Ikelite Ds 161 stopped working

Dear Wetpixel memebers,

I got a problem with my Ikelite DS161 yesterday.

For your information: I am using a Nikon D7000 in an Aquatica D7000 housing. I have two Nikonos connectors on my housing. Batteries of the Strobe are fully charged.

I was diving yesterday and did some nice Close-Ups. Everything was working fine. Suddenly all pictures turned out black because the flash was not released.

I have checked for some leakage, but no water in the housing. I tried aswell using the other port on the housing, but no luck.

Would be glad for any hint.

Thanks

Joerg

First guess would be a bad sych cord/connector. Did you try a spare?

Steve

First guess would be a bad sych cord/connector. Did you try a spare?

 

Steve

Thanks. I have to get one tomorrow. Today was holiday in Austria.

Are the cables very sensitive. Used it only a couple of times.

Cheers

Joerg

Dear all,

I am a little bit desperate already :-(.

Just for info I am using an Aquatica AD700 housing, as Flash I use Ikelite DS161; cabel: IKELITE Sync Cord Ikelite/Nikonos IK4104.3

I have changed as suggested be Steve already the cable, but I have still the problem that after app. 10 minutes my flash is not firing anymore.

I can hear that the flash is still loading after I take a picture, but not flash was released.

Last weekend after I had the problem I took my gear home, left it assembled. I tried couple of hours later without luck.

Maybe this will give someone a hint what could be the problem: I removed the akku-Pack from the flash and put it back and it worked again.

I have already tried with a new flash and it was the same. Should I change the electronic in the housing?

Hope someone can help me.

Thanks for your effort.

Warm regards,

Joerg

Joerg,

You should be able to eliminate the strobe - by shorting two of the pins you can cause the strobe to fire (check the manual for which two).

Then you have to work backwards, the cables can fail but they are not very fragile. A pin to pin continuity check should be enough to look for an open circuit.

After that it's the housing electronics or the camera.

When you say 'you can hear the flash is still loading, I guess you mean you can hear it charging.

If it works at first, and then slows down and takes longer and longer to be ready, perhaps the batteries really are not charged.

Try charging again..

I wonder if your charger matches the batteries? Are these nimh akkus? Is the charger for nimh?

Hi Don,

I was thinking the same. So I tried already what you suggested. I have charged it full. All three light are lightning when I check the status and the ready light is also on during normal operation.

Yes it is a NiMh Akku and I am using the original charger. I will check today what BigJeff suggested. The straneg thing was that it started working again last time when I removed the battery and put it back.

Thx

Joerg