Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello,

A couple of years ago I bought Alien Bees flash units and an RFT1TX Radio Flash Trigger at the alienbees.com website. Never had problems until this week, when the RFT1TX receiver started to show some unusual behaviour: false triggers several times per minute. I tried to connect it to another flash unit and to another power outlet and even removed the battery from the transmitter but it didn't help. The flash units fire by themselves several times per minute and when I use my camera, they often don't fire at all. I programmed the RFT1TX to another channel, synchronized it again with
the flash unit but it didn't help.

It seems like nothing has changed since the last week's photo session when everything worked perfectly.

I don't use radio or TV. The only new thing was the wireless door ring installed this week in the building but we removed all the batteries both from the emitting and receiving devices and it didn't help. There is a parabolic antenna installed on the roof but it was there all the time.

Do you have any suggestion for solving this problem? Is it possible that the RFT1TX has suddenly stopped working properly or it looks more like an interference problem?

Thank you!

Anna

There were two types of plugs used with the RFT1's, 1/4 and 1/8". If you need to use one type with a flash that uses the other type you will need to use an adapter. Are you using an adapter like that? If so, it could be bad causing shorts. Replacement adapters can be purchased from Radio Shack. A replacement battery could help, though it may not since the firing continued when the battery was removed. Also, it is quite possible the remote is bad, or interference is causing the problem, but those are the things you can try.

I use Alien Bees B400 and B800, the plug is 1/8", the same as on the RFT1, so I don't use the adapter. It shouldn't be the problem with the battery neither, because as I wrote the firing continues even with with the battery removed.

Looks like an interference problem. Even when the flash is turned off but stays connected to the power outlet, I see that the green light on the the RFT1 receiver flashes red several times per minute.

What kind of interference can cause that? It should come from some neighbours because as I mentioned, nothing has changed in our apartment. Is there a solution for that?

With the blinking LED, i would suspect an external signal. Any number of things could emit that signal. The only way to correct would be to try to change channels to dial out of the interference.

Thank you for the answer.
I made a test changing between all the 8 channels available. It didn't help :(
I saw that the RFT1TX Radio Flash Trigger is not longer for sale at Alien Bees website. Has it been replaced by newer models? Do the new models provide better protection against interference? Would you suggest to replace the RFT1TX by something else?

We discontinued the RFT1 system about 2.5 years ago. They were replaced with the Cyber Sync system.: http://www.alienbees.com/remotes.html. The new system is far less subject to interference, if not immune. Please note the components of each are not interoperable between systems (i.e. Cyber Sync transmitters will not trigger RFT1 recievers, and vice versa).

I checked the info about the Cyber Sync system. In the description of the Cyber Commander it says that "the 16 user-selectable frequencies within a 2.4GHz band offer complete freedom from interference". Will the system provide the same freedom from interference if I only use the CST Trigger Transmitter in combination with the CSR CyberSync Receiver connected to one of the flash units allowing three additional flash units to fire via their flash-sensitive trippers? (There are no other photographers working in the same room).

The Cyber Commander and CST use the same frequencies, so you should not have any issues. Any radio interference would only directly affect the reciever light, however any other slaved light would trip if the reciever light fired.