DS125 Beeping

I have two DS125 strobes and four Nimh battery packs all purchased within the last month.

When the battery packs are connected to the strobes, I hear a beep sound. This beep occurs every ten seconds. The strobes are not even connected to my ikelite housing and this beeping sound occurs. This is not the normal beep/wind-up sound associated with first turning on the strobes. I understand the capacitor wind up sound normally associated with strobes.

I swapped out battery packs, the same thing occurs with each strobe no matter which battery is attached. Regardless of setting (TTL, Full, 1/4, etc.), the beep happens. The only time it doesn't beep is when it is in the test setting. This beep occurs whether the strobes are attached to the camera/sync cord or not. They are not attached now and they continue to beep as I sit here. Leads me to believe it is a strobe only problem.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

BTW, I've just e-mail ikelite as well.

Figures this happens on a Friday afternoon

If you have experienced this, please let me know what you're corrective action was.

Thanks in advance

ed

I am having exactly the same problem with two DS125s that I recently purchased used (serial #s in the 9000s and 13000s). I am using a Canon G9 in Ikelite housing. I e-mailed Ikelite as well a few days ago so we'll see what they respond to us.

cheers

Ben

My 125's do it as well. I have always assumed that it was the capacitors being pulse charged in order to keep full charge.

I have noticed other non-Ike(old pentax and nikon) strobes that do this as well.

Jim

Hey guys, I think you've discovered the undocumented feature they left out of the manual. It's the all important "It's time to go diving" alarm.

Steve

Hey guys, I think you've dicovered the undocumented feature they left out of the manual. It's the all important "It's time to go diving" alarm.

Steve

I never knew that!

Some of my DS-125s do the same thing, a faint beep about every ten seconds. I've not had any problems with them on many, many dives.

Mine beep too. I imagine they are softly saying, "National Geographic...National Geographic..."

OK, so I'm not the first to notice this.

One question though..How come they didn't do this from day one?

I had about 4 or 6 dives on then before the beep started. I think they are gonna go back to Ikelite, I didn't spend that kind of money for a strobe that beeps all the time. My S&S YS-110s never beeped. Kinda piss poor IMO. This may be acceptable to some but not me. The strobes were completely silent for the first few weeks of diving and that is how they should be.

Hopefully Ikelite will have an answer for me Monday.

Thanks for the replies..I think

ed

My guess (with emphasis on guess) is that it has something to do with the electronics necessary to charge the capacitor. As you know, the DS-125s are capable of fully recharging from a full dump in under one second. That's really fast and not easy to do electronically. I believe the capacitors become leaky over time - what we are hearing is the faint beep as the strobe keeps the capacitor fully charged and ready to go for the next flash. Annoying, but not an indication that anything is wrong.

Great strobes, even with a little noise once in a while.

Mine do that all the time. I just figured it was normal. I've not had any issues with them.

If it's the capacitors, I wonder why some strobes become "leaky" or beep from day one whereas others never make a peep? I've talked to longtime DS125 users who have never noted a beeping.

Does anyone know if other Ike strobes have this beeping, e.g. those with a longer recycle time?

cheers

Ben

From Ikelite:

"The beeping is normal. That is the dc-dc converter topping off the

charge on the flash capacitor."

From Ikelite:

 

"The beeping is normal. That is the dc-dc converter topping off the

charge on the flash capacitor."

I'd never actually noticed the beeping until I read this thread a week or so ago. I listened for it when diving in Krabi last week and there it was...funny how I'd never noticed it before.

With twin DS-125s I'm gonna turn them on almost simultaneously and see is if I can get a funky syncopation thing going to keep me entertained when hauling a camera rig thru 1 metre vis gunk (which I managed to hit upon at Koh See)

Good luck with that, maybe you can put it on i-tunes!