Pfuller

If your shooting full manual (and dont need ttl) you can bypass the chipboards as a workaround.

 

From memory, in the hotshoe, the centre pin is the trigger and the outside of the hotshoe is the ground. There is a small chipboard inside the hotshoe that will make the connections via springs to the hotshoe. You'll just need the trigger wire solded onto the centre pin point on the board correctly, and then have the ground wire solded onto the little metal spring clip that makes contact with the outside of the hotsoe.

 

Make note of these two wire colours and run these to the trigger/ground of the bulk head using the following diagram.

 

http://www.ikelite.c...syncwiring.html

 

 

During my visit earlier this month, i was told that seraya secrets has really deteriorated over the last year with many critters leaving the area. Is there an truth to this?

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the comprehensive description of the problem. I've just bought two D1's plus a dual Ike to Sea&Sea Sync Cord so your post may be very timely if i encounter issues. I have only used them on four dives(successfully) so far, and have only attached the sync cord once and have left it attached. This was a deliberate act, since as soon as i saw the sea&sea connectors on the sync cord, i got a little bit worried about the build quality and the stability of the connection.  I've only really ever worked with the metal ikelite connectors before and they are as sturdy as metal threaded systems can be.  The plastic thread of the sea&sea worries the hell out of me for many reasons, but the most concerning was the firmness of the pin connection and the general seating of the O-ring.  When i first put it together, i felt i had to be extra cautious to align the pins, get the o-ring into postion, and get the thread started correctly and tightened. I pushed the 'core' on the connector down firmly  while tightening the thread fairly tight (with the apprehension of cross threading a plastic thread) and vowed that i'll try minimise the need to connect/disconnect these connections as much as possible, since there is too much room for error. Even with the thread firmly in place there is way too much wooble in the connection for my liking. I'm just hoping its not enough to break the seal of the oring in water if knocked.

In regards to the spring loaded screw, i believe these strobes are equipped with a mechanism to detect whether a sync cord is attached, and if so it deactivates the optical sensors.  I'd say that this screw would be the switch for this mechanism.  It may be that this screw switch can be backed off or tightened (using a phillips head) to adjust for any slight differences in size of the sync cord. Perhaps your cord connector has a couple of extra millimetres of plastic on it, and the switch is sitting out a couple of mills creating the push back on the cord??? You could try adjusting the switch inways and see if that takes the pressure of.  I dont have my rig in front of me so i'll check to see if i can replicate the same problem tonight.

I have to declare with all this, that i'm coming from a fairly old school setup...the use of big heavy robust Ikelite SS200's with metal sync cords connectors and bulkheads, that could generally take a beating. So this modern use of plastic and small delicate light-weight strobes is new to me, and i'm going to have to change my style of diving to suit these strobes.


Cheers,

Peter

Thanks for the replies Daniel and Dangerzone.

I've settled on flying into Denpasar and doing a few days around tulamben.The diving sounds great and it looks as if it can be done independently on a budget.

Picking a liveaboard is my next step. I really want to get to Raja Ampat, but the liveaboards seem very expensive (and i've left booking one very late...i'll be there in the first two weeks of October.) Anyone got any tips on last minute liveaboard negotiations? Is a liveaboard essential to experience the bounty of raja ampat?

Komodo is the fallback plan.

Thanks Drew!   Any ideas around Lembeh, Manando, Ambon or Raja Ampat?