Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello,
I have 3 Alien Bees 800. One of them double flashes every time I fire it. The other two just flashes only once. This happens all the time, whether I use it as a solo flash. Or if I connect it to a wireless trigger. What would cause this double flash? I don't think its the slave censor because when I connect it with the sync cable it still double fires.

Are you using this light in conjunction with a TTL flash?

How are you typically triggering this light?

Plug in the light and turn it to FULL. Plug in a cord into the sync jack (something to lock out the slave eye), but do not connect to a remote or camera. Fire another flash into the back of this one. Use a low power setting so you can distinguish which lights are firing. We are looking to see if the slave eye is actually being locked out of the suspect flash.

We also need to rule out the AC power source. One by one, replace (or remove), and test: a new outlet, extension cords, power strips, 15' power cord, etc.