Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello, I just recently purchased a Cybercommander along with three CSB+ triggers. The day I first used them, I had a hard time getting the individual channels to trigger but in the end I was able to get them to work. I was able to set individual power settings and trigger the lights individually.
Today, I set up for a shoot on location and grabbed my three AB lights and the whole cybersync set up along with my vagabond 2.
This time I was unable to get it to work and had to resort to my old cactus triggers to get the job done. I was lucky I brought them with me.
For what it is worth, my lights are 2 AB1600 and 1 AB800. I have my CSB+ set up to ch 1, 2 and 3 using frequency 1.
Upon returning home and thinking that my vagabond was the culprit, I took the lights out and set them up in my living room. I am unable to reliably trigger any of them. One of them, upon connecting the CSB+ it would start to trigger repeatedly and rapidly on its own.

Leaving the lights connected and powered on (while I did other things) resulted in the lights triggering randomly on their own.

Per the manual, I turn the lights on and set to full while ensuring all the buttons are pushed in. It is then that I plug the rj 45 cable into the connector. At this time, the flash would trigger once.

Pressing the test button on the CSB+ does nothing reliably (i.e. sometimes triggers the light but not most of the time). I can see the light on the CSB+ blinking red every time I press the test button on the cybercommander. It is normally blinking green when not in use. I have replaced the batteries on the cyber commander to no avail.

I have a PC cable connected on the PC port of the Alien Bees lights as indicated in the instruction manual.

Setting the Cybercommander back to factory defaults did not produce a different outcome.

Any help will be appreciated.

Did you remember to plug in a "dummy" plug into the 1/8 sync jack to disable the slave eye on the ABs that had the CSB+? Just a thought.

RMS

Yes, I have a pc cable plugged into the 1/8" receptacle. There is nothing connected on the other end of the cable.

Note that this affects all cybersyncs on all the lights that I have. Triggering the lights with my cactus v5 via PC cables works every time.

The fact that pushing the test button on the CSRB+ doesn't consistently fire the flash makes me wonder if it's the phone cords you're using. Are they the ones that came with the units? You could try connecting the CSRB+ to the flash using a 1/8 cable rather than the remote jack to help isolate the problem.

You could also try setting the whole setup to a different frequency. Maybe a nearby device is causing interference. Many wireless routers, cordless phones etc use a similar spectrum. As in, set CC and all CSRB to frequency 2 - or whatever - and see if it helps.

Thanks very much with the suggestion. I will try triggering the flashes using the csr+ and a stereo cable instead of the rj45. Note that the rj45 are the ones that came with the csr+. And yes, pressing the test button does not work consistently.

Regarding the frequency, I will try using a different one but during my on location shoot, I was nowhere near a residence, we were at a soccer field.

regards,

Jim

I'm pretty sure you'll need to use a mono 1/8 cord. There's also an issue with attenuation that tech support has mentioned on other threads - I can't remember if it's attenuated or non-attenuated that you need but I know one type won't work.

I searched but couldn't find that info about attenuation - TS will eventually jump in to clarify I'm sure. I did notice a suggestion to change frequency by a significant amount - as in frequency 5 or higher.

Well, finished testing the lights with the csr+ connected to them through the 1/8" cable instead of the rj45 and the lights fired every time this way. To be clear, I am triggering these lights with the cybercommander.

Also, pressing the test switch on the CSR+ fired the light every time.

I then disconnected the 1/8" cable from the csr+ and re-connected the csr+ to the light with the rj45 and the problem returned.

I did swap RJ45 cables around but the problem remained.

I also switched the frequency around but the problem remained with the rj 45.

This is the first time I have any issues with any PCB product, I hope someone from tech support chimes in soon.
I think these controllers are a good bang for the $$ and are ideal for the kind of shooting that I do.

thanks all for the help and I welcome any suggestions.

regards,

Jim

I have two 'like' PCB WL units and one of them displayed erratic behavior like when I went to plug the RJ11 cord into it for the setup, it did not fire the flash and the modeling lamp acted up. Then I wiggle it a little, and all was fine. When I switched RJ11 cords the issue stayed with the effected light. I looked into the RJ11 jack and saw one [i]slightly[i] bent connector wire. Did a little pull on it and now seems to be fine.

RMS

Lights firing on thier own when using the RJ11 indicates to me a likely bad ground situation. I would try removing any power strips or extension cords to rule out a bad component there. I would then try using a different outlet on a different circuit. I would also try the Vagabond II, but start with one light and see how it acts.