Is my Inon S2000 faulty?

I get inconsistent performance from my new s2000.

Did just 2 dives with it and it started to act funny on the second one.

I tried the following back in my hotel room:

Olympus e-m5 M mode 1/250 f 5.6 TTL rear sync.

Strobe connected with (homemade) fibre optic cable.

Strobe switches set to: sTTL, B

The strobe fires every time but I either get a perfect flash exposure or no flash visible in the photos (as if it fired out of sync).

I dont have the manual with me and cannot find one online...

Is it broken or am I missing something?

It might be the strobe or the cable. As your cable is home made, you can try firing the strobe without the cable.

Set the strobe to Manual, you might want to read the stuff below first.

Check the batteries for power. Now, remove the fiber optic cable.

Aim the camera's flash at the light sensor on the bottom of the strobe and fire the camera, if the strobe flashes with every camera shot, the problem is the cable. (If you fire the strobe in the air, keep the number of flashes few and spaced out, be careful not to overheat it.)

You can test the cable in the dark by aiming one tip of it at a light, cup the other tip in your hand, you should see a bright point of light.

Test the cable for defects. If you had used boiling water to coil the cable, its fiber optic core may be damaged. You might want to just make another cable and test it.

Here is some published S2000 stuff:

https://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/advice-settings-for-s95-with-inon-s2000.379378/

www.uwphotographyguide.com/inon-s2000

I note you're using rear curtain sync, this might be your problem, generally you require specialized circuitry in the manufacturer's own strobes to get this to work reliably, turn off rear curtain and try it again. Do you have the magnet in or out?

Thanks.

After some more testing I am sure it is not the cable.

Now I noticed that in addition to correctly lit shots and the ones without visible strobe light I occasionally get a blown out shot.

Also, this happens in series: I get several good shots, then something breaks and a series of bad ones continues fir several shots, than it fixes itself for another series of good ones and so on.

I’ll try to disable the rear sync. I used to use D2000 with this camera before. It worked just fine with rear sync, but maybe s2000 is not as smart as the bigger brother.

Switched to fill-in and started to get my hopes high as I got a long sequence of good exposures.

Unfortunately things went sour again. It must be something else...

re magnet - I didn’t install it.

About the Inon S2000 its compact en easy to travel with but i also have strange behaviour from this strobe. i have a Sony RX 100 with the magnet in and sometimes i have good exposures and then some photos are not correctly exposed.

So i am also clueless why does this happen.

Is here a simple way to test if a strobe works correctly?

As the S2000 is compact and has less air in it than a larger strobe, it may heat up sooner after multiple shots than a larger strobe, making it malfunction.

To prevent overheating, the strobe may be tested at home by firing it in a tub of water.

Another possibility is that one or more batteries become weak during shooting, you might consider measuring their digital voltage before and after a shooting session. Or doing a fast change to fresh batteries the moment strobe problems occur.

eBay has a low priced digital battery tester, I have one and it works fine:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Universal-Button-Cell-Battery-Power-Volt-Tester-Checker-for-AA-AAA-C-D-9V/112503076910?hash=item1a31b4b82e:g:0kkAAOSwhIFZfs~A

Inconsistent shooting can also have to do with your fibre optic cables not working properly ]

As you mention a homemade cable am pretty sure you dont have enough cores and therefore is going erratic

Go off and try with a proper cable before blaming the strobe

Cable: It is not the cable. I get exactly the same behavior when I test it out of housing and without cable - just direct line of sight between camera flash and light sensor on the strobe.

Overheating: I dont think it is a problem because sometimes it works incorrectly from the very first shot and then several shots later it starts to work correctly.

Batteries: Ill try with a new set of batteries, but the strobe seems to recharge just fine.

I also use two Inon cables and have eneloop batteries so no problems there. I had a Nikon 105 flash and never had any problems after that a Sea&Sea 110 also no problems then i bought a

Inon Z240 never got it right and now a Inon S2000. Its seems me and Inon a unhappy marriage.

My INON D2000 worked flowlessly with the same camera. I only have the problem with s2000.

I also use two Inon cables and have eneloop batteries so no problems there. I had a Nikon 105 flash and never had any problems after that a Sea&Sea 110 also no problems then i bought a

Inon Z240 never got it right and now a Inon S2000. Its seems me and Inon a unhappy marriage.

Inon are the most reliable strobe with any flash system. Typically the problem assuming your cables are fine is the camera settings. If I recall Olympus have a few flash mode options

Notes from Inon site

(*C) S-TTL Auto mode is not usable when built-in / bundled flash mode is set to [slave][Manual][Manual Flash][Flash Adjust Manual] .

(*L) Set camera [RC Mode] to OFF when using INON strobe. INON strobe does not support Olympus RC flash mode.

(*N) When shooting with [Manual mode] or [External Auto mode] (D-2000/Z-240), deactivate Advanced Cancel Circuit Switch (Z-330/D-200/Z-240: push and lock the switch, D-2000/S-2000: insert the magnet) and set camera's built-in / bundled flash to Manual mode.

I think once you apply the notes you will find that you are fine as it is statistically very unlikely you have z240 and s2000 both with problems so most likely user issue

Problem solved!

It was the batteries. I had two sets of enloops. I keep them separate, but somehow I switched two batteries between sets.

They came from different production batches (different shade of plastic around the top connector), so I could spot the mistake.

Once I sorted the sets correctly the problem is gone.

Thank you everybody for your hints.

Thanks to you for keeping us up to date with your progress, and thanks to the other Wetpixelers who contributed their thoughts and experience. To me this was an instructive problem solving cooperation.

Next time a strobe misfires, I will check the batteries, including their digital voltage, as all four should be the same make and model, and have an almost equal working voltage, if not, one or more batteries need to be replaced.