Intermittent Flash, possible causes?

[bill a.]

I have an SB-27 that seems to fire 1 out of every 3 tries when the ready-light

is lit, regardless of mode, even when hitting the test fire button.

 

On the miss-fires I get the ?not enough flash" warning (blinking light). I?ve

tried the standard stuff (cleaning contacts, fresh batteries).

 

Any idea what might be going? Coil? Trigger cap?

 

Anyone need one for parts?

[Ed_Ingold]

An SB-27 is getting long in the tooth. It's not worth using an unreliable flash. You could send it to Nikon for refurbishing, or get a new flash unit. There are no user-serviceable parts inside the unit. I've done a lot of electrical and electronic repair in my time, but I'm not going there.

[tom_jenner1]

Hey Bill,

 

I'll take it off your hands if you want and I'll pay for shipping.

 

I'm an electronics geek/engineer and can always use more parts.

 

tom ((at) newschooltech (dot)) com

[andy_blagbrough]

The SB-27 may be getting "long in the tooth", but that is not necessarily the problem. I am

using a much older version, the SB-15 and it works well. The problem may be the camera.

What are you using? If you can, try working in manual mode for both camera and flash. If it

works fine, then start to change the setting on the camera to automatic. Then repeat

keeping the camera on manual and play with the flash settings. Hopefully, you can find the

combination which is causing the problems.

 

Let us know how you get on and the forum should be able to offer more help.

 

Andy B

[bill a.]

Andy,

 

It happens in all modes (TTL, A, M), regardless of camera. It happens when there is no camera attached (using the test fire button).

 

light on steady (charged)

Press red button, no flash, blinking light

light on steady (charged)

Press red button, no flash, blinking light

light on steady (charged)

Press red button, no flash, blinking light

light on steady

Press red button, {flash}

repeat (with different numbers of tries in between; sometimes I can actually get it to flash two times in a row)

 

I'll be forwarding this to the person who offered to take it.