Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I am at the end of the rope here.....I have had my studio since August 2011 and I've just had it! Today I had to send a client home because my lights would not work. :(

Here's the story......after opening my studio I quickly realized there's something going on with the power in the building. My lights would work for 5-15 minutes before turning themselves off.....I was loosing it. I kept re-plugging into different outlets and they would sometime work but other times would not. I talked to landlord and they kept telling me it's the lights...it's the lights....I called the manufacturer and they reassured me that if I can run a TV on the outlet, the Bees should work with no problems. Landlord after long persuading changed all outlets and circuit breakers, but NOTHING is helping. Until I eventually noticed that two outlets in the whole studio are consistent and do not mess up my lights at all. SO I bought extension cords and basically was operating out of those 2 outlets thank goodness with no issues......until TODAY. That's when I decided to plug all 3 lights into ONE of those outlets and it did it again. Interestingly enough - one of those lights was turned off and the other two were running on minimal power.
So what happens to the lights? I do not know! They just stop running...it's almost like they drain all the power from the outlet and that's it. It takes anywhere between 20-60 minutes for them to start working again even if I change outlets. I am shooting and all of a sudden they stop flashing....all I can hear is tiny little weird click inside. There must be some safety feature inside that does not allow them to come back on for quite a while. So I had to send my client home this morning. So as long as I stay with those 2 outlets and do not plug more then 2 lights I am 'safe'. But how safe I really am? What the hell is going on? And also - the breakers do not go off - it's only the lights that stop working.

I immediately went to my landlord's office and the owner's were there and we talked and talked and they said they honestly don't know what else to check for. Am I going crazy here? What can be wrong? ?has anyone ever encounter this problem?

Also - one really weird thing that is going on in my studio is that when the lights are on and I am not even shooting, they are still somehow being triggered and are slashing here and there. There's so much static electricity in my studio that it's probably causing them to flash?? It's a really old building so who knows......

I talked to my step father who's electro-engineer and another electrician locally and they both said that if the wiring and all is really old and some screws are loose the power leaks into the system and overheats everything and that's what can cause the breakers to go off and perhaps the lights to stop working. BUT they say they have changed everything....so I don't know.

I can not work like this any more!!! The only thing I need is reliable power and I don't have it. Any advise??

First, are you using remotes that plug into the RJ11 (telephone) connection (CSR+ or CSRB+)?

If so, are you also using a Cyber Commander for the control?

If not, are you still using the RJ11 cords?

Have you tried to use the lights without the remotes, and if so, does the problem persist?

Have you tested the lights at a different location to isolate the lights from the power supply?

Yes, I am using Cyber commander (which I really struggle with by the way) with the RJ11 plugged in.

I have not tried shooting without the remote controls so can't say if it helped. I did try my lights at home and other people's home but without the cyber commander and this problem never happened.

Try in the problematic location witout the Cyber Commander. The symptoms you describe sound like a possible settings issue in the CC. If everything works without the remotes, then I would suggest calling in for assistance in setting up the CC as well as any further trouble shooting with it.

Those circuits/outlets probably have voltage beyond the normal 120V range. Does the dump light flicker on the back of the bee? That's usually an indication that the opamps in the RJ11 socket have latched up (crashed in digital speak :-)...

SO I just got back from my studio and tried different combination of outlets and outputs, power settings....doing one light, then two lights on full power (all with the CC though) and everything was fine of course. I just hate that!!! It always seems to happen when I have a paying client in there! I just flashed it at least hundred times at full power and it was just fine. That's what puzzles me the most about it. It works fine for the longets time and then it starts acting funny when I need it the most.

It sounds like the set up is OK (enough, anyway). Consider the equipment used previously and teh equipment used this time. Did any power cords, extension cords, power strips or outlets cahne or get removed? Consider the building you are in. Might you be sharing a circuit with equipment with a motor? A refridgerator, coke machine, air compressor, microwave, air conditioners, etc? Is the circuit shared with flourescent lighting? Are you sharing a circuit with a computer and/or camera AC power adapter?

When the lights quit responding, do you get a constant red LED on the reciever?

I don't shoot too often in my studio...but was there few days ago and had no issues, as long as I use the two outlets I know are working and don't plug all 3 lights into one of those at once. Honestly, isn't that enough to know that the problem is not the lights?

I have separate circuits for everything, because I get charged only for my usage.


Can you tell me what kind of tests it would be good to run on those outlets to find out what is going on? Is it some kind of an inconsistency in the power? The landlord is willing to hire professional electrician and if he finds a problem they will pay for it but if he says there's nothing wrong with it than I will pay for it. Any advice?

You have two outlets (is this two actual outlets, or two wall plates with two outles each?), but three lights. If it is only two outlets, how are you connecting the third light? If you are using a multi-tap/power strip, try a different one. With the two light set up you have that works, start replacing one component from the third light at a time. Swap the power cord, then the reciever, then the RJ11 cord, then the light. Each component you swap, test to see if the problem reappears.

You can also get a circuit tester from the hardware store. If it says there is a problem, then there is. If it says there is not, there still could be.

So, nobody else is on your circuit (presumably), but what else of yours is on that same circuit or other circuits you have tried?

I have two wall plates - each with two outlets - that don't cause problems. After I discovered that these work fine I purchased a multi power strip extension cord and I plug two of the lights to that and the third one into the other wall plate. I don't always keep the same lights in the same outlet....I do switch them around. That was one only time when I put all thre into the power strip and that was the only time it caused problem. Otherwise any other outlets in the whole studio will cause problems even with one light in it.

I will check with the landlord that no one else is on my circuits.