The battery compartment door should be tightened snugly with a coin or screwdriver for leverage. The top of the door should end up flush with the body of the strobe. Do not continue to muscle the thumbscrew past the point of snugness, which risks turning the battery compartment post and cracking the strobe body.

A new clear battery door allows you to see when the battery compartment is properly sealed. The clear battery door assembly #9440.45 is available for purchase to carry as a spare or to update older 50, DS50, DS51 and AF35 strobes.

Flush the battery compartment well with fresh water and allow to dry completely with air from a blow drier or scuba tank. Rinse with alcohol and dry completely again. Do NOT reuse batteries that have been exposed to water. Install fresh batteries and test.

When you return to your trip and/or if the strobe is still not working, return to Ikelite for repair of the flooded battery compartment. Refer to the Repair Service FAQ for more information.

The DS50 and DS51 Substrobes accept four "AA" alkaline, NiMH or NiCad batteries. Lithium Ion batteries are NOT recommended due to their effect on the strobes' recycle times and the batteries' thermal switch characteristics.

To avoid stress on the flashtube's delicate "legs", Substrobe DS125 reflectors are NOT secured tightly inside of the strobe heads. This results in a subtle "rattle" that in no way affects normal operation of the SubStrobe.

Several broken battery packs for DS125 and DS160 strobes have been traced to a material inconsistency. Battery packs produced between Sept '07 and Nov '08 are subject to this flaw in the central black plastic mounting piece.

A date code with the format MM/YY is etched on each pack opposite the product number #4066.5. Packs produced after Nov '08 or which have been returned to Ikelite for any reason since Dec '08 have been updated to a newer style toggle pawl. This appears to have corrected the issue.

We recommend the updating of these battery packs as a preventative maintenance measure. If you have a broken toggle pawl or a battery pack within the above date range in its original condition, toggle replacement kits are available. Within the U.S., Canada and Caribbean please contact the office at ikelite@ikelite.com or 317.923.4523. Overseas customers please contact your local Ikelite Distributor. Please have the date code(s) of your battery packs ready when calling or e-mailing.

As always, battery packs may be returned directly to Ikelite for updating with no prior authorization required.

Some strobes will emit a flash by themselves when turned on or switched between power settings. This is considered to be normal as long as the strobe does not continue to fire by itself when left in that setting. Repeated auto-firing or self-firing of the strobe is almost always caused by a bad sync cord. If the problem persists after replacing the sync cord, please return the strobe to Ikelite for evaluation.

The Autoflash AF35 and DS Substrobes attached to an EV Manual Controller may fire at very shallow depths or when they detect the flash from another diver's camera. This is normal and unavoidable. To conserve batteries the strobes may be turned off when not in use.

We've tried very hard over the years to produce what we call "smart" housings and "dumb" strobes. By building sophisticated TTL electronics into our housings we can ensure that even older digital Substrobes will be able to communicate according to the newest TTL protocols. Hence your Substrobe is still good long after the camera becomes obsolete.

Some unexpected developments in newer digital cameras have made updates unavoidable. Here is a list of updates that may affect you:

- Nikon and Canon Digital TTL Systems
- Olympus, Panasonic and Leica TTL Systems
- Nikon D2X iTTL Adapter
- Nikon iTTL Adapter for all other Nikon Cameras

Yes!

Substrobe DS125 Upgrade to DS160: $ 300 - 475*
Substrobe DS125 Upgrade to DS161: $ 450 - 625*

These upgrades result in increased power of 160 watt-sec (from 110 watt-sec), additional manual power settings and replacement of halogen modeling light with LED modeling (DS160) or video (DS161) lite. DS160 and DS161 Substrobes are compatible with all current Ikelite TTL systems including Nikonos.

Substrobe DS160 Upgrade to DS161: $ 200*

This upgrade results in replacement of the LED modeling light with a 500 lumen LED video light and updating of circuitry.

* Freight charges will be added to the total cost of the repair. Upgrade prices are based on a fully working Substrobe with no signs of abuse, water damage or other non-warranty issues. Non-working and/or damaged Substrobes will result in increased cost to upgrade. We will provide an exact estimate for the upgrade after evaluating the Substrobe. We are not able to provide a more precise estimates over phone or email even if provided the Substrobe's serial number.

Repair and/or replacement of the strobe's battery pack is not includd in the above upgrade costs. The battery pack is not required to perform the upgrade but will be checked if returned. Please also refer to above section on battery pack locking mechanisms for important update information. The Service FAQ contains complete information on returning products for service or repair.

Set the camera at its widest aperture (like f/2.8) and trip the shutter while the camera and strobe are aimed at a very close, well-lit subject. The strobe should produce only a small blip of light. Repeat this with the lens covered and the strobe should produce a full power flash.

Unfortunately not. We no longer have access to the parts necessary for the repairs of most all non-digital Substrobes. The only exceptions are the Substrobe 200 and repair of flooded battery compartment only for Substrobes AQ/S, A35, M, MV, MS and S. No repair, testing or upgrade opportunities currently exist for Substrobes Ai, Ai/n, 100a, 150, 225, 300 or 400.

The following pictures show serial number locations for (left to right) Substrobes DS50/DS51, Substrobes DS125/DS160 and Substrobes 200/DS200. Some older Substrobe 200's are numbered either on the black switch plate or on the body next to the mount.