Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I've got one unit where the power slider doesn't have any effect any more. Is it broken, or is there some setting I could be missing?

It depends on how you are assessing it. If there is something in the telephone jack, this will overide the back panel. Remove this and try again.

If you are judging by the model lamp, make sure the track button is pressed in.

If you are judging by the exposures, check the EXIF data on the comparison images to ensure ISO and aperture are the same (do not go just by the displayed camera settings. Some cameras are sneaky and like to change ISO without it being apparent as to why. *cough* Nikon.)

If you are judging from a meter reading, be sure when you reduce power, you either fire the flash or let the excess energy dump before metering again.

That being said, there should be a visible and audible difference between full and minimum power. If you are not able to distinguish a change, then there could be an issue with the slider.

Thanks for the thorough response!

I've got the modeling light off, so I'm not judging it by that. I'm assessing the output by looking at two photos taken in succession, one with the slider all the way down, and the next with it all the way up. (And, before you ask, the subject was not the moon or something miles away. It was a car 10 feet in front of the flash unit, so there should have been a dramatic difference in the amount of light hitting it. ;)

I'm using a CyberSync™ Trigger Transmitter with the AB 800. It was my understanding that I needed to have the CSR+ connected with that short telephone cord to the AB for it to trigger. Are you saying that the telephone cord need not be connected, and with it connected, it's overriding the power output slider?

That is correct, unless you are using a Cyber Commander. If you are using the basic transmitter, you need to unplug the telephone cord and use the headphone style cord (the round one) instead.

I am having this same issue with my 400. Did you ever find a solution or did the unit need to be repaired? Thank you!