Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I was having a problem using CSR+ units with AB800's and the Cyber Commander controller.

One day I brought them out to use and the lights on the back were red and when I would press test, it would only fire a very tiny flash.

I read around on the internet and I believe this could have been because they might have been set to standby. I'm not sure.

Anyway, I still am having problems with them.

Yesterday, one of them would not fire with the Cyber Commander when I set the controls to the right channel/frequency for adjusting the power levels, but the AB800 or CSR+ seemed to be unresponsive, though it sometimes fired with the CST. I'm not sure exactly but it started working again after a little while.

I looked around and decided I would follow the directions on the internet that all of the buttons on the AB800 should be pressed in when used with a CST+. I had not had the modeling light button (the one at the far left) pressed in because I did not want the modeling lights on. I pressed it in and then went into the controls on the CC unit, but when I tried to set the modeling lights for an AB800 to OFF, it would either be bright (on all the way) or dim, but not off. I do not want to use the modeling light at all many times, especially if being used portably on battery power.

I am using the factory supplied phone jack shaped cable to connect the CSR+ to the AB800 and am using a cut off 1/8" plug plugged into each AB800 unit to disable the optical slave. All of the other buttons are now pressed down.

I've searched around but am not finding any answers/solutions. Could the problems I was having be due to the modeling light button not being pressed in? If so, how can I disable the modeling light with the CC?

I just updated the CC firmware to V36, which appears to not affect any of this.

The model lamp buttons should all be pressed in. As well, the power slider should be to the far right (full power). For troubleshooting purposes, plug the light directly in to the wall, bypassing any extension cords or power strips.

If the CSR+ is still not responsive, check for the following:
-Do you have a white dash under the appropriate channel on the CC? If not, the CC needs to be programmed for a light (if there is no dash) or needs to switch from STANDBY to ON (if there is a gray dash)
-do you have a vertical blue bar on the channel? If you have a white dash and a hollow vertical bar, press and hold up until blue appears
-do you have a red dump light on the back panel of the flash? If the CC shows a blue bar, try pushing the refresh command (right joystick up). Otherwise unplug and reseat the telephone connection.
-does the reciever blink red in response to the test button on the CST/CC? If not, try reselecting the frequency and channel on the dials

Thanks I will save this list to double check next time I have problems and report back if none of these suggestions helps solve it.

However, last night when I was having a problem, I had the correct AB800 lights programmed, the flash levels were not at the bottom without my knowledge, or if they were it was an issue where they wouldn't change. At some point the red dump light was on and I unplugged the CSR+ from the power and changed the frequencies and levels on and back, but the red light was not on all of the time when it wasn't working right. When I pressed either button on the CC for that frequency and channel combination to flash, I did not see the led on the CSR+ blink a different color to indicate it was receiving the message to trigger.

Also, what about the modeling light issue? I can't get it to turn off with the CC when I have the modeling light button pushed in on the back of the AB800.

Is this on multiple lights or just one? Is the unit plugged directly into the wall?

Multiple lights. Same story either plugged into the wall or plugged into battery power.

Still not able to get the AB800 modeling lights to turn off with the CC.

Is there a fix for this? Or is there a good reason why the modeling light button has to be pushed in?
Or maybe not having the modeling light button pushed in was why I was having problems with the CSR+ being unresponsive to the CC?

Sorry you did not get a response earlier, the post got shuffled further down than I realized after my long weekend. The circuitry for the RJ11 does rely on the model lamp to be in the on position. Otherwise it may not function properly. As for the model lamp not shutting off, I am looking into it.

Hi there, I just got my CSR+ units & the Cyber Commander & am having a constant "red light" on the back of the flashes & the no firing issue intermittently issue with both my AB800 & 400 as well. (The Einstein is working fine.)

All 3 units are plugged into a power bar & I've found that they work for a short time if I unplug & plug the units in again, which leads me to believe it's a power signal issue? & also makes me wonder...
Am I going to be able to use the cyber commander & CSR+ units with my Vagabond II & my Vagabond mini on location if they can't seem to hold power through a power bar that's directly plugged into the wall? Do the CSR+ drain more power as they idle?

I specifically invested in the set-up because I'm tired of running around & raising & lowering all my stands to control my lights independently when I shoot on location, but are these meant only for in one's studio & plugged directly into the wall?

Sorry for my ignorance with the "power" thing, it's always been my weak spot.

thanks for the time! :)
wenz

First, I would remove the power strip from the power chain and plug the lights directly to the wall to see if there is any change in performance. As a rule, you should be able to run them through the power strips, but that does not mean there is not something awry about that specific strip or that specific design of strips. If the problem persists, keep the strip out of the equation until the problem is resolved.

Assuming the problem persists; the red dump light tells me the reciever does not have a command to pass to the light, or it has a command to have the light off. Goven that dropping the power to the reciever (thus erasing any stored commands) lets you shoot for a little bit before returning to the dump light stage, this tells me there is a setting in the Cyber Commander that is refreshing (as it is supposed to) and turning the lights back off.

Before we go any further, I must establish the Bees have the power sliders set to the far right, and the model lamp buttons pushed in. Also, each reciever is set to the same frequency, but unique channels. Frequency and channel indicators are the deeper cut end of the slot cut into the dials. I will assume you are using channels 1, 2, 3. I also assume Einstein is channel 1.

Since Einstein is working correctly, we will use its channel as an example to work from. At the very bottom of the bar graph for the Einstein's channel, you should see a white dash. In the actual graph, you should see a vertical bar going from EU -1 to EU 6.7 (as indicated in white numbers to the right of the bar graph). This bar should be completely or partially filled with blue. The other two channels should also have white dashes in the same place, as well as a similar vertical bar (which will each be positioned differently, and of a different length). You may also see green, yellow, or red dashes on the graph. At this time, I am not concerned about those. As well, a gray dash may also appear in the vertical bar, I am not yet concerned about it.

Do the other two channels have the same white dashes at the bottom of the channel column, or are they gray, or are they absent? If they are white (the same as Einstein) do you also see blue in the vertical bar?
What appears under the word "POWER" in the lower left corner?

Thank you for the reply:)
Yes, I have all the sliders to the right & the appropriate buttons pushed in. I have the channels & frequencies set.
I am also able to get the white dash under the channels after fiddling with it, I THINK my inability to do so intermittently is due to the spotty communication with the CSR+ & Flash units. So, I set the light models, the graphical sliders appear & I'm even able to toggle the graphic sliders up & down.
When I'm able to get to this point, if the lights don't fire, I pull the power from the CSR+ & plug them back in again & generally the light goes green & I'm able to fire them few times each before the red dump light takes over & one if not both stop working. (& the test light on the CSR+ some times goes orange/red from green as well).


After work this evening I will try anything above you have suggested that I've missed, & I will plug them directly in to the wall independently, to see if I can get them to perform directly as reliably as the Einstein does. (I will admit right now, I AM using fairly generic/cheap power bars.)

I really hope it's a "settings issue" or just because it's not a high quality power bar or something, because if they are this difficult to get to run smoothly plugged into a common power bar to the wall, I'm concerned relying on them on location with the battery power could end up being a bad idea.


thanks again for the great customer service,
wenz