Need advice - possible strobe or cord issue?

Hello All-

On the last 2 dives this weekend, my strobes would not fire. Everything was working fine up until now. Last use was in December, then a long hiatus thanks to an awful winter, and now back in the water shooting.

I am not sure where the issue lies... I suspect the cord, but here's what I did to test and what happens:

- 2 x Ikelite DS161 strobes with dual sync cord 4104.32 for Nikons non-TTL bulkhead

- AD7000 camera/housing

- Strobes power up fine, no low fuel indicator light

- Strobes fire on the surface

- Strobes can be shorted to trigger firing through the cord and directly to the strobe

Underwater:

- Strobes won't fire

- When I change power setting (off/on), or switch to "on" or "on w/ lite" from the other setting, strobes will fire once

- Turning off/on sometimes triggers strobe to fire

I visually inspected the connections, no signs of water.

Of note, the water was cold, 35-38F

I plan to get some feedback from Ikelite, but while I am waiting to get in touch, does anyone have any thoughts on what might be the issue? I'm not diving again for a week and I'd like to fix it before getting in the water again.

Thanks!

Heather

Hi Heather

Argh. How annoying!

When things work on the surface but won't underwater I always suspect the positioning of the camera in the housing: a camera button(s) is slightly misaligned and getting pushed unexpectedly. This can then cause weird results.

Hope you can isolate the problem quickly - it must be seriously frustrating.

Heather,

check the settings of you TTL controller or circuit board (if you have one inside your housing) and that the dip switches are set right.

To exclude the possibility of a problem with the cable, borrow another one to check if the problem persist.
As the strobe fires sometimes when you turn the on/off wheel i fear that there is a problem with the electronics inside the strobe.

TimG pointed out that the problem ma be a misaligned camera or a weak spring allowing a button to be pressed in while by ambient pressure under water.
You may try the camera closed inside the housing on air or in a bucket or bathtub to see if the problem persist.

Chris

P.S. You may contact Vizart here, he is the super kind Aquatica support guy and super knowledgeable regarding their housings and how to connect 3rd party strobes.

The ikelite strobes sometimes fire when switching between positions, at least my ds51s do that every now and then. My guess is it might be the cord, getting a spare is highly recommended. another thing might be switching the strobes around. I don't know if it is the same with a non to cord, but the function of the noted banded end is the primary strobe. If there's something wrong with that one both strobes will be at fault.

Thanks everyone for the information. I did speak with Ikelite today and they were very helpful. I had definitely done everything with the shorting tests to rule out the strobes. I cleaned all the connectors, including the hot shoe just for good measure. On the bench everything was working fine. Then I submerged the housing and strobes into water and the strobes wouldn't fire. I do have a spare cord, so I put that on and repeated the test submerged in water - strobes fired.

It seems the issue is with the cord.

Hopefully that's it.

Thanks

Heather

Phew! Fingers crossed......

Enjoy your diving, Heather

A few years ago i used Ikelite Strobes and cords. They had an inherent defect and sooner than later the cords at the ends would have issues affecting firing of strobes. After a while they started supplying cords with rubber protectors at the ends. This did help but the problem would sometimes recur. I finally started using this at the ends of the cords and post that had no issues at all.

http://www.amazon.com/X-Treme-Tape-TPE-X36ZLB-Silicone-Triangular/dp/B00HWROLIG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1429604208&sr=8-3&keywords=silicone+tape

Hope this helps and glad your problem was resolved.

Diggy

Thanks - so you pulled back the strain relief rubber protector and taped on the wire up to the fitting (see pic)? I may do this as well on my new cord. This cord that failed is about 14 months old, and although it has seen a lot of use, it is an expensive cord to be tossing in the garbage. Maybe my expectations on how long stuff should last are too high.

A few years ago i used Ikelite Strobes and cords. They had an inherent defect and sooner than later the cords at the ends would have issues affecting firing of strobes. After a while they started supplying cords with rubber protectors at the ends. This did help but the problem would sometimes recur. I finally started using this at the ends of the cords and post that had no issues at all.

 

http://www.amazon.com/X-Treme-Tape-TPE-X36ZLB-Silicone-Triangular/dp/B00HWROLIG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1429604208&sr=8-3&keywords=silicone+tape

 

Hope this helps and glad your problem was resolved.

 

Diggy

Thanks - so you pulled back the strain relief rubber protector and taped on the wire up to the fitting (see pic)? I may do this as well on my new cord. This cord that failed is about 14 months old, and although it has seen a lot of use, it is an expensive cord to be tossing in the garbage. Maybe my expectations on how long stuff should last are too high.

 

 

 

 

Yes that's how i did it. Never had issues after ...