Canon 580 EXII - not powering up

[Kell]

Went to use my version of this at the weekend and it wouldn't power up at all.

Assumed the batteries were dead, so charged them up, but still got nothing.

Tried the same batteries in a Yongnuo flash that I have and it came on straight away.

Anything anyone's come across? Any known issues or likely causes? And is it worth fixing?

I bought it second hand, but that was a while ago and it was in full working order.

 

[GreenNinja67]

Clean the contacts with emery cloth?

 

[Kell]

Clean the contacts with emery cloth?

Thanks for that.

I've just searched and found this link

Posting it here to remind myself. Will update with any progress.

Is my Canon speedlite really dead?

My Canon 550ex wouldn't switch on yesterday. Completely dead. Changed the batteries (twice). Still nothing, no indication of life. It was fine last time I used it about a week ago. Is there anything

photo.stackexchange.com

 

[Kell]

Just updating this.

Gave the contacts a bit of a rub with some sanitiser (nearest thing to alcohol I had).

Tried the batteries and it powered up for a semi second or so. Before switching off and going back to not working.

It was enough to convince me it was worth pursuing some other things too.

One thing I read said take the batteries out and switch it off and on,

I also noticed that most times I'd tried putting the batteries in, the flash was already in the 'ON' position.

So I made sure it was switched it off before inserting the batteries.

This last time it worked and is powering up.

Because I'm impatient I tried all of the above, so couldn't say which one actually made the difference.

But happy to report it's now working again.