600 ex -rt sticky wheel syndrome

[thelonelyphotographer]

I have 3 of the 600 ex rt speedlites. last night as I was gearing up one of the units the adjustment wheel became really stuck almost impossible to move I had to jam my fingernails into the grooves to rotate it.
the other 2 units units seemed stiffer than usual. I took them to Canon service in Irvine 53 miles away,
the intake receptionist took the bad one back to repair and came back said it was normal. Well that made my day, I told the girl to try the other unit. duh...
A speedlite you can't adjust is useless. I think the lube used is gumming up the wheel as it was really cold here and maybe the heat from the flashing degraded the lube. either way its a problem especially for a $550 speedlite. My other two units are exhibiting bad behavior as well.. I really think the cold weather is affecting them..

 

[Marsu42]

I really think the cold weather is affecting them..

I've had the same experience, the wheel on my 600rt some time became nearly impossible to move and I was near taking it to Canon (and waiting a couple of weeks since I don't have cps). But it loosened itsself again, and right now indoors it's 100% ok.

It really might be cold weather and thus the problem probably is non-serviceable. Maybe Canon will change the lubrication on the next bunch of flashes if they get too many reports, the usual effect of being an early adopter...

 

[Dekaner]

I'm having this same problem with one of my flashes - out of curiosity, what did Canon charge to fix it? No other issues with the flash and no damage. It adjusts fine if I change the settings in-camera or via their wireless remote.

 

[jheez]

I have the same issue on all five of my flashes. I've had to send some flashes to Canon for non-related repairs and they always came back with a smooth wheel. Wonder if this is a fix we could do ourselves.

 

[pwp]

One of my 600EX-RT's has a smooth wheel and the other is a dog....hot or cold weather.
It's seriously annoying.

-pw

 

[jheez]

Fyi I sent one of my flashes into Canon to fix this problem. $169 repair minus CPS discount.

 

[FTBPhotography]

one of mine did this out of the blue at a shoot yesterday