Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Does alien bee units make noises? I can't hear so I want to know if it does make any kind of noises?

I'm sure fan makes noises but other than fan?

You can set them to beep on recycle to indicate they are ready to fire again. On full power they might also make a little "pop" sound when they are fired but it isn't much or distracting.

How do I turn off the beep sound? I sure don't need beep

Alien Bees do not have the recycle beep, only Einsteins do (of our products). Normally, all of our products will have a hum noise from the fan, a pop from the flash tube, and every now and again, a model lamp will buzz if dialed down (that is the nature of incadescent bulbs). White Lightnings will beep if there is an error (overheat, misfire, etc), Vagabond I and II will beep when low on power.

Occasionally, a light may give of a "crack" sound, if there is a misseated flash tube. This is the sound of the tube arcing. I do not think this would be more disturbing to subjects than the flash of the light (i.e. for animal photography, as you mentioned in other posts). However, this condition will damage the flash tube and head. I would suggest periodically making sure the flash tube is seated (push in on it) and/or have someone familiar with the normal sound monitor it.

Also, ANY flash is subject to a component failure, most notibly a capacitor. Small capacitors can make a kinda big bang. And big capacitors will make a very big bang. Fortunately, this is very very rare with any flash unit.