Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I have an AlienBees B800 unit. A few things are happening. I cannot get the camera to fire with the sync cord. When I initially plug the camera into the light, it fires telling me that the light reads my camera. That is the last time I can get it to fire with the cord. It fires fine through the slave, but I would rather use the cord.

Also, When I have a plug in the sync cord port, I can still fire with the slave. sn't the plug supposed to override the slave?

In addition, I have the Pixel Pawn TF-363 radio triggers. I cannot get them to fire the strobe. Has anyone used these successfully with this strobe and camera setup?

I am hoping there is nothing wrong with the sync port, but being that it fires when I first attach it to the camera, shows me that it's probably working.

Dennis

When a light is plugged in (AC) and powered on, it will fire when a 1/8" plug is inserted into the back of the light. Once fully inserted, the slave eye should become inactive. My immediate concern is that the 1/8" plug is not fully inserted. Press just a little harder on the plug and see if it goes in any farther.

Once it is fully inserted, you can use a (bare) metal paper clip, ball point pen, knife tip, etc to jump the rounded sheild and center pin of the PC connector that would go into the camera. When you touch both simultaneously, the light should fire. Do this several times while flexing the cable to ensure there is not a tension related problem with the cord.

If that checks out, then the light should fire from the camera, assuming there is no fault in the PC connection of the camera (i.e. there are no settings I am aware of that would disable the PC connection).

By chance, are the cords you are using stereo cords (have two black or white stripes on the plug that would go in to the sync jack)? That would explain why the radio remotes do not work.

Thanks for the quick response.

Well, I have jumped the sync cord and could not get it to fire. I noticed that the plug does not sit firmly in the sync port. I never really "snaps" in. So I'm thinking the cord is defective.

As for the radio triggers, the plug going into the B800 unit is mono, the end that goes into the trigger itself is stereo. Is that the correct setup?

Dennis

Possibly. Does the radio remote cord "snap" in?



It may or may not work, depending on how the cord is wired. If you have the means to test continuity, you can verify that tip to tip are continuous, and that the mono sleeve is continuous to the ring and sleeve of the stereo end.

Yes, The radio trigger does "snap" in and has a very secure fit whereas the sync cord does not. I am just going to order a new sync cord from the website. This way I am sure it is the correct one.

How would I check continuity for the radio triggers?

Dennis

If the cord is under warranty, give Customer Service a call before you place an order.




You would check continuity of the cables, not the remote itself. This is done with a multimeter. If you have one, great. If not, I would not buy one for this task alone.

You can also try reversing the direction the cord is used between the flash and remote (i.e try it with the mono end into the light. If that does not work, put the stereo end into the light). The other end in each respective case would then go into the remote.

I ams ure the cord is not under warranty anymore. So I will buy a new one. I have to order some other things as well.

Do you know if I could just buy a cord with two 1/8" mono inputs for the radio trigger?

Dennis

If both ends are 1/8", then here: http://www.paulcbuff.com/cssc.php

if one end is 2.5mm and the other is 3.5mm (1/8"), then here: http://www.paulcbuff.com/sccstaux.php