Nikon SB-900 Overheating Explanation & Solution (Part 1)

PART ONE OF FOUR This video discusses into depth to explain the causes of Nikon's flagship speedlight of SB-900 to overheat due to human errors. Enjoy!

Music: Autumn Leaves by John Coltrane

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Nikon
• SB-900
• Overheat
• Hot
• Malfunction
• Failure
• Explanation
• Solution
• Thermal
• Cut
• Off
• Shut
• Down
• Human
• Error
• Speedlight
• Duracell
• AA
• Alkaline
• Coppertop
• Battery
• Batteries
• SB-800
• SB-600
• SB-400
• Firmware
• Update
• D3
• D3X
• D700

[mettalliko]

i made a huge mistake i sold 4 sb800 to get 4 sb900 i used only energizer lithium batteries and it overheated too,i shoot about 50-80 pics per hour with these batteries,with the sb800 i could do 200-250 per hour like nothing,i cannot afford to have the bride down the aile with my sb900 dead,what i do now is to carry 2 sb900 one on the camera and the other ready to replace the dead one,and rest it for 10 minutes,it is a pain but i love the sb900 even i regret sold my sb800

[Lilkiwiguy87]

You're just stressing your SB-900's too much. There are workarounds in these videos.

[alexseretis]

I have a sb900 which has the latest 5.2 software and a D90 camera, I can't seem to find the FP mode on my flash, am I missing something? how do i get this to come up.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Lilkiwiguy87]

The firmware update does not have anything to do with the SB-900's software (menus, etc.) - just hardware improvements. Auto-FP is accessible via the camera's menus, not the flash. It is e5 in the menus.

[designraving]

I recently went to a workshop with Joe McNally and was told by him and the nikon Reps there that said to "turn off the the thermal shutdown switch." I said that I heard if you do that then it will void the warranty. They both said "turn it off"

[Lilkiwiguy87]

You can turn it off but keep your eye on the SB-900's flash head and stop if it starts to get warm. However, we would not recommend turning it off, leave it turned on. Better to be safe than sorry.

[superkiwizorro]

@supersnigeln007 it means either your rechargeable batteries are about to go bad or you're firing the flash on near-dead batteries.

[supersnigeln007]

@dkhaas1 Well I have SB-800 and the only time I overheat my flash when I use rechargeable batteries?

[superkiwizorro]

@dkhaas1 again, the sb-800 is small and doesn't require much battery power, unlike the sb-900. rechargeable batteries will do fine on sb-800 as long as you remember to let it recycle first before firing the next flash. definitely not design flaw because why would nikon keep selling it? if you're still happy with sb-800s, then no need to upgrade.

[dkhaas1]

I wonder if it isn't a design error that Nikon didn't design this flash to work with rechargeable batteries. The ones that you already know most professionals use. I've been using rechargeables with my sb800's for 6 years without ever overheating. I flash a lot more than 200 in an hour. I am concerned about purchasing this unit. Sounds more like a fussy flash than user error.