WolfSpring
Registered
BLUF: I am looking for a site to buy parts for discontinued SeaLife products such as the SL961 strobes.
I am new to underwater photography, I've been doing GoPro for years and have been reading, watching YouTube and slowly building a camera system. I went really big with the camera and lenses and got a backscatter combo with an OM D-EM10, but instantly got turned off by the price of the strobes and the setup. After a lot of reading I found that the the older SeaLife Strobes were a good deal and found a couple different deals on eBay and ended up with two SL961s and one SL960. For the "most part" they work. My issue is the battery doors on both the SL961s have issues, one has broken metal, the other, for some strange reason, just doesn't work. I used tin foil and got both of them and got them to work and could glue some in place and it would work, but I'd rather have working doors. I already tried cleaning the non-broken one and used a multi-meter and there is continuity through them, i think they are just that wore down that they don't touch the battery. I also noticed in the manual that they originally came with a connector for non-sealife cameras. The SL960 has a bungie cord in the middle that is wore out so the little connector at the top flops off. I've read on here a lot of people have tried to modify the older strobes to work with current systems with limited success. I'd love to be able to buy the older parts that already exist instead of modifications.
Also I'm looking at how to modify the fiber to work in my AOI housing. One thought I've had is to wrap the end in e taper, or use a putty we use to cap electrical covers outdoors and then tape over that to the housing. I'm going to try and buy some extra plugs for my housing and cut holes in them most likely.
Where is the best site that could have most of what I need in one place? Living in Hawaii when you are trying to buy items under $20 you usually end up paying more for shipping than the item costs and I'd rather be able to buy multiple items at one site and save on shipping.
The main items I need:
Two battery doors for the SL961
Some kind of plug for the fiber
The longer screw to mount the two frames together to make a dual strobe frame
The diffuser for the SL961, one has it the other doesn't, do I need it?
The arm/parts for the SL960.
The cable port to put fiber to the SL960.
I have found some info on the specific part numbers of some items and can find sites that have one of the items, but $3.50 for a screw and then $12 shipping isn't really how I want to do things. I am watching eBay for a set up that already has the screw or a different frame that I could use. Down the road I will invest in a better system, but for now I'm off to a good start for learning how to use the stuff.
I know this sounds like a crazy way to save money, but I've only put $200 into the strobes and I already have two mostly functioning strobes and a back up if I find the fiber setup for it and the cheapest new strobe I found was $250 without any mounts or fiber. I also ended up with a bunch of Hero 5/7 accessories, two super suits a frame a floaty handle and a bunch of connectors that came with one lot which I use a bunch of different GoPros.
I am new to underwater photography, I've been doing GoPro for years and have been reading, watching YouTube and slowly building a camera system. I went really big with the camera and lenses and got a backscatter combo with an OM D-EM10, but instantly got turned off by the price of the strobes and the setup. After a lot of reading I found that the the older SeaLife Strobes were a good deal and found a couple different deals on eBay and ended up with two SL961s and one SL960. For the "most part" they work. My issue is the battery doors on both the SL961s have issues, one has broken metal, the other, for some strange reason, just doesn't work. I used tin foil and got both of them and got them to work and could glue some in place and it would work, but I'd rather have working doors. I already tried cleaning the non-broken one and used a multi-meter and there is continuity through them, i think they are just that wore down that they don't touch the battery. I also noticed in the manual that they originally came with a connector for non-sealife cameras. The SL960 has a bungie cord in the middle that is wore out so the little connector at the top flops off. I've read on here a lot of people have tried to modify the older strobes to work with current systems with limited success. I'd love to be able to buy the older parts that already exist instead of modifications.
Also I'm looking at how to modify the fiber to work in my AOI housing. One thought I've had is to wrap the end in e taper, or use a putty we use to cap electrical covers outdoors and then tape over that to the housing. I'm going to try and buy some extra plugs for my housing and cut holes in them most likely.
Where is the best site that could have most of what I need in one place? Living in Hawaii when you are trying to buy items under $20 you usually end up paying more for shipping than the item costs and I'd rather be able to buy multiple items at one site and save on shipping.
The main items I need:
Two battery doors for the SL961
Some kind of plug for the fiber
The longer screw to mount the two frames together to make a dual strobe frame
The diffuser for the SL961, one has it the other doesn't, do I need it?
The arm/parts for the SL960.
The cable port to put fiber to the SL960.
I have found some info on the specific part numbers of some items and can find sites that have one of the items, but $3.50 for a screw and then $12 shipping isn't really how I want to do things. I am watching eBay for a set up that already has the screw or a different frame that I could use. Down the road I will invest in a better system, but for now I'm off to a good start for learning how to use the stuff.
I know this sounds like a crazy way to save money, but I've only put $200 into the strobes and I already have two mostly functioning strobes and a back up if I find the fiber setup for it and the cheapest new strobe I found was $250 without any mounts or fiber. I also ended up with a bunch of Hero 5/7 accessories, two super suits a frame a floaty handle and a bunch of connectors that came with one lot which I use a bunch of different GoPros.
