Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

First, I have been reading these forums for months now and have gained lots of helpful info here. So, I can not help but start this off with a HUGE thank you to PCB for their great products, unbeatable prices, and next-to-none customer service. You have gained another faithful customer.

Now, my main problem; I set up my lights today (1-B1600 and 2-B800s), trying to learn and become proficient with using my CC. (I am pretty intelligent and even handy with most gadgets, but this thing has a pretty steep learning curve. 8-) ) I will probably ask questions about that, later. :shock: I was trying to figure out, through testing, if the model lamp HAD to be turned off at the head or if it could be turned on at the head and turned off via the CC. Now I know what the setup instructions say, but I was not being able to do that, up to this point. So I plugged them into AC outlets (so as to not kill my Vagabond Minis) and followed the setup instructions to the letter. Even then, I'm not finding it easy to make (and visually confirm) changes to the lights from the CC, on the fly. I don't know, at this point if the changes are supposed to happen immediately, or if they take some sort of ENTER action or just time to occur. So I go, over and over again, changing light settings; everything from power adjustments to model lamp setting, to Recycle indicator/slave cell (both of which, I still have questions about). The only setting I SEE change, immediately, is flash power.

Throughout my testing, I noticed that I, suddenly, could not get the model lamp for one of the B800s to turn on, no matter what I do. So, after doing everything I could think of (including turning off, unplugging for a while and then re-setting up the light again), I decided to swap model bulbs between two of the lights. Suddenly, sure enough, the lamp is working. So I go to the light settings for that light on the CC and set it to OFF. Well, instead of the lamp going off, it starts flickering; looks like it is under-powered. This worried me, so I turned it back to Full. The flickering stopped. I switched it to OFF, hoping the first time was some weird fluke. Alas, the flickering starts again. I turned that light off and put the bulb that was NOT working in this light, into the B1600 and it's not working in it either.

So, I am sure that bulb is blown, but I am trying to figure out why. I have since figured out how to control the model lamps in the other two lights, from the CC with no real problem (though I am still not sure I have figured out the most effective/efficient steps to use). But every time I try it with this light, all I get is the flickering. So tell me, please, am I missing something or do I just have a bad model lamp in one of my Bees?

I wondered about the outlet but I plugged the B1600 into the same outlet and had no problems with it. So, now I'm at a loss.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. If I don't figure something out before then, I will likely call customer support on Monday, but figured I might find something out here, first.

Thanx for all the help and for reading all of this. (told you I was long winded)

To help isolate the source of your difficulties, try just plugging your Bees in a power outlet and adjusting them manually. Disconnect the CSR+ (which I assume you're using) and turn the modeling lamp on and set it to track the power. Slide the power up and down and make sure the modeling lamp changes appropriately. If it doesn't, there must be a problem with your flash unit itself. If the modeling lamp won't light at all, it is likely a bad bulb as you noted and you could swap bulbs between units to confirm that.

Regarding the CC, there is no "enter" action - changes in power of the flash or modeling lamp should reflect any change on the CC within a second or two. If the CC is set on ALL and you are controlling all three flashes, you should see the effect of your changes in each flash one at a time. (For example, if you increased the flash power of ALL by one stop, and you had the modeling lights on and tracking power changes, you should see your CH1 modeling lamp get brighter, then CH2 lamp, then CH3 lamp - all within maybe 2 seconds total.)

If your modeling lamps don't seem to be responding to the CC correctly, try this:

Disconnect your CSR+ from the flash, such that the power cord from the AC outlet is plugged into CSR+ and the CSR+ power cord is plugged into the Bee, but no other cables are connecting the CSR+ to the flash. Turn the flash off.

Now turn the flash back on and set it at full power. Make sure all three model lamp buttons (ON, TRACK, CYCLE) are depressed.

Now plug the remote cable (phone cord) into the Bee. (Also make sure it is plugged into the CSR+ firmly.)

You should plug a sync cord or dummy plug into the Bee's sync port if you want to disable the slave eye, which would normally be the case if you're using the CC. But don't plug the other end of the sync cord into the CSR+. The only connections between the CSR+ and the Bee should be the power cord and the remote (phone) cord.

The CC has three basic screens - FLASH, MODEL, and SETUP. Adjust model lamp power on the MODEL screen. You should see your changes reflected in the lamps within a second or two. (For this to work, you'll need to make sure that POWER for the Bee in question is ON in the LIGHT SETTINGS section of SETUP and that the Bee's MODEL MODE is set to ADJ in the same section. Or you can set the MODEL MODE to TRACK and you should see the model lamp brightness track any changes you make in flash power on the FLASH screen.)

Hope this helps!

Lee

First, make sure all three model lamp buttons on the back are pushed in, and the power slider is to the far right. This way we will know the light is not the limiting factor.

If you are seeing power adjustment change, then you seem to have the lights spec'ed correctly (you should only have 3 white dashes at the bottom). Go ahead and increase the power of the flashes each to full power.

Within each vertical flash bar, you should have a red or grey dash (this will depend on other settings). This is your relative model lamp indicator. Most people want this to track the flash output. Go to the MODEL screen (red trim). Select each channel in turn and increase the red or grey dash until it is at the top of the vertical flash bar. If it already is at the top, decrease the model power until you see it move, then increase it back up to the top. This will reset any offset dialed in. An offset can create a delay in model lamp reaction, as well as improperly reflect the power setting of the light in relation to other lights.

To make sure the model lamps are in track mode, go to SETUP>LIGHT SETTINGS>MODEL MODE=TRACK. To turn the model lamps off, MODEL MODE=OFF. For the purposes of this action, set this for each channel individually, once all lights are set the same, you can then use the ALL channel setting. Be careful you are changing the parameter and not the channel whenmakign changes. Sometimes changing channels will bring up your desired selection, but on the wrong channel.

MODEL MODE and POWER will be the only headings in that menu that will apply to anything other than Einstein. RECYCLE INDICATOR, COLOR MODE, SLAVE EYE cannot be adjusted on your lights via the Cyber Commander.

Once the model lamps are set to TRACK, and the offsets are corrected, you should see red dashes on the main screen, and the model lamps should react to your flash power adjustments mor or less immediately. When set to OFF, the red dashes will then turn grey, and the model lamps should turn off.