Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hello,

I am trying to maximize the power output from my Z2500BTH flash head with two flashtubes. In order to do this, I have connected the 'A' connection from the flash head to the 'A' connection on one Z2500 power pack, and the 'B' connection from the flash head to the 'B' connection on a second Z2500 power pack (I tried connecting the 'B' connection from the flash head to the 'A' connection on the second power pack, but had the same results).

In order to test if both flashtubes were actually going off, I took the following steps:

1) Power on both power packs
2) Turn both sliders on both power packs all the way up to the maximum level
3) Wait for the green 'Ready' light to turn on on both power packs
4) Slide both sliders on both power packs all the way down to the minimum level, causing the green 'Ready' light to turn off, and the red 'Dump' light to turn on
4) In order to manually dump the excess power, push the red 'Test' button on the power pack with the 'A' connection from the flash head connected to it (the 'Test' button on the other power pack did not do anything, as 'A' triggers 'B' on the flash head)

The expected result would be that once the red 'Test' button was pushed, both power packs would have the green 'Ready' light on and the red 'Dump' light off, as the excess power has been manually dumped. However, the green 'Ready' light is still off and the red 'Dump' light is still on on the power pack with the 'B' connection from the flash head connected to it.

Any ideas/thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks.

Do you have any telephone cords in the RJ11 REMOTE connection? Have you tried retesting this configuration, as well as testing the one pack alone?

I just used another Z2500BTH flash head that we have, and both power packs went to the green 'Ready' state after step 4 in my previously described steps.

Does this mean that one of the flashtubes in my other Z2500BTH is not working? Or is it one of the cables? Even if I were to connect both 'A' and 'B' into one power pack, how would I know whether or not both flashtubes are actually going off (I took a video looking into the flash head, but the flash was too quick for me to be able to tell whether or not both flashtubes went off)?

My general recommendation to ensure both tubes are firing is to take a photo of them. With this much power, this may be difficult, but as small of an aperture as you can get, as low of an ISO as you can get will help, as will reducing power on the pack(s). If there is still too much power, you can aim the flash at a window and take a photo of the reflection. Since the window is transparent, most of the light will pass through it, and only a smaller portion will reflect and back into the lens.


As for the ready indicator, I ask again if this happened in more than one test? And do you have a telephone cable inserted into the REMOTE jack.

Also, how long did the dump light stay on and/or did it ever go to green?

It is possible the flash head was not fully connected, or there may be damage to the connectors in the flash cable or pack. Check the pins and sockets for a charred appearance on the metal bits.

Will try your window idea to see if both tubes are firing.

Regarding the ready indicator, this happened on several tests (I tried it around 7-8 times).

I have nothing connected to the REMOTE jack.

The dump light stayed on for probably around 45 seconds, and then the power pack switched to the green ready light.

Will also look to see if there has been any damage to the connectors in the flash cable and/or the power pack. I would be surprised to see this, as I just received these items a couple of weeks ago.

Also, there is a clip or jumper wire that connects the two tubes. Be sure this is in place, or the B side will not trigger. You can compare with another BTH to ensure they are the same.

A full dump on one Z2500 power pack should take about 37s, so I imagine the one side is not firing.