Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

i've read/seen enough reviews/blogs and heard most state that when things go wonky it's usually time to replace batteries. i also understand that a new user is going to burn through the first set of batteries quickly and i did so too as i set the CC to stay on for 10 min instead of 20 seconds while i was learn'n it.
well 'they' never gave examples of what's going wonky typically.
maybe we can list/share examples of what's went wrong and how/if changing batteries fixed the issue(s).
i had an experience last night and did replace batteries and all was fine.
after a couple of days fiddling around with just a couple/few lights i finally plugged in all 6 (ABs and E640s) and had everything working nicely. all lights specced and named as I would do so in a studio environment.
two E640 (chn 1 and 2) four ABs (chn 3 to 6 and with two ABs (chn 5 and 6) on grp 2 as well). All lights on frequency 1. AC powered CSR+
I had all the lights lined up in a row in front of me as i was learninig CC. after i was satisfied that everything was working good and i had "it all figured out" to my satisfaction it was time to set up for a real trial shoot.
i moved(unplugged) all the lights and moved them to a different location.
i (re)set all lights/triggers (according to manuals) and had everything working (communicating) as they were just previously.
i metered(tested/fired) all 6 lights individually and 'ALL' using CC...all ratios good, all firing good so... I called in the 'model'. i fired off a couple shots using CST on camera and noticed only the main (ch1) and fill (ch2) (both E640) were firing. what the "F"? i turned on CC and now all channels other than 1 and 2 were blinking red.
I unplugged power to (reconnected as described in manual) the CSR+s but all those four channels still did not work. i put in new batteries to CC and all was fine.
the odd thing is... i figure the CST (set to Freq 1) should fire all channels on Frequency 1 even if CC is wonky, no?
Paul

The most common fault situation I run into with my 4-strobe/cc/cst setup is when 1 or more lights suddenly get into this state. It always seems to be a result of instigating some kind of change on the CC, and when it happens, the CSR+ units that are affected will simply no longer respond to either the CST or the CC. The "fix" that always works for me is to simply remove power from the affected CSR+ units for a few seconds, then start them up again. A subsequent "refresh" from the CC gets everything back in sync. I can definitely say that this happens regardless of battery condition on my CC.

I don't have the tools or inside knowledge to say for sure, but it certainly appears that this specific issue is an error condition of the CSR+ units themselves. In my case, the situation is always triggered by doing something on the CC -- sometimes all it takes is moving the "cursor" to a specific light. But as long as the CSR+ units are in this state, the lights won't respond to wireless commands until the receivers are power-cycled.

Glad to see I'm not the only one experiencing this problem. I have 4 AB800's, 4 CSRB+ and a CC. Each AB is on its on Channel on FQ 3. Since I've had the CC it reboots all the time and is annoying at best. I need to send it back in but have work to do with them. Anyway, I keep noticing that during a shoot, one or maybe two of the AB's stop firing. I can remotely fire the other two. I've tried everything to figure out whats causing it. I've pulled the batteries out of the CC and its had no effect in getting them back. I've pulled the batteries out of the CSRB's with no effect.

Yesterday it happened twice and the last time I could never get them back to working and had to end my photoshoot early. This is unacceptable for a professional shoot with a client and model just sitting there while I'm trying to fix the situation.

Totally frustrated!!

Is anyone running firmware 29?

Have you tried increasing your screen brightness to about 45% or more? Typically, this will stop the rebooting until you can send it in.

Version 32 for me.

I just received my CC and stuff Friday. I'll look for the FW vrs. # after work.
I'll unplug the power to CSR+ for more than a quick second next time. I'll also try the Refresh option too. I guess I'll re-try the batteries in CC and see if the problem re-occurs.
-One other odd thing is one of the AB's (400) modelling light does not power to zero when CC is set to standby (ALL). it's always the same light and the condition is repeating but maybe not 100% of the time. the model light does power down to a lower extent but not off (down to zero) as the all others are.
Paul

You have 32 firmware.