Nikon SB-600 flash

When you read “No Returns” on a receipt, you always have to fear losing your hard earned money on something that is broken.

Unfortunately that was the case with this gorgeous Nikon SB-600 flash. The SB-600 is that rarity—a flash that works with every camera Nikon made. Finding the SB-600 for just $10.50 at a thrift store was considered a real find!

The first hint of trouble came when the four batteries in its battery compartment tested as having full charge.

Yet the on/off switch gave no response.

Second problem was the flash rattled with something loose inside. At first thought, it might be the wide-panel rattling in its sheath. Even holding the panel in place the rattle was still present.

Desperate for some happy ending the battery contacts were scrubbed repeatedly. The continuity meter probes wouldn’t reach the bottom of the battery wells, so that was not helpful. Finally the internet was searched for possible solutions. 

It seems the Nikon SB-600 is fragile. The flash has three circuit boards that surround the battery compartment. Dropping as little as the height of a bed—even in its ample carry case—can shatter some of the surface mounted components on one of those boards. Then the flash can be repaired by replacing the affected board, but that is going to cost some real money.

Worse some internet advice sites said the flash is sometimes used by professionals to the point the flash head melts. Luckily that wasn’t the case here, as the flash doesn’t look heat damaged.

With nothing to lose I followed the internet advice and took the flash apart. All you need is a screwdriver and knowing you start with the head rotated at 90 degrees to the body. You take one of the two screws on either side of the flash head out so the backing metal strips stays in place. Then you remove all the screws on the flash’s foot. The body can then be split open, with some additional removal of plugs. Cautions are made about an optical cable connection, a grounding wire and keeping track of the eight screws that hold one circuit board to the back of the unit. 

I won’t go into much additional advice, because the internet video channels cover all that and how this all ends is dependent on how much damage you find.

In this case a coil was broken and a wire had been torn off its solder connection with the board. A repair was made to that and then reassembly proceeded.

During that process the aforementioned grounding connection on the foot broke off and had to be re-soldered. During that process a plug got partially melted. Hoping against hope the plug was forced back together and the flash buttoned up.

There was some hope when the flash display turned on. Then despair again as the zoom of the flash just ground gears and the focal length display showed “------”.

The flash also didn’t fire.

It was time to break out the magnifier and examine the broken parts that had been collected.

It seems there is a surface mount transistor or diode—(top) it has three “feet”— and what appears to be pieces of a resister (a casting with particles in it).

Needless to say if the boards had all this missing, how many additional points of loose and/or broken components can there be?

If nothing else I guess I got the stand—that seems able to hold three flash!—,

a case and plenty of spare parts if I ever get to collect another SB-600. I already had several hours of fun (Fun?—you should of heard the language when the melted plug was noticed) playing Mr. Fixit. I guess I got my $10.50 worth of fun out of the experience.