Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I have been working with this thing for three hours and cannot get it to fire.

I purchased the CC and one CSRB+ remotes. I plugged the CSRB into an WL1600 using the "phone" jack, I then walked through the setup in the manual, but it never fires. One thing that I found strange, the dump light is red on the AB and when I push the test button it flickers the light but does not fire the flash like I would expect.

Any flippin idea where to start? This has been the most frustrating setup I have ever had.

Yes they are both on freq 5 and I am dealing with channel 1.

When everything is set up correctly, you should have a little white dash below the channel that the light is on. If it is there, and the Frequency is set properly, try pushing up on the left joystick (use the "refresh" command). Alternatively, scroll to the a"all" channel, and try firing. One it fires, you can go back to the desired channel.

If neither of these work:
a- make sure all model lamp buttons are pushed in, and the sliders are to the far right.
b- with the light on, unplug the telephone jack, and plug it back in
c- in the CC, go to the light settings screen, and switch the power to standby, then back to on, make very sure you are not changing the channel while you do so.

Did you make sure the receiver was on and the 1600 was on before you plugged in the phone line? Setting up my lights took some time to do but I was able to get it all working fine. So don't get too frustrated if you don't get it on the first try as it is a complicated task. The new Einsteins should be a walk in the park to set up when they come out.
Also make sure you put a dummy plug into the syn jack on the light.

RMS

Hi. I am experiencing similar issues with my CyberCommander and CSR+ units. I have two CSR+ and have tested them with a B1600 and X3200. I've successfully used the CC in the past (several months ago) but the other night I could not get them to work. I do have a dummy plug inserted in both of them and power is set to full.

When I press in either left stick or right stick or switch to all channels the same thing happens with either unit:
1. The first time I plug in the unit, it will get the ready light.
2. No matter what power level I set in the CC, the strobe will fire at full power.
3. After the first pop (sometimes two pops) the strobe will no longer have a ready light.
4. If I try to trigger the strobe whether by pressing in the left stick (1 channel or all channels) or press in the right stick or press the test button in either CSR+ unit, I will get a little flick of light and a small "clink" sound.

The CC has a brand new set of batteries. I have tried plugging the strobes directly to the wall and using an extension cord. I've tried using frequency 1 and frequency 16. I've tried using different dummy plugs and different RJ-11 cables with the same result. I've tried using both CSR+ units with both of my strobes.

Notably when I use the same RJ-11 cables with a Radiopopper JrX Studio, it works perfectly.

Please help me figure out how to make this work. Thanks in advance.

Best regards,
Mic

Do you have white dashes under the appropriate channels? White will match the text in the lower corners. Or do you have gray dashes, gray will match the lines in the graph.

Hi Tech Support! Thanks so much for responding. I ran some tests again and the color of the bars at the bottom all seemed white to me. Anyhow, I was finally able to get both CSR+ units to work with both an X3200 and B1600. I think the main thing was that I made sure to turn on both the strobe and the receiver first before connecting the RJ-11. That's something I didn't pay attention to until I read about it in this forum. It also helped that I had a CSRB+ which seems to have fewer points of failure.

In the process I also identified these as independent problem sources:
1. One of my RJ-11 jacks doesn't work. The ones that work are very short and the jacket is off-white. (Were those the ones that were supplied with the CSR+?)
2. One of my AC cables doesn't work. It will power the strobe and the CSR+ but for some reason it won't trigger properly. When this is the issue, the ready light is blinking green instead of steady green.
3. Sometimes using AC power won't work or will stop working (in which case I switch to the Vagabond Mini). Both the strobe and CSR+ will be on but it won't trigger.
4. Sometimes the Vagabond II won't work. I will hear from the X3200 a continuous beep that doesn't stop (even though the unit isn't hot at all). Note: I will recharge the Vagabond II and will try again.

Other notes:
1. After first connecting the CSR+ to the strobe, it might not trigger properly right away. It seems to help to press the test button, test-fire the "all" channel, then go to the particular channel and adjust power up and down.
2. After changing batteries on the CC, the calibration on the flashmeter could be changed and can be very wrong (on my unit, I suddenly got a +12-stop correction).
3. If the light is way stronger than f90+ (due to incorrect calibration or other factors) it may display f<1.0.

Best regards,
Mic

That is our official recommendation. However, I have found that teh RJ11 can be inserted when the unit is powered up. The right joystick up is a refresh command that rebroadcasts to the recievers. This will often let the lights start firing. If not, fire on all channels first, then select individual lights.


Our RJ11's are black and about 2' long.


Can you swap power cords between this head and the other head to see if the problem follows the head or the power cord? Have you eleminated the AC outlet as a problem?


Please elaborate on this statement. DO you mean on wall AC, the units will be on, but not work. At this time you switch to the VML and they do work again, or will still not work?


How old is the VII, and has it ever been serviced? Do the characteristics of the light change if the RJ11 is unplugged?


Not a bad path to follow, especially if the RJ11 is in when the light is powered on.


This does not typically happen after a regular battery change. However, if the LOW BATT warning appears and the unit crashes due to the low battery, then it is not uncommon (or if rechareables are used, or lithiums may not give the LOW BATT indicator due to thier voltage/discharge profile).

On the previous occasion when it wasn't triggering properly I had tried using the refresh command several times but it still wouldn't trigger properly. I haven't ruled out the possibility of other problems but will post if I succeed using the alternate procedure.


When I was using the problematic AC power cord, it wouldn't work with either CSR+ unit, and it wouldn't work whether I was plugged into the power outlet directly or to a Vagabond Mini. And when I switched to another power cord, the setup was working correctly. So I concluded that that particular power cord wasn't working with the setup.



Here's what happened. I had gotten the setup to work correctly with the X3200 on ch1 (plugged to a Vagabond Mini) and B1600 on ch2 (plugged directly to the wall). I was fiddling around with the setup raising the power up and down on each channel, testing the flashmeter, etc. At one point, the B1600/CSR+ stopped triggering. (IIRC, pressing the test button had no effect either). I even tried changing to ch3, and turning it on and off (removing the RJ-11 each time). It just wouldn't work until I plugged it into the Vagabond Mini instead. Then it started triggering properly again. I should note that occasionally this particular AC outlet is a GFCI outlet and trips about twice a month.



I bought the VII used. I believe it is a couple of yrs old. I can get the serial if you want. At the time I bought it, the battery was dead and I replaced it with a totally new battery. I always leave the VII plugged into the wall to keep it charged except when I take it on a shoot. IIRC the continuous beep will stop if the RJ-11 is not plugged. I will try again to confirm.


You're right I did get a low batt warning. The previous battery was lithium. When I plugged in a new battery, I saw that the channels had weird names but I was able to restore from the saved memory. I thought that fixed everything but apparently the calibration was off. Fortunately it was an easy fix. :)

Best regards,
Mic

OK, it sounds as though you have properly isolated the bad power cord. If it is a light under warranty, contact customer service for warranty replacement. Otherwise, you can purchase a cord through us or from a local supplier of computer cords.

Re: the VII. You can contact us with the serial number. The inverter may need an update.

Re: the loss of communication on the one light. Removing and reinstalling the RJ11 doesnt really do anything. However, when you unplugged the reciever from the wall tehn moved it to the VML, that would have reset the reciever. If it happens again, try removing power from the reciever (unplug the power cord from the bottom of the reciever) and reapplying it. If you find this is happening frequently, try changing frequencies (by 5 or more).