Inon Z240 firing continuously... help!

[drpepper]

Hi,

Am currently on a dive holiday in the Maldives with a new setup - Aquatica AD90 + Inon Z240 (+D2000 slave). I'm having very similar problems to a similar thread (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/strobes-lighting/208853-help-inon-z240.html).

Basically, if I turn the Z240 on - fine. Connect the Sea&Sea sync cord to it at one end - fine. But as soon as I connect the other end of the sync cord to the housing (even without the camera attached) it starts firing continuously.

I've tried both bulkheads with the same result. Tried changing the settings on the little circuit board in the housing (all switches up, all switches down) - same result. Tried with insulating plate in - same result.

In the previous thread they just reconnected everything a few times, but that doesn't seem to be working for me.

Grateful for any suggestions ASAP, coz otherwise I'll have a dive holiday with no photos to show for it!

Many thanks in advance,

Tom

 

[Warmwater Wank]

Tom--Yipes! Slim chance here but I know in surface flash photography a high percentage of all flash problems can be traced to the snych cord. Take a real good look at the contact points on the cord. Even if they look clean I'd clean them. Not knowing if you are on a liveaboard or what I'm not sure what to suggest using to clean things. You could be looking at dried salt deposits (long soak in hot water may help loosen, toothpick etc. may allow for some careful "scrubbing") or debris, other spilied liquids etc

A short across the housing contacts is also certainly possible, so clean those too. Not much else you could do if the fault is internal on the cord. Any chance of swapping out the synch cord? Good luck, what a drag. // ww

 

[bvanant]

You can tape over the two lower contacts on the hotshoe connector or even all the connectors except the center one (and the outside ground). That should solve the problem.
Bill

 

[drpepper]

Many thanks for the replies so far.

The housing and sync cord (and strobe!) are brand new, so there shouldn't be any deposits ruining the connections.

Bill, you said tape over the lower contacts on the HOTSHOE connector - I take it you mean the connector that attaches to the camera hotshoe, rather than the contacts on the sync cord that connect to the bulkhead? The reason I ask is that the problem is there even without the camera attached (i.e. the hotshoe connector just hanging free).

Grateful for any further advice; really appreciate the help so far

 

[Larry C]

Since you say the problem occurs as soon as you connect the sync cord to the housing, check to make sure the printed circuit board in the housing is properly connected and not grounding on anything. I've had the pins between my pc board and connector come apart. Can it be installed out of alignment? If the pins don't line up, the sync cord could be cross connecting two circuits? No experience here, just looking for possibilities.
Do you have the strobe accidentally set for optical firing, so as soon as it's powered up, the ambient light fires it? As you said, the instructions suck. Here are some that might help. Inon Z240 Review|Underwater Photography Guide
Good luck.

 

[bvanant]

Larry: You probably are right, I didn't get the part that it fired with nothing connected. If it were set for optical firing it would fire without the cord connected to the housing.
Tom: Can you remove the bulkhead circuit board from the housing?
Bill

 

[drpepper]

Hi, thanks for the input. Back from the dive holiday now with no resolution :depressed:

However, I did manage to isolate the problem, and Larry - I think you're right about it being a PCB problem.

By disconnecting parts one by one, I discovered that the strobe stopped firing by itself as soon as I unplugged the hotshoe connector from the PCB in the housing (i.e. strobe connected by sync cord to bulkhead, bulkhead connected to circuit board, but cable connecting circuit board to hotshoe connector removed).

It seems strange that such a seemingly simple bit of wire was causing the problem, but the camera started functioning better once it was not plugged into it too.

I've reported the problem to Aquatica, and they're sending me a new hotshoe connector, so fingers crossed...

Thanks again for your help - hopefully it should all be sorted for the next trip!