Heinrichs Weinkamp ETTL II Converter woes

My new HW converter went nuts today. First dive it worked well 80% then quit firing. I recharged it and tried it again on the 2nd dive, 10% then died. Now it won't fire at all.

LED flashes like it's ready but will not trigger the flash. Used the magnet and LED goes full green but won't trigger. Tried it with the Inon, S&S and Hartenberger (even Herr Hartenberger tried a hand and failed to get it to work). Going manual with direct housing to flash, the strobe fired. Have checked the hotshoe connections etc. All ok.

I've had only 8 dives with this thing and it's coinked out. Anyone had this experience and any idea if I'm doing something wrong or do I have to send it back to Germany?

what camera and housing?

Tested on Seacam 1DsMkII and 1DsMkIII housings. Same issue. Looks like the unit is bust.

I used to use Heinrichs converter on my old rig, battery shorted out and fried the unit, it was replaced by them under warranty. the replacement worked for a while then died, I replaced it with the sea and sea unit so far no problems

The battery is still charging. Have emailed Matthias for suggestions. Will report.

I recently got an external one for my Seacam 1DsMkII rig, and am yet to get it working properly in the water. It appears to me that the battery holds a charge for a very limited time. I've taken it on two dive outings - both times charging it up a week or two in advance. Both times, it began firing the strobes (Inon Z-240's) randomly as soon as I turned everything on at the beginning of the dive, and didn't come close to proper exposures when it did fire on shots - dives were a bust. The only time it seemed to work properly was on topside test shots right after being charged.

I blamed my problems on my having not charged the unit immediately (or within 24hrs) before diving, but from your experience, it sounds like the problems may be more ongoing...although still related to the battery not holding a charge.

I'd love to be able to shoot TTL for macro stuff, especially in cold water where changing settings with dry gloves is a pain, but I'm thus far less than thrilled with this solution.

Bruce

The battery should keep the charge for a long time but mine passed out after 3 weeks. Li Mn batteries are better than that.

I knew the HW converter had issues but it was blamed on a bad batch. Apparently the new batch is part of that batch.

The S&S version also has its share of failures.

Canon eTTL solution seems to have SEACAM written all over it. If the SeaFlash 150 and 250 have eTTL and rear curtain as Steve says, then it'd be the only one with both in one strobe built-in.

TTL is for wussies anyhow.

Hi, all I'm new to UW photo.

I'd like to know whether Subal housing need a converter to work with the Inon Z240 to get the eTTL? If it does, which one is more reliable & accurate?

Can I just use the manual control and skip the eTTL?

Thanks for advice.

Carl

Carl, Subal requires the HW or Sea&Sea Converters to have eTTL. You can also buy the Seacam Seaflash which has eTTL support built-in. Obviously with my unit, it doesn't work very well although the few dives I got in, it was working ok. Reliability is the issue.

Manual is of course possible but for some subjects where one shot is all you get, TTL does have the advantage, unless you know your setup very well.

Carl, Subal requires the HW or Sea&Sea Converters to have eTTL. You can also buy the Seacam Seaflash which has eTTL support built-in. Obviously with my unit, it doesn't work very well although the few dives I got in, it was working ok. Reliability is the issue.

Manual is of course possible but for some subjects where one shot is all you get, TTL does have the advantage, unless you know your setup very well.

Hi Drew,

Thanks for your advice.

Having read thro' the forum for the past few days, I decide not to include eTTL converter for my new 5DM2 housing as it seems not too reliable and not cheap. I also worry about the handling of the PCB fitting into the camera flash shoe. Anyway, I'll try to see whether I can manage with the manual control.

Carl

My initial tests showed that the converter was not able to trigger the strobe even though all LED lights were flashing correctly. Just before I was about to send the the unit back, I thought I'd do another test and boom, it was working again.

There was no explanation for this sudden revival as I'd tested it with 2 different camera systems and 3 different cameras. Even Matthias and Chris said send it back (Firmware upgrades are all done only in-house at HW).

So what changed? A few days before, I'd reset the 1DsMkII completely since I had difficulty with the AF Assist activation with a 580EX. When I connected this camera to the Seacam housing and the HW, it fired! I promptly tested with the 1D2N and 1DsMkIII and suddenly they all worked.

The eTTL functions as planned. Canon eTTL is funkier to work with but it works. As to what caused the change, I'd put it down to crossed wires with gremlins and I forgot to sacrifice that lamb/human/chicken.

I may still send it back to get the firmware updated and the plastic tube replaced later. but for now, it works... again.

Issues with the HW are

1. firmware can only be updated in Germany.

2. My unit works intermittently.

3. I now keep a small pack of silica gel inside the tube. The o-rings tend to collect water and if you remove it to clean, the moisture is inside the tube and will stay there.

4. Fragility. Removing the unit from the tube makes me nervous from cracking the plastic tube, plus you need to replace due to use. If there is an alloy replacement, I'd recommend that if you are all thumbs like me.

5. No rear curtain.