Ikelite Strobe not Firing after first shot

[James D]

I have an Ikelite Underwater Housing Unit for my Nikon D600 along with an Ikelite Substrobe 125. The strobe will only fire on the first shot, but not on subsequent shots. If I let it sit for a few minutes, turn it off and back on, it will again fire on the first shot only. The Nikon is set to single shot, flash sync speed 125 (I've also tried several other sync speeds, including 1/60 and the default of 1/200), the flash shutter speed at 1/60, and the flash control for built-in flash to default (TTL). The strobe and camera are fully charged. I've also confirmed that the switch on the bottom of the housing is set on the Ikelite Substrobe 125 option and that knob on the back of the unit is on TTL. I am stumped. Any ideas? Thanks! James D.

 

[bvanant]

Have you tried it in manual mode without the TTL? That will help narrow down the possibilities.
Bill

 

[oly5050user]

hot shoe firmly attached?

 

[herman]

My first guess is a bad set of batteries. I am unfamilure with the 125 but if you can get to the batteries, I would suggest you test them or better yet install a known good set.

 

[bvanant]

Hard to believe that it could be the battery if the ready light is lit. Once the capacitor is charged the battery should be irrelevant but if it doesn't charge then batteries must be included in the analysis.
Bill

 

[dhaas]

James D,

Is it dumping a FULL POWER flash? If so I'd bet the hot shoe being a molded part just isn't pushed in far enough.

They are tight initially but once all pins are making contact a recent Nikon D600 housing customer's strobes fired

If you don't see a lightning bolt in your viewfinder you don't have a complete strobe to cord to housing circuitry and finally connected to your Nikon D600 hot shoe.

Give it a whirl.....

David Haas
www.haasimages.com

 

[James D]

Yes. Same issue as before. It fires once, but not on consecutive shots. Thanks.

---------- Post added January 30th, 2013 at 10:14 PM ----------

I will add the hot-shoe is firmly attached and the lightning bolt appears in the view finder each time. It is perplexing that I can turn the strobe off and on in rapid succession and get it to fire on the first shot each time, but not the second or third. Based on your comments, however, I am leaning toward the battery. I say this because the Ikelite underwater housing and Nikon are brand new, but the Ikelite 125 substrobe is about 5 years old and has the original battery. I will try replacing it as a next step. I thank you all for your input! James D.

 

[oly5050user]

if it charges the capacitor-biggest draw on the battery at that time-and ready light goes on, I really doubt its the battery..Does model light go on with usual brightness? try it with a different camera?

 

[James D]

if it charges the capacitor-biggest draw on the battery at that time-and ready light goes on, I really doubt its the battery..Does model light go on with usual brightness? try it with a different camera?

The modeling light is bright and works great. The same issues occurs when I hook up my Nikon D300.

 

[dhaas]

Strobe battery also powers the TTL circuitry. Severe drop could lead to TTL circuitry "timing out" and getting "lost" and thus needing reset.

If you have another DS125 battery pack I'd try that as suggested.

David Haas
www.haasimages.com