Help - my Subal housing is playing up

Hi

I have a Canon 5D in a Subal Housing. Lights are 580ex in subal housing + cabled Inon 240z. I was away on holidays, system all setup and working fine for a few dives - then the 580 would not fire. I had not pulled the system apart, merely changed batteries and cards. Seems that if the Inon is turned on, the 580 won't work. If the Inon is turned off, the 580 works prefectly. I used the Inon as a cordless slave for the rest of trip and both lights were fine.

I have spares of everything and replaced each item, one at a time, ie, changed Inon heads, changed the lead, same with the 580 and then that lead too. Even tried a second 5D. Nothing made any difference.

Figure its a short of somekind. Handy husband has done a resistance test across all the terminals and all seem to be OK. We have checked for water/crap on any terminals/leads etc. All appear clean.

Even without a camera in the housing, and trying to fire the 580 via the test button, the same thing happens.

I've talked to the aussie importers/servicers of Subal housing and they are as baffled as me.

Can anyone please give me some ideas? Where do I go next?

many thanks

Carol

Assuming you have both strobes hooked up on separate cords, it's simple... the 580 housing uses all 6 pins for eTTL... the Z240 can only fire manually and uses 2 pins (fire and ground). You need to switch the strobe bulkhead on the Z240 side to manual and leave the 580 side to all pins. I THINK that would work. I usually use TTL or manual but not a mix.

Slave on STTL in the Z240 is probably the best way to go, maybe a FO cord to ensure firing.

Did it used to work and now doesn't? If that is the case then try disconnecting and connecting the ribbon cable inside the housing.

I'm not sure if you can have the S6 as TTL and the N5 as manual all at the same time. Don't you just get 3 or 5 pins connected depending on which ribbon cable plug you use.

James

Thanks - yes, it used to work, has been for nearly 3 years, around 250 dives, Never had a problem. Then on a dive recently, it just stopped. It worked fine the day before, worked fine on the day of the dive when test fired before leaving home.

I do have the strobe bulkhead for the Inon on manual - using the little plate that comes with the strobe. The 580 uses 6 pins, the Inon uses 3.

I get ETTL on the 580, the Inon is a manual fill.

I'd prefer not to use the Inon as a slave - and why should I? It's been cabled, and has worked fine in the past.

Hubby spent hours yesterday rechecking everything and the problem still persists, although there's still a few more things to check, including the connections in the strobe housing.

thanks

Carol

Good News! It's working perfectly!

Hubby finished the testing etc. Put everything back together this morning, and both lights work as they should. He didn't find anything wrong anywhere, so we are assuming that perhaps one of the tiny connections had worked loose, or that there was a minute speck of dust or something causing the problem.

James - he did disconnect the ribbon cable, in fact everything was pulled apart and checked bit by bit. He even dismantled the hotshoe connector and checked inside. It's very handy to have a husband with mechanical/electrical background!

I'm now considering an OC as an additional backup in case this should happen again!

Thanks to James and Drew for your advice - I do appreciate your help

cheers

Carol

You may want to have him check the ribbon connectors. Occasionally they fray from being cramped. The disassembly may have just reconnected it temporarily. I had this issue with my housing. It may repeat itself when you don't want it to.

Thanks Drew - will pass on your advice to the "better half".

cheers

Carol