Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

The several I have around last for months when idle, as they are designed to do.

I just use an old-school plastic soap box, the same kind they issued us in basic training 40 years go.

I just experienced the same issue.

When I received my Cyber Commander a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't get it to power on. The batteries were dead. So, I replaced the batteries with brand new Duracell batteries.

Two days later, the Duracell's were dead. I know that the unit couldn't have accidentally been powered on as it was sitting face up on the table.

I just replaced those batteries with new Duracell's. I'll have to check the battery power in another day or so to see if those are drained.

I happened to come across this thread because I assumed that I didn't know how to power off the unit.

Glenn

To those with battery issues: did any of you set the screen brightness up, or increase the time out settings?

The screen on my unit seems really bright...but I'm not sure how to adjust it. I don't recall making any adjustments to brightness or time out settings.

I hold the left button down for a second and the unit seems to power off.

I've replaced the batteries again and I'm hoping that they last longer this time. I checked this morning and the power is adequate. Perhaps the batteries I put in the unit last time were low on power...

Glenn

I put fresh industrial grade batteries in the unit and left it on a shelf in my office with nothing touching it. After 5 days the batteries are now at 1.2 volts. During this 5 days I did not turn the transmitter on. It just sat idle on the shelf.

I forgot to answer the question from technical assistance.

Since I bought the unit, I did at one time increase the 'on time' to 20 seconds while I was learning how to use it but since then have set it back to the default.

This unit is a replacement unit that I received after the 'ratchet base' broke within minutes of using my original unit.

The ratchet base on this one hasn't broken, but isn't a whole lot better than the original. It swivels back too easily and feels like it's going to break ratcheting forward. Is that standard?

I can't say that I'm as impressed with this transmitter as I have been with all my other Alien Bee equipment.

What are the odds of returning this unit again and getting a transmitter that actually turns off as advertised, and has a base that works reasonably well?

The brightness and time out can be adjusted by going to SETUP>ADVANCED CONFIGURATIONS>CYBER COMMANDER SET UP.

From there, up and down and left or right on the left joystick will change these parameters.

We have only heard of a very few number of Commanders draining batteries in the way described here. We are looking into this now for any problematic ones. The chances of getting one that drains the batteries are very low. The ratchet foot is pretty consistent from unit to unit.

When you contact customer service for an exchange, let them know what yours is doing, and see if there is any extra attention that can be given to it.

Thank you