Why is my Flash Sometimes Working?

[Brusimm]

JB: Extra Battery is a good idea. Thank you. And no, it is not the battery, it's the user at the back of the camera! As I fiddle, I see where I was going wrong, what settings work better and what not. The holidays forced me to check on different options and settings for indoor use. Now if I can just remember the next day what it was I did!

Thanks for the insight JB -Bruce

[WooD]

Extra batteries is a good thing. I have a SB600, and it seems when the batteries get low the flash out put does the same.

Shot a wedding this past Saturday, and I had 16 spare batteries with me. After about 75 shots I just replaced them so I wouldn't have to worry about a non flash at a critical time. I use plain old Duracell AA's.

[sk66]

My flashes (SB600/SB800) have a "maximum continuous" cycles. In the manual for my 800 it shows (under "continuous flash shooting") that at 1/8 output the max will be 4 shots. The manual also shows that if more that 15 firings (at 6 frames/sec. ttl and low flash output) the flash must be allowed to cool for at least 10 minutes.

I would suspect it's either a battery issue, or built in heat protection. Alkalines will generally recycle quicker IME.