Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I have purchased 4 AB800's with Cyber+ battery version and CC. 3 of the 4 AB800's will not respond to the POWER ON after being placed in STANDBY. I received 3 replacement AB800's today and all of the three replacements suffer from the same symptoms.
After extensive testing, I discovered that the AB800's will respond correctly only if the modeling light is in the FULL setting, or if the modeling light is set to 50W or above when in ADJ or TRACK. Less that 50W or OFF, AB800's will not respond to come out of STANDBY. That makes 6 out of 7 AB800's that function improperly, but this is the only command that is failing, all other commands function properly.
All the testing was using the same Cyber+ plugged into the AB800 one at a time with no other settings changed and the results are always consistent, 6 fail, 1 passes. Same results with each AB800 with its own Cyber+ and unique channel.

can you check to see if the remote that is attached on the working light will work on the other lights, set to the same channel/frequency.

We then need to see if the working flash/reciever combo will operate normally on a different channel.

I also have some problems going on with CSRB+ on ab800s. Using the CC and setting the modeling light to off does not turn off the modeling light. It dims for a moment then returns to whatever power it was on. Bit of a pain when using a grid spot, you can just smell the thing roasting and people think its their hair on fire. Luckily I mostly shoot things, and most of those have no hair.

Also, for no apparent reason at all the CSRB+ doesnt fire the 800, it just clicks, then if triggered a few times it will fire but not at the power set on the CC. The CC can lower this until the point that the flash just clicks with a tiny tiny amount of power, and it can be raised back to this lower power setting but it will never go past that low power setting (so at "full" there is this low power only and no POP!). Unplugging and replugging in the telephone cord (which has been swapped out with a known good one), hitting test on the CRSB+ a few times, and generally screwing about in panic seems to make it work again for a bit but doesnt fix the modeling light problem. Then this repeats. I have tested this particular light with a CSR+ and it worked fine. I also tested it with another CRSB+ and the same problems occurred after a while.

I have yet to test it on a 1600 but I believe the AB light doesnt matter, there is some problem with the CRSB+ and the CC. When I connect the CRSB+ to a speedlight it is fine, but since it just acts like a trigger only I would expect it to be fine.

I was thinking of returning the CRSB+ and just swap it for a CSR+ but I had bought the CSRB+ for using on a AB and for using on another speedlight at times when another is needed. I hope some sort of solution can be found before that.

first, do test it on the 1600 to see if there is any issue. Also, switch the frequency and channel dials off of thier current settings, then back. When setting it back, feel for the detent or "click". If the dial is a little off, it can work in some capacities, but not in others, or work intermittently.


*For posterity purposes, the first post is suspected to be linked to the electrical system in the building.* (update- it was not a voltage issue, it was, however an issue of running both the RJ11 and miniphone cords)

Thanks TS for the response. I will try this over the weekend.

Ive noticed on other lights (1600) using the CSR+'s that they too also sometimes go wanky for no reason. Wanky=None responsive...But they do fire but at some low setting and they wont go higher. Unplugging and then replugging them in corrects this for awhile, for a better word, wankyness...

Hopefully trying your suggestions will make them less wanky...

have you noticed during a "wanky" period if the red dump light is on on the back of the light?

Yes, the dump light is on and the light never goes green. Dumping fires but then the red light is back on again.

Hopefully I will be able to test Sunday or Tuesday.

Ok, if the red dump light is on, a faint click, or faint flash (we call it a tickle flash) is normal. The question now becomes why is the light in standby? If the recievers remain powered (particularly AC recievers left plugged in), and losts of settings are switched among several channel/ frequency changes (i.e. they are set to standby, then the channel or frequency changes, then they are turned on), then the recieves can kind of become unresponsive. The first step is to use the "refresh" command on the Cyber Commander. This is pressing up on the right joystick. This also requires a firmware version that has this command. The word "refresh" will appear in the lower left of the screen, if you have the correct firmware. The next step would be to double check to be sure you set the correct channel(s) to come "on" from "standby". If you are using the "all" channel setting, "on" may be highlighted in red. Since the screen cannot show all possible chanel configurations, if it says "on", switch it to "standby" then back to "on". This resets all channels to be on teh same setting. If all else fails, particularly if channel or frequency changes were made, remove power to the recievers and then power them back on, then use the refresh command.

I'll try this when I can.


FYI-All lights are turned off at individual Belkin power strips.

For giggles, remove the power strips, and see if anything changes.