Cactus triggers problems.. can anyone explain?

[DYORD]

I know you get what you pay for. But can somebody explain why it sometimes doesn't work? Loose wirings inside the board? Frequency problems? <-- interference.. etc..

I got a PT 04 trigger.. i think it's the same as the earlier versions of cactus triggers. in my more than 500 shots, it never misses.

A friend of mine got himself a Cactus V2, and he's very frustrated with the result. In every after 3 or 4 shots, it misses. And he really can't work this way.

Since we're newbies... i don't think buying pocket wizards or anything alike would be an option.

Maybe some of you (who's knowledgeable in RC's) can give advise or insights how this cheap triggers work... and probably can give help on modifying it.

I heard some DIY-er here in the Philippines did his own flash trigger using a wireless doorbell to start with.

[lschaaf]

I don't know why....I did buy the Cactus V4s and had the same problem, every couple shots it missed...I'm waiting on my Elinchrom Skyports to be delivered today!

[mufutau55]

With cactus v2s, if you can modify the Transmitter to add antenna, then you can ge a bit more reliability on it, at least it worked for me when I was using it.
Do a search around here for tutorials to modify the Transmitter with Antenna.

My latest Yongnuo CTR-301P gives me less problem and I can even use my older PT-04 Receivers with the CTR-301P's Transmitter.

Mufutau

I know you get what you pay for. But can somebody explain why it sometimes doesn't work? Loose wirings inside the board? Frequency problems? <-- interference.. etc..

I got a PT 04 trigger.. i think it's the same as the earlier versions of cactus triggers. in my more than 500 shots, it never misses.

A friend of mine got himself a Cactus V2, and he's very frustrated with the result. In every after 3 or 4 shots, it misses. And he really can't work this way.

Since we're newbies... i don't think buying pocket wizards or anything alike would be an option.

Maybe some of you (who's knowledgeable in RC's) can give advise or insights how this cheap triggers work... and probably can give help on modifying it.

I heard some DIY-er here in the Philippines did his own flash trigger using a wireless doorbell to start with.

[Psychobiker]

Radio signals depend on what's called 'SNR (signal to noise ratio)' that allows the signal to 'stand out' from the background noise. The lower the power they transmit in an already busy band (garage door openers, some wireless thermometers...) the worse the misfire ratio gets. The antenna mod helps this somewhat, by adding a little 'gain' to the whole fandango.

[CliveyBoy]

Prime cause, I have found, is atrocious soldering between the factory-manufactured printed circuit board and all back-yard/toilet quality connections.

Clean out the solder blobs and resolder, and stability usually ensues.

[ed.]

Get the YongNuo RF602's.

[gonzogolf]

My cactus v2's had some pretty poor build quality. I ordered two receivers and one of them functioned pretty well, the second had a wonky hotshoe plate and didnt fire with my canon flash but did okay with the vivitars. They are fine for shooting family, but wouldnt dare head to a client with them.

[GSansoucie]

Initially, my Cactus Triggers worked fine with very little misfires. In fact, I think I got a year or so out of them before they completely tanked and went to zero reliability. I actually took them out of my bag and stopped shooting OCF altogether. A few weeks back, I made the decision to buy cybersyncs, they arrived last week and I've been very happy with them. So far, no misfires. From what I can tell by other cybersync users, I wouldn't expect to have any major problems for the life of them either.

[Psychobiker]

In engineering, most of the intermittent problems relate to bad joints, eso. after the advent of this bastard lead-free solder!

[veronephoto]

i had brand new batteries and was not even further then 3 feet......couldnt fire. frustrating really. I was gonna buy some cybercyncs but found some used PW :)