Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I have 3 Einsteins setup on channel 01, 02 and 03. These and my Cybercommander are all set to frequency 01. all Einsteins and Cyber commander have the latest firmwre upgrades. At least once during every studio shoot, I stand at the subject position and get ready to meter the 3 lights individually and then ALL together. what happens is I set the commander to channel 1 then press the meter button and as soon as I do, all 3 Einsteins fire SUPER fast and multiple times for a second or 2 and the Cyber commander turns off and then back on. Any ideas?

Thanks...Keith

Rapid firing of lights is typically an indicator of a weak battery in a CST. If you have one of those, you can remove the battery while you do your metering. If the probelem goes away, then a replacement battery is in order. However, the Cyber Commander rebooting is a different matter. That would require the CC to come in for repair. It may also be related to the rapid fire issue, but I do not recall that being a symptom before.

I do have the CST but that wasn't even on my camera and was sitting on a shelf. I also just changed the battery in the CST a week ago. I have shoots scheduled every week and it is going to be extremely tough to be without the commander. What is the normal turn around time to have the commander checked out and returned?

If the battery is low on the CST, then it does not have to be mounted on the camera, just within range and on frequency. If you have the means to test the battery, I would suggest doing so, as even a "new" battery can be weak or dead. A basic test for the battery is to press the CST button and see if the LED blinks red three times or not at all. Either would indicate a low battery, as it should only blink one time. Also, with cold weather setting in, if the CST is stored in cold temperatures (many shooters shoot in a garage), this could temporaraly decrease battery strength.

As for the CC, in house turn around time is typically 2-3 buisness days, not including transit times to and from, holidays or weekends. You can try to turn the screen brightness up to about 50% or higher as a temporary measure until the unit can come in.