Strobe use on land

[TheDavil]

One of the instruction booklets that came with my Inon D2000 has a bullet point in the 'Caution' section that says "Do not fire strobe on land except for functional check. Do not fire the strobe at short intervals during functional check to avoid malfunction of internal circuit."

It seems to me that I've seen posts where people have been practicing with their strobes on land. Is it really that bad for a strobe? If so, why? Also - they don't define what they mean by "short intervals" - any guesses?

If I can't practice on land, it's going to take me a really long time to get comfortable with it...

As usual, thanks...

David

 

[Mayor]

I'm new to underwater photos and have a sea life strobe. Do not recall reading anything like that. I will give them a call and find out. If it's true you can get some pool time somewhere to paly around with the unit. Camera, fins, mask and snorkel. Just an idea.

 

[spt29970]

The problem is that strobes, if fired too rapidly, will heat up. When diving, the water acts as a heat sync which prevents them from getting too hot. If you fire them once every 10-20 seconds, you should be fine. Of course YMMV.

 

[bobf]

High powered underwater strobes rely on water to help dissipate heat.

2 "AA" battery design strobes such as the Sunpak G-Flash (discontinued) were less prone to damage with topside use due to their inherent time delay (7-9 sec) which was required to recharge its capacitor (vs 4 AA battery "power plant" designs in others). The resulting longer recycle time allowed for the flash tube to cool down sufficiently between flash dumps.

Strobe practice on land is encouraged. Testing is encouraged. Just be cautious not to repeatedly fire away.

 

[TheDavil]

Excellent info. I suspected it had something to do with heat, but the 'malfunction of internal circuit' sort of threw me.

Thanks folks...

David

 

[Papa_Bear]

Each brand is a little different, but I would fallow the directions! Sea and Sea even on the two battery models will produce so much heat that the plastic around the flash sensor will deform and the strobe will leak. That is the little eye on the front lens of the Strobe! They are designed for in water use, except the test fire!

 

[Nemrod]

I am pretty sure the instruction manual that came with my Inon D2000 states that it may be used on both land and sea, in fact I am reading it now.

N