HElp--Sea&Sea YS-D2 won't fire!!

Update: so I shoot in Manual mode, which with the RX100 and the S&S strobes is the first position on the strobes, the double/pre-flash position which lights up yellow. Turns out that's the only mode not working: both the next mode single flash green light and TTL mode (blue light) are working. So I will give TTL a try and see how that goes.

Argh, that's annoying!

Presumably if you use your other strobe (say, Strobe 2) with the cables etc that you are using for the defective strobe, the strobe 2 works fine?

First item to check are the cables, if possible switch to fiber optic cables. Also the batteries and contacts.

If they are OK,  and the problem persists, then allow me to guess, based on what I saw after taking apart a Sea&Sea YS-D1 strobe. The switch contacts are buried in several layers of plastic that make up the back of the strobe, and carry the power to an incredibly complex solid state board, one of several boards inside the strobe; the circuit includes a micro computer, to give you an idea.  The wiring that connects the boards is delicate, and soldered, not connected by plugs.  

What this says is that nothing inside the Sea&Sea strobes can be repaired, only replaced by the factory staff, should they feel like it, which they never do.  I asked two major US outlets if they repaired defective S&S or Inon strobes, their reply was to buy a new one.

Here my guess is the mode switch has a bad contact, maybe a tiny leak with corrosion, which keeps it from working in one particular mode. 
If I was in your fins, i would enjoy this strobe while it works, but prepare for its demise, ie, I would plan to buy a new strobe.  

The S&S strobes have an additional socket for triggering, so you can use your good straobe as the master on manual and put the other strobe in TTL and run a fibre optic cable between the two ports.  That should have the TTL -only strobe mimic what the other strobe does.  It's on page E-22 of the manual.

Wow thanks I will try that in the morning!!

Another issue/question: so it’s clear that the yellow setting contact or solinoid is bad because the strobe will fire in the other settings, both from the camera and slaved to the good strobe. The suggestion was to slave the bad strobe and put it in TTL mode. The bad strobe does fire in that setup. My question is, will the TTL be better once slaved to the god strobe than if fired from the camera port? I sure hope so because when triggered by the camera TTL is really a crap shoot. That is, presumably the bad strobe will take its settings from the good strobe, right?

I tried and it will fire in green single lightening bolt mode when slaved to the good strobe so I'm thinking I should do that rather than dumb TTL, right? After all, the good strobe doesn't have a pre-flash, does it?

Thanks again.

The second strobe should be set as Chris suggested here, following the Strobe manual pages 19-25, particularly pp 24 & 25. Set the second strobe at DS-TTL so it coordinates with the camera and first strobe.

If you have doubts, first set the camera to M, set the strobes according to Chris and the Manual, at DS-TTL, then aim each strobe directly at the camera and take their photos, which should be flashed out. This will confirm the strobes are firing in sync and full power. 

Good luck!

4 hours ago, Kraken de Mabini said:

The second strobe should be set as Chris suggested here, following the Strobe manual pages 19-25, particularly pp 24 & 25. Set the second strobe at DS-TTL so it coordinates with the camera and first strobe.

If you have doubts, first set the camera to M, set the strobes according to Chris and the Manual, at DS-TTL, then aim each strobe directly at the camera and take their photos, which should be flashed out. This will confirm the strobes are firing in sync and full power. 

Good luck!

Or shoot into a mirror to confirm both strobes are syncing.

The reason to place bad strobe into TTL is it will copy what the good strobe does.  Daisy chaining the strobes like this won't make any difference to TTL - that seems to be a bit hit and miss as it depends on how the camera interprets the scene as much as anything as the strobes are only copying what the onboard flash does. 

So FYI guys this worked perfectly: I set the bad strobe on green no preflash and it fired perfectly in sync with the good strobe. So good temporary solution but I will need to get another strobe while this one is being repaired. Makes sense it would work well this way since good strobe doesn’t preflash only camera does. In essence, this method just ensures that the strobes fire in sync—power levels still set manually. Thanks all!!

Well done! Excellent that you have a solution albeit temporary.

Enjoy Grand Turk. I dived there many years ago and thought it amazing.

Once the strobe is repaired, or could not be, please post the details:
Who repaired it, what was found, cost, does it now work well, etc.  If repair was not possible, please also tell us, as all repair information is valuable for others with strobe problems. Best of luck!