I’m shooting a canon 7D in an ikelite housing with this sea&sea YS-110 connected with a sync cord and set to TTL
I've owned this strobe for over 15 years and it’s always worked. Today while switching a camera setting (requiring a removal from the housing) from 1st curtain to 2nd curtain. I left the strobe on (first mistake). I removed the camera, made the change and when I was inserting the camera back into the housing (I think) I bumped the shutter button and it fired the strobe (hot shoe was already attached). I had the neoprene port cover on and it seemed like the flash was a lot brighter than normal. Now the strobe is dead. Thought the batteries may have been drained, but after a full recharge it’s still dead. No reset that I can see. Any help or thoughts are appreciated. Is there still an option to have these serviced? Or is it too old?
thank you!
Dead in what way? Totally dead? i.e no lights ever?
Or dead, it lights up, but does not fire? Or some other variation of dead? Does the focus light work? Can you hear the caps charging up when you turn it on (if it will not fire you may have to wait many days to test this again?).
This is likely way too old to be repaired for a sane amount. But it could become a parts donor for someone else?
They are simple to take apart (3 peel offs over 3 screws). Before that I suggest carefully examining the body looking for a small pin hole sized black scorch mark somewhere on the body barrel. I have one like that...
It’s totally dead, no power when turned on, no focus light, nada! I’ll try pulling it apart once I get home from this dive trip. Sounds like I managed to fry it somehow. Thank you for the reply.
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Let us know what you find out. I have one that "burnt" one of its semiconductors which left a small scorch mark visible from the outside of the body. I had to look closely to see the small scorch mark from the outside. Much more burnt bits inside. I am passively waiting for a donor unit to fall in my lap so that I can have a full pair.
Meanwhile I mostly shoot a pair of YS-120 or YS-90 on manual...
Will do. No burn spots externally but will see once it’s opened up.
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12 minutes ago, Titanite said:
Will do. No burn spots externally but will see once it’s opened up.
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Be careful - a fully charged capacitor in a strobe is dangerous and packs quite a punch, just because it's dead doesn't mean the capacitor is discharged. You really should know how the discharge a cap safely before you attempt to open.
Got the strobe opened up and this is the only damage I can see (small slightly brown discolouration) which is right below the yellow transformer ……I thought the yellow transformer would have shown signs of melt down as I have no power, but it looks ok (obviously could still have failed). If anyone has any ideas, I am all ears. Thank you!
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I have opened several non-working strobes, looking for a way to fix them, and found that the circuits are so complex as to be undiagnosable, and unfixable. Just recently, one of my Inon strobes half way flashed, then quit working, no damage to be seen in the circuits, maybe the main capacitor or the xenon tube failed.
I have looked for a repair person or shop to fix a defective strobe, but have been unable to find one.
Moral of the story: It may be underwater strobes cannot be repaired.
Fair comment! Thank you.
You could try Pacific Housing repair in California, they are listed as repiar agents on S&S website. Probably worth at least a phone call to see what's possible.
14 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:
You could try Pacific Housing repair in California, they are listed as repiar agents on S&S website. Probably worth at least a phone call to see what's possible.
thank you
On 4/19/2023 at 10:17 PM, Titanite said:
Will do. No burn spots externally but will see once it’s opened up.
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My unit has a small visible burn mark on the outer body. Inside it looks like one of those "3 legged transistors" has fried itslef.
My unit has a small visible burn mark on the outer body. Inside it looks like one of those "3 legged transistors" has fried itslef.
Thanks for sharing. I had mine into a local electronica guy, he tested it, and even though I don’t have much of a burn, I’ve got multiple components that are fried on both boards.
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5 hours ago, Titanite said:
Thanks for sharing. I had mine into a local electronica guy, he tested it, and even though I don’t have much of a burn, I’ve got multiple components that are fried on both boards.
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Mine looks like a single component has burnt. No burn marks on the bottom side of the board, but lots of black topside all around the component.
I have not yet investigated repair. Maybe all I need is a simple part swap? I have no idea what the part is or how to source a replacement (other than removing it from another strobe).
