Godox AD600BM not firing half the time, help!

CDAPhoto · Oct 22, 2018

as stated in the title, my AD600BM is not firing (misfiring?) way to often, sometimes half of my shots aren’t lit, sometimes more than half...

I’m using a Nikon D850 w/ Godox X1-Pro N. I don’t have this problem with my AD200 even when triggering them both at the same time (Channel A & B); the AD200 will go off and the AD600BM will just stop working for any number of shots until it starts working again.

When it happens I’ve tried pressing the test fire button which triggers both strobes successfully, but once I press the shutter button on the camera the problem persists.

It’s starting to effect my work when I’m missing so many otherwise beautiful photographs, on top of the fact that it looks like I don’t know what I’m doing when this happens...

tirediron · Oct 22, 2018

If one strobe is working correctly, and one isn't, then you can likely eliminate both the body and trigger, so the issue is mostly likely with the strobe which isn't firing correctly. Are you certain that: (1) The faulty strobe is fully (or at least sufficiently) charged? (2) The trigger and faulty strobe are correctly paired in terms of group/channel, etc? Godox makes some surprisingly good gear, but at the end of the day, it's still MiC, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the strobe has gone flakey on you.

Braineack · Oct 23, 2018

I have not had this exact issue with my XPLOR600 (same thing), but I did discover --at a freaking wedding when i needed it-- that it wouldn't fire on groups D and E; the two stupid groups i was trying to fire it from. I had my other speedlights setup on A-D, so i was trying to use it on E, then tried D, then gave up.

Later when I was home I figured it out, but it made zero sense. The flash would sync, and I could control the power through the controller and it would fire every time if I pushed the test button, but it refused to fire when i hit the shutter button.

So this sounds like something similar. But I'd check to see if they'll replace your unit under the warranty.

CDAPhoto · Oct 23, 2018

It’s a recent purchase (within the last month) I have until today to file for a return, and I need it today for a session this afternoon. So I called amazon where I bought it from and they said I could return it if I sent it off today, or I could invoke the warranty if I rather. I assumed that since Godox isn’t based in the USA that it would probably be impossible to get support, repaired, or replaced; I’ve has this type of problem with a foreign business that I purchased a piece of equipment from before.

Has anyone had any experience with the Godox customer support team before?

CDAPhoto · Oct 23, 2018

I also double checked my firmware, it’s running on v1.8 and the site says there is a v1.9 available via the G1 Software but when I downloaded the firmware update it only had an a updated version for the AD600M not the BM. Can anyone using the AD600BM that has the latest version software let me know if they’re using v1.8 or v1.9?

Braineack · Oct 23, 2018

honestly, id return to amazon, and rebuy -- save yourself so hassle.

Derrel · Oct 23, 2018

It's possible that there's a camera hotshoe "fit" problem. Does the flash fail to fire more in a vertical camera orientation, when shooting "talls"?

adamhiram · Oct 23, 2018

CDAPhoto said:
Has anyone had any experience with the Godox customer support team before?

I have reached out to Godox support a number of times. I have never heard back.

CDAPhoto · Oct 24, 2018

Derrel said:
It's possible that there's a camera hotshoe "fit" problem. Does the flash fail to fire more in a vertical camera orientation, when shooting "talls"?

I don’t quite understand what you mean, are you referring to the Godox X1 Pro trigger that’s on my hot shoe? The flash is an off camera strobe so it doesn’t attach to my camera nor does it have a hotshoe mount on it, thank god since it feels like it weighs atleast 15-20lbs lol.

But no the problem seems to occur horizontally more than vertically, I say this because I shoot more horizontal than vertical.