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SB800 no turn on

Author	Post

Posted by brooksdj: Tue May 29th, 2012 11:05

1^st Post

Hey all.

I had been away for a while and see you have moved. I have a question that maybe some one might have an answer for.

I have two SB800 flashes, one bought new, one bought used, a few years
back. The last time i used the used one, was at the three family
weddings i shot in 2010 and both worked fine. The one i bought new is
still working fine, however i went make sure the used one was still
working today, and it was not.It would not turn on. I put fresh AA's
in it and still nothing. :banghead:

Just wondering if anyone may have an idea what may be wrong, i have a
wedding in Sept and if i need to get it fixed, if $$$$ makes sense or
buy something else. I want a flash on each camera i have with me for
when needed.

Dave Brooks

Posted by TomOC: Tue May 29th, 2012 13:36

2^nd Post

Dave-

Hard to say what could be wrong from your description... I assume you have checked the obvious things like the contacts being clean and a second set of batteries installed correctly...

I have one in the same boat. My thought is to not spend any $$ on the dead one, but to bite the bullet and get an SB900 which has some great improvements.

Good luck,

Tom

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Posted by Robert: Tue May 29th, 2012 14:33

3^rd Post

My SB28 was silly recently, it has always been reliable, I dug it out for my daughters 18th birthday, no dice, I tried all my rechargables and some normal AA's. Dead as a dodo.

I used my SB16? but after the birthday I decided to try to establish the reason why it failed to start up. Cut long story short, it was the battery contacts. I cleaned them and bent them slightly and it now works fine again.

So that may be a cheap simple answer.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Constable: Tue May 29th, 2012 16:33

4^th Post

FWIW

SB800 and SB 900 work ok with my D800e

Ed

Posted by blackfox: Wed May 30th, 2012 03:33

5^th Post

i have a as new sb-900 boxed ,cased all the usual bits .fired maximum 10 shots ,that i would swop for a decent mid range zoom ,n.w.uk .

Posted by brooksdj: Wed May 30th, 2012 10:22

6^th Post

Thanks for the tips. After i posted, i went back and refined my search, and found a fellow that had the same problems, and it turned out his battery door was not fitting just right. I cleaned the terminals and then reset the batteries and hit the on button, no luck. I then went to remove the batteries again and i heard the motor kick in. I closed the door about 1/2 way and on it came. Looks like a very minor adjustment for the dfoor will make contact.

Now, i suppose i should maybe try and lift up the connections inside the compartment to see if they will contact better.

I also have the same problem with ,my D1H when i insert a battery i get no action, but if i pull it back out about 1/2 a mm it will kick in.

Hummm :cheersduo:

Dave

Posted by Robert: Wed May 30th, 2012 11:10

7^th Post

Dave, you have just about described the issue I had with my SB28.

If I fully close the door it won't work, If I hold the door just short of latching it fires just fine but stops as soon as I closed the door fully. The battery door on the SB28 hinges down onto four AA Batteries then slides into four latches, one at each corner of the door, pulling the door down onto the batteries.

Somehow sliding the door over the terminals seems to cause a loss of contact. I do wonder if the sleeving of the battery cell ends is a factor, especially at the - (Neg) end. The sleeving seems to wrap over the end of the cells at the rim edge and may be lifting the contacts just clear of making a good contact.

Perhaps a slight mod with a modelling knife is all that is needed. I bent my links on the door and that seemed to fix mine but I can't check it right now, because I don't have my SB28 with me.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by blackfox: Wed May 30th, 2012 12:17

8^th Post

having worked with rechargeable batteries over many years and worked on there development to ,you will find especially with AA's that there is a extreme amount of variability from brand to brand ,some are thicker diameter than others some shorter or longer than they should be .
so before embarking on altering your flashgun door ,try a few different makes,types in the flashgun .i won't guarantee this is the solution but i'm 99.9% certain it is

Posted by jk: Thu May 31st, 2012 16:33

9^th Post

Yes I would have said that that there was a problem with contacts.

Several ways round this. It's all about how confident you are with a soldering iron or if you prefer to not 'adjust' your flash.
All are around building up the contacts.

As Jeff said the AA batteries are variable in size so depending on make (I only use Duracells as they last longest) you will get different results.

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