solder joint due to vibration whilst travelling. The toughest thing is working out how to get inside!

Or you can send it directly to Ikelite, explain the situation and I am sure they won't charge you too much to fix it.

Be shure to contact Ikelite and explain the problem, I had 3 of thoses (now down to only 1) strobes, and know for a fact that they do not repair thoses anymore.

if your ready light is on and blink ever so little when you trigger it possibly is flash failure.

if your ready light is on and no sign or fluctuation appear when you trigger, then that might be the trigger coil. BTW those big black tube with contact at the end (Capacitor) contain 600 + volts, so please don't touch then or stick your tongue on them, If you do you will remember the moment for a long long time

There is a rubber band around the black front part, under it are some screws this is the way in, but better yet, bring it to a place that do repair on studio flashes, they are more qualified than camera repair shop for this kind of repair (I am a former camera repair technician). they should be able to fix it, I reccomend this first because if you don't know what your looking for you will most likely cause more damage than good and second any technician that receive equipment in which he or she suspect the owner as tryied to fix will most likely reject doing the work since he/she as no idea what or what was not by you, (in short a technical nightmare )

I have a friend who might have an address in Poland for you to begin searching for a cure, I will get back to you on that one.

Good luck