Advice on keeping hot shoe connection?

[Ishie]

Argh, this is going to drive me insane.

I'm shooting an Oly C-5060 in an Ike housing, Ike DS-50 single strobe, TTL through a sync cord, having flooded my manual controller for slave set up while in the Philippines.

The problem... generally, about halfway through a first dive, I lose my strobe and my camera will only fire the internal flash. When I get to a dry area and open the case, sure enough the hot shoe connection has slipped slightly out of place, terminating the connection. This seems to occur if the camera is even slightly bumped.

This happened three times despite reseating it, so I got annoyed and duct taped the sucker into place. That held for a full dive, but on dive 2, sure enough, even WITH the tape, it managed to slip slightly enough to sever connection.

Has anyone had this problem, and if so, how did you fix it?? The strobe doesn't have a sensor so I can't slave it when it's acting up, unless I buy another manual controller, and I'd far prefer to have it hardwired if I can get it to work.

 

[Jim Ernst]

TAKE IT TO MIKE!!!!! HE KNOWS of this problem and how to fix it!!!!!

 

[Ishie]

I'm bumping up this dusty thread because I'm still having this problem, though I've just upgraded to the C-7070. The suggestion I have right now is for sticky velcro. Has anyone else been having this problem, how did you fix it, and if you used velcro, what was the exact arrangement you used? I'm going to Catalina soon and I do NOT want to play the "guess if my strobe's working" game.

 

[bandit_TX]

Have you asked Ike? They are generally pretty good about these kind of things and will likely have a suggestion. I have never experienced it with my Ike 20D housing. The hot shoe connector is a very snug fit, you just have to make sure it is seated well when you put the camera in.

 

[Ishie]

I think, after my Catalina trip, I am going to do that in the hopes of a permanent solution. I saw a note on Ike's website that there were some slippage issues with their Olympus housings and to 'close the case carefully' so the connection isn't unseated, but this isn't sufficient.

In the meantime, Jim discovered that cramming a small sliver of rubber washer into the hotshoe with the connector looks like it will serve as an excellent temporary solution.

Thanks!

 

[Jim Ernst]

I think, after my Catalina trip, I am going to do that in the hopes of a permanent solution. I saw a note on Ike's website that there were some slippage issues with their Olympus housings and to 'close the case carefully' so the connection isn't unseated, but this isn't sufficient.

In the meantime, Jim discovered that cramming a small sliver of rubber washer into the hotshoe with the connector looks like it will serve as an excellent temporary solution.

Thanks!

you mean jim , came up with a very mickey mouse solution, for the time being, i wish it was better!!!

 

[bobf]

...............I saw a note on Ike's website that there were some slippage issues with their Olympus housings and to 'close the case carefully' so the connection isn't unseated...........

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/rexdshoe.html

Olympus Housings

Some of our housings for the Olympus cameras exhibit a tendency for the hot shoe connector to slide out of the camera hot shoe slightly as housing is closed, preventing proper electrical contact of all conductors. Check the hot shoe wire routing and watch the shoe carefully as housing is closed to avoid this problem.

hth,
b

 

[bandit_TX]

You might try raising a dimple or two on each side of the hot shoe connector. We do this in machinery to snug up a sliding fit. Since it's plastic, a hot soldering iron or heated nail would probably work. Just a small dimple with the material raised around it might tighten is sufficiently to stay in better. Otherwise, wedging it or taping it are about the only options. You might also find a small o-ring the right size to slip over the whole connector assembly to hold it in place.

 

[Ishie]

Thanks for the advice! I wrote to Ike so I could get the rubber bumper for the 7070, and asked about the slippage. They said I could send it to them so they could check if the connection is loose, with about 2 weeks turnaround time, so after Catalina, that's what I'll do, since I'm scared to mess with the wiring. Good time to get all the o rings changed out too...