Strobes intermittently firing

Hey Guys,

So i have an canon 5d mkiii in Ikelite housing with 2x inon z240's and ikelite electrical sync cable.

Up until recently everything was working fine but on the last couple of outings i have assembled the equipment done a couple test shots and everything works. I get in the water and then strobes stop firing.

Now it's strange but if i shake the housing up and down or turn it upside down then the strobes will work again for one or two shots or until i turn it the right way up.

Back on dry land sometimes it will continue to intermittently function so while this has been happening i have tested my standard speedlight unit directly on camera and it fires everytime. I have tried firing the strobes manually using a paper clip on the ikelite hot shoe connection and again they seem to fire everytime...

I have cleaned the hotshoe on camera and ikelite housing connection.

Strobes were bought brand new 3 months ago and they both stop firing at the same time so i doubt it's an issue with them.

I would have said the sync cable or something in the housing electronics but to me there is no completely obvious conclusion?

If any of you out there could shed any light on the issue it would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Grant

Hey Grant

Hmmm, it does sound like sync cables to me - or some sort of corrosion on the pins. Do you have 2 sync cables and can try and isolate the issue?

Grant,

Where did you purchase your strobes?? I have had the exact same issue with the same strobes, bought brand new off ebay this year, also used with electrical sea&sea sync cords, and I also shoot with the canon 5D MKIII. I ended up purchasing a new dual sea&sea cord and switched the strobes between bulkheads with the same effect, and also did the same test with the paper clip, and everything turned out fine until they were put in the water....would fire once or twice and then stop altogether, (red light would turn off). I would have to turn them on and off repeatedly and then they might fire again once. One strobe was replaced by the seller with a supposedly new strobe, which is also now having the same issues, and the other is in Japan right now being serviced. Before I purchased these strobes, I had my housing serviced, which was given an A+++ rating for cleanliness, so I can't imagine it's a bulkhead issue. Also took all of my gear to Reef Photo and they said everything was spick & span. This issue has cost me almost a year of shooting. I am now wondering if this may be related to using sea&sea cables with a Inon strobe, OR if there is a bad batch of Inon strobes going around.

ALSO, I really don't like doing this, but after having now 3 strobes from the same seller all defunct, I have no choice but to warn people of this seller: nydivershop on ebay. Claims he is selling brand new never used, straight from Inon strobes. They look clean but I am having the same issue as you, is this where they were purchased from?

Sorry for the looooong rant

-Katy

FYI - Inon strobes are designed to use S&S cables. I have found S&S cables to be reliable. It sounds like your strobes were not able to charge up the capacitors. The light comes on when they are charged. This could be due to a weak battery. Are your batteries OK? The circuitry responsible could be bad as well. I would do your tests with fully charged Eneloops. If you suspect the sync cable - test one strobe at a time with a singleton sync cable. Keep things as simple as possible to do a process of elimination.

Thanks for the helpful responses guys!

Katy - The long rant is much welcomed I purchased the Strobes from our shop supplier in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but i don't think it's an issue with them as the red lights are all ok and they re-charge quickly between flashes.

I think i have narrowed the issue down to the sync cable indeed. I tried squeezing the cable at different points in different ways while firing the strobes and sure enough they began mis-firing. I have ordered a new cable that should arrive next week so here's hoping! I will keep you all informed with how it goes.

Thanks again!

Fingers crossed Grant. I always think those intermittent faults are either cable, gunk on the pins or improper positioning of the camera in the housing. And this doesn't sound like the later.

So new cable tried and tested, so far so good! Fired every time in water and out. Only been used once but im confident that this was probably the issue. Thanks again everyone for your helpful comments and advice!