Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello I recently purchased a Cyber Commander this past week and I've already run through 8 AAA batteries in 5 days. If I leave my batteries in the unit they will die within 3-6 hours. If I take them out I can sometimes stretch them between 2-3 shoots that are around 50-100 shots per shoot. I am not getting anywhere near 6 months of sleep time while using premium batteries. Do I have a defective unit? I am running firmware v50. Is there an off switch coming down the pipeline? Thank you.

How long is the LCD staying on? Default is 20 seconds, but can be adjusted longer. Likewise, the default LCD brightness is 20% but can also be adjusted. If either of these are adjusted, the battery life can be reduced considerably. Also, the screen does not need to be on for the unit to fire, so if it is awake for settings changes or turned on for use, this will have the same effect as changing the screen on time.

Additionally, the figure stated is with a premium set of alkaline batteries. Unbranded or store branded batteries can yield shorter run times (unpredictably).

A corrupted memory card could cause the unit to draw power unnecessarily. If you want to try ejecting the card and timing the batteries, you can.

Otherwise, there may be an issue in that specific CyberCommander.

The screen brightness is set on factory default 20% and I decreased the time that the screen stays on to 10 seconds. I use a Cybersync trigger on the hot shoe for my camera and I don't even use the Commander to fire my lights. I use it solely as a light meter and a wireless control for my e640s. I've used duracells, energizers, and amazon batteries but they all seem to last for only 6 hours in sleep mode. Meaning when I put the unit in my bag after a shoot and get it out the next day for another shoot the batteries are completely drained.

The low battery warning comes up and then from that point on the unit will fail to turn on until I replace the batteries. The only solution that seems to work for me is to take the batteries out after every shoot and I can stretch their life a little longer.

I don't think it's a corrupted memory card because when their are fresh batteries it performs perfectly. Is there something I should do to check out the card? or whats the next steps if it is my particular unit?

Thank you.

I would then suspect something in the battery terminals. It may be something as simple as bending them in a bit to make better contact on the AAA batteries, if the batteries feel loose. Or it could be a deeper problem.

If the batteries are snug, then we will need to have that unit come back. Customer Service will be able to assist you in arranging the return. With it being brand new, it will be swapped.