Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Used the x1600 for the first time. I have a Canon 7D, with a TT5 on the shoe, I have a TT5 and AC9 attached to the x1600, with the plug adapter placed inside the Sync port. I noticed after the 1st hour of shooting, the DUMP light would go on, and I could not use the light anymore. I would hit the button to dump it, but that didn't work. I ended up pulling the plug. When I turned it back on, I took a couple of pictures, then the DUMP light would come back on. I unplugged it again, removed the the adapter plug from the SYNC port, and I was able to us it the rest of the night.

Any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance... TJ

There could be a few things going on which could be environmental related, or settings related, or remote related. I can help with the first two to eliminate those.

First, you should verify the light has a proper ground. If the outlet is not properly grounded, then the light can revert to a DUMP state, and not work, especially when using the RJ11 remote jack. A fault in the ground can come from the outlet, and extension cord, power strip, or even the included power cord. I would suggest removing extension cords and power strips first to see if the problem goes away.

Also, we have seen the RJ11 phone cord included with the AC9 to be mis-sized. When plugged in, there should not be any side to side wiggle. If there is, you should get a different cord (4 conductor cross over type). This wiggle can cause poor or no connections where there needs to be a connection.

Also, make sure the flash power and model lamp power sliders are set to FULL. If they are not set there, then there may not be proper reference voltages passing through the systems for it to properly work.

Then there could be settings in the camera or remote that are shutting the light off/ putting it in standby. Specifically, the O-M-A switch on the AC3, or the commander settings in the camera correlating to that channel/group.

I would suggest contacting LPA/PocketWizard for specifics of what could be causing the problems from the remotes or camera. They can be reached at 802-658-0038 x572.