Any one else have problems with sb 900

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hotchef23

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hi just looking to see if anyone else has problems with the 900.

i was asked to shoot a wrestling show last night, while shooting the show the flash kept over heating and cutting out for 5 to t 10 mins at a time.
i know there is the over ride setting but was wondering if 50 shots at a time was a little over the top for the amount of shots taken, or is the cut off set to low.

does over riding the cut off make it prone to burn out or is it safe.

the matches were about ten minutes long and breaks in between, i was using the recommended batteries, but got quite annoyed with the loss of the flash at vital times.

the camera and flash were set manual and at 250 f13, i am a little confused as to the "pro" quality of this as to lose shots is not very good, i ddint want to over ride as i dont know how close the cut off is set to burn out of the flash , or is it safe to override and shoot 70 or 80 shots?

so any one else have any views on this, this was the first time used in anger as only had for a week.

cheers
ERic
 
The flash isn't overheating, it's just that some SB900s seem to be set a little sensitive and the cut-out will trip earlier than is necessary, it's not a fault though. The only reason that you don't hear of similar problems with, say, the SB800 is that they don't have the overheat protection so will merrrily fire away until they melt.....
 
Flash In The Pan said:
The flash isn't overheating, it's just that some SB900s seem to be set a little sensitive and the cut-out will trip earlier than is necessary, it's not a fault though. The only reason that you don't hear of similar problems with, say, the SB800 is that they don't have the overheat protection so will merrrily fire away until they melt.....
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so is it safe to over ride or is the warranty invalid if it does go past cut off point? when i said overheating i was meaning in lines with the thermal cut off point.

i was a little concerned that it is pro and i lose the flash and didnt want to over ride until i found out a bit more
 
I've also found that this "over-heating" issue is relative to the ambient temperature.

Now, this is most likely not to be an issue in UK, but here in Saudi we were shooting an outdoor shoot and temperatures were close to 50C in the shade :eek:. We weren't able to get more than 10 shots before the safe-guard trigger stepped in.

We've thought of disabling this safe-guard, but frankly not too keen on that. Our only option is to buy other SB900 as back-up and use them alternately, waiting for the flash to cool while we fry isn't a good option. An expensive option, I ought to add.
 
Wail said:
I've also found that this "over-heating" issue is relative to the ambient temperature.

Now, this is most likely not to be an issue in UK, but here in Saudi we were shooting an outdoor shoot and temperatures were close to 50C in the shade :eek:. We weren't able to get more than 10 shots before the safe-guard trigger stepped in.

We've thought of disabling this safe-guard, but frankly not too keen on that. Our only option is to buy other SB900 as back-up and use them alternately, waiting for the flash to cool while we fry isn't a good option. An expensive option, I ought to add.
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thank you, it got warmer as the evening went on, so must have had an impact, it is a little concerning that if was doing wedding on warm summer day, and if was needing to spend 600 on two of them would rather go metz 76 mz 5 for same price.
 
hotchef23 said:
so is it safe to over ride or is the warranty invalid if it does go past cut off point? when i said overheating i was meaning in lines with the thermal cut off point.

i was a little concerned that it is pro and i lose the flash and didnt want to over ride until i found out a bit more
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I have no idea what the warranty situation would be, but remember even "pro" flashguns aren't designed to be continually hammered, you need to allow them a "rest" period every so often.
 
I've had this too with a series of shots at full power, or close to full power. I usually up the ISO to lessen the power needed and this avoids the cut-out - or I just use my SB800 instead, which is also a more powerful flash anyway

Personally, I wouldn't override the cut-out - but then call me chicken if you like :D

DD
 
treeman said:
I've turned the thermal cut out off on mine, that stopped it complaining!
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how many shots in the space of say 15 minutes in a warm atmosphere or is it couple minutes between each shot and never reach cut off problem?
 
hotchef23 said:
so is it safe to over ride or is the warranty invalid if it does go past cut off point? when i said overheating i was meaning in lines with the thermal cut off point.

i was a little concerned that it is pro and i lose the flash and didnt want to over ride until i found out a bit more
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I can't see how, as they give you the option to turn it off.
 
I don't know the technicalities but it's fairly well known that some brands of battery get on better with SB-900's than others. Since switching to Eneloops many months ago i've not had an over-heat issue once.

HTH

Ryan
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I have no idea what the warranty situation would be, but remember even "pro" flashguns aren't designed to be continually hammered, you need to allow them a "rest" period every so often.
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i know that you cant continually shoot with the flash as it could burn out, but 40 to 50 shoots is a bit limited thinking of venues, when i was using it last night i monitored the levels and kept removing batteries to cool so it wasnt as if i was putting int through heavy flash use. in fours hours i shot 300 photos some with as i was using studio lights as well so about 200 of those were shot in three hours

so maybe it was heavy use
 
hotchef23 said:
i know that you cant continually shoot with the flash as it could burn out, but 40 to 50 shoots is a bit limited thinking of venues, when i was using it last night i monitored the levels and kept removing batteries to cool so it wasnt as if i was putting int through heavy flash use. in fours hours i shot 300 photos some with as i was using studio lights as well so about 200 of those were shot in three hours

so maybe it was heavy use
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It depends on the power setting as well - 40-50 full power shots one after the other would be well above the recommended rate, even 40-50 1/2 power ones is right on the limit for continuous shooting without giving the flash tube a chance to cool down.
 
Just to add, as the battery issue has been mentioned, we only use Sanyo eneloop batteries as they give the best operation and recycle time. We also have each SB900 plugged into its' dedicated SD-9 battery pack, again, with eneloop batteries in the packs.

We've tried every trick we can find to try to get rid off this issue, with the exception of turning off the safe-guard, but nothing works.
 
thanks for all the advice very much appreciated
 
Have you updated the firmware? I believe the latest version deals with this problem to some extent, so its worth updating to the latest version.
 
I've only had issues when using rechargeable batteries.
In Afghanistan I used the issued 'disposable' green & red batteries made for the Army by Duracell (probably equivalent to their cheapest commercial product) and had no issues with any of the three SB900's I had out there.

Since coming back and doing some indoor modelling work with multi off-camera flash, I've had one instance of a mis-fire due to heat cut-out - that was using Duracell 2650-mah rechargeables.

I changed back to regular disposable batteries when those ran out (on the same shoot) and had no further recurrences.
This wasn't a proper test by any means, so take it with a pinch of salt...

I also have a habit of switching everything off if I stop shooting for longer than ten minutes, which may help.
 
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