High humidity effect on flashes

Was shooting in a cave on Saturday for several hours using flash. Had my Nikon SB700 and my Yongnuo. All started well and was looking good but then the Yongnuo quit working and the Nikon would not come up to full charge. Now I had put new batteries into both units before I left home. I carried several new sets of unopened batteries so I changed them all out again. I also had put brand new batteries in my flash light and it quit working. When we left the cave and headed toward the reception I stopped and bought 2 new sets of batteries to put in both flashes and we both shot the reception with zero problems. And I just checked the bad flashlight and it works like a new one.

Could the humidity have caused the problems?
 

nickt

Senior Member
I've got no damp flash experience. Most of our manuals say to avoid high humidity.
In general, I would worry unsealed high voltage devices might be affected and also high frequency devices. You have both conditions in your flash. Some led flashlights have some high frequency stuff going on to control voltage and current.
You had 3 devices malfunction in a cave. I'm torn between guessing high humidity, very bad luck or evil spirits, lol.
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
I haven't tried shooting in a cave yet, but would the humidity in a cave be that much higher than what the guys in Florida face every day?
 

Scott Murray

Senior Member
I shot a mates wedding Saturday and my Yongnuo overheated. Wasn't impressed and had to resort to inbuilt flash. All I can say is that it was only a casual wedding and I didn't do any elaborate lighting setups.
 

Danno

Senior Member
High humidity is tough to deal with. Some locations can be near saturation where the dew point is very close to the ambient temp. When that happens moisture will collect on the surface and electronics like flashes do not like to be wet. Sometimes you cannot even see it, but you can kind of feel it.

I had a job in Atlantic City once where the customer had chosen open drip proof motors in the 10-30 hp ranges and the construction got delayed the units were under cover and kept dry, but the air was so damp all the motor windings got wet and had to be dried out.

Sometimes it is enough to just keep the component turned on. The heat from the completed circuit will be enough to keep it from condensing. Sometimes when it is HOT and humid the operating temp is still below the dew point and the component just quits working.

Woooo... that is an old memory from my tech service trouble shooting days back in the 80s. Wish I could recall what I had for breakfast yesterday :D
 

aroy

Senior Member
Normally humidity causes contact problems, though at times in very high humidity at low temperatures there can be a slow slow leak due to bridging of the terminal ends. If you still have them, just check the batteries, if it was a contact problem there may be quite some charge left, so cleaning the contacts can help.
 
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