Apologies ahead of time if there's already a post on this, I did a search, honest! I recently bought a VL 3 light for my XL2 and it doesn't work; "auto" or "on". Before I dig into this any further with Canon just wanted to know if is there a power shoe "on/off" function I may not know about?
Many thanks in advance and best of holidays to you guys!
ST

There is just the on & off switch on the side. You of course need to fit a battery on the back (same battery that fits the XL2) and the light is low powered for a few seconds and then switches to full power beam.

I believe Tony might be referring to the Canon VL-10i, which is independently powered by a BP-9xx series battery. The VL-3 is a much smaller onboard light which is powered through the Advanced Accessory Shoe on the XL2 and it has an off / on / auto switch on the back.

For Sprague, make sure that the light is firmly seated in the shoe to insure that the electrical contacts are making the connection. As far as I know, there isn't any off / on setting for the power going to the shoe. I think it's possible that you've got a VL-3 with a bad light bulb. My suggestion is to return it to your dealer for an exchange.

OOPS! Sorry about that mistake Sprague, Chris is right... I thought that you meant the larger VL-10i.

Thanks guys! Glad I checked with you. Happy holidays.
ST