Smoking Flash.

richpips

richpips

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Rich
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My 580 ex 2 has developed a fault.

It emits smoke when you fire the flash, has anyone else had this happen.

So far it continues to work ?
 
Stick some of these on it:
7348fec84416f33c9520986cacc6ecaa.jpg
 
Maybe its reverting to it's childhood, you know, the old flashes from the turn of the century that go up in a puff of smoke everytime!

Seriously though, if it's still within the year, I'd take it back.
 
I had a metz 45 do this once, it died shortly after. I wouldn't use it I were you, if it's shorting it might blow your camera too.
 
thing is with flashes they can operate at very high voltages, so if something is/has shorted then it could potentially be dangerous.
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The thought of it exploding had occured to me.

I guess it's time to send it back then.
 
Steve Smith said:
So it was the same reason as in the Strobist link?


Steve.
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Yep, I'd presumed the burned area was on the inside of the screen.

I hadn't thought that the flash was powerful enough to melt the gel, and having looked since reading that, the gel has some discoloration too.
 
richpips said:
Why should I send it back it doesn't smoke anymore.
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Because it's not a packet of benson and hedges, it's not supposed to smoke!:)

The fact it smoked at all says something was wrong, it might have been something simple like a bit of loose plastic on something that gets hot or it might be a major short, in which case it might burn your camera out, it could dump a few hundred volts in it or something.
Flashes work with very high voltages this is not good for cameras, thats why the fuss over triger voltages on older flashes. If yours has a fault it might be putting out the wrong voltage to the triger circuit, which in turn could fry your camera.
 
david1701 said:
lol when i was a mere n00b I tried folded tissue as a difuser..... set fire to it :D
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A mistake that could eaily be made. I don't think many people realise how much heat is being given out albeit for a fraction of a second.

Oh, and I've read on numerous sites, "just stick the gel in front of the flash" "use the diffuser to hold the gel". Well my advice now would be to leave as much space as possible betwen the two.
 
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