What am I doing wrong with radio remote and recievers?

I am sure this is probably user error and it is absolutely driving me crazy.

I bought a lighting set up that came with 3 alienbees that came with white lightning radio remote one and 4 x radio receiver one. The camera I use is a 6d. I have set up the system 4-5 times at this point and have had trouble getting consistent results. There was one time that I set everything up and I got two of the alienbees to fire without hitch. The other 4-5 times the flashes would not operate properly. I thought it was the PC sync adapter that came with the setup because it was loose and awkward so I purchased a different option on Amazon. It came in, I was happy and low and behold the same inconsistency.

Any help would be much appreciated. I'm sure it is something very novice of me.

Thanks!

Have you emailed the folks the sell AlienBees? They have gotten back to me right away each and every time I email them new questions on mine.

As I recall you bought these strobes used. Did you get a manual with them? If so, get familiar with it. If not I imagine the manuals can be found online somewhere. You should only need the trigger to fire one strobe as they all have optical slave capabilities, and will ''see'' that strobe fire. It's very difficult for others to troubleshoot an issue like this without seeing it. Short of that try joining some local photography groups where you can learn from others and they might be able to point you in the right direction

karobinson wrote in post #16674604
Have you emailed the folks the sell AlienBees? They have gotten back to me right away each and every time I email them new questions on mine.

Thanks for the responses. Thought it might be something that others have issues with and the forum was a good start. I have the manual and have looked over it several times and am still having problems. I have no issues running 2nd or 3rd as slave if I have the sync cord straight to the alienbees from the camera.

I'll send an email to Pual Buff support and see where it goes.

What is a "White Lightning radio remote one"? I have never heard of this.

Are you running a receiver on all the units or only triggering one and using optical slaves on the others.

If your using optical slaves they have to see the flash and if its blocked by the modifier or the flash power is below a certain point the optical salve will not trigger the flash.
If your triggering all with receivers (never hear of that remote) make sure all the batteries on all are fully charged or plugged into the power cord. If the trigger battery is low in might not be putting out enuff signal to trigger all the receivers.

agv8or wrote in post #16675114
What is a "White Lightning radio remote one"? I have never heard of this.

Basically an older version of Cyber Commander.

Do they fire with the test fire button?

abbadon31 wrote in post #16675134
Are you running a receiver on all the units or only triggering one and using optical slaves on the others.

If your using optical slaves they have to see the flash and if its blocked by the modifier or the flash power is below a certain point the optical salve will not trigger the flash.
If your triggering all with receivers (never hear of that remote) make sure all the batteries on all are fully charged or plugged into the power cord. If the trigger battery is low in might not be putting out enuff signal to trigger all the receivers.

I changed out the batteries on some of the units but I very well may have not changed the batteries in the actual remote. I am checking here shortly.

I have been trying to run a receiver with each flash unit. I was able to use the sync cord from one flash unit to camera and fire the other lights as slaves with relative ease.

I appreciate everyone taking the time to help me trouble shoot. I am still going to email the Paul C Buff people but it is nice to get feedback while I wait for a response.

D Thompson wrote in post #16675609
Basically an older version of Cyber Commander.

Thanks. I was getting nothing from google I guess it was the white lightning that was confusing. PCB has the pdf on their site.
http://www.paulcbuff.c​om/manuals/rr1.pdf

Do you have dummy plugs in your sync ports? This disables your slaves and makes your receivers the sole source of triggering your strobes.

agv8or wrote in post #16676173
Thanks. I was getting nothing from google I guess it was the white lightning that was confusing. PCB has the pdf on their site.
http://www.paulcbuff.c​om/manuals/rr1.pdf

Do you have dummy plugs in your sync ports? This disables your slaves and makes your receivers the sole source of triggering your strobes.

This is a no! We may be on to something here! I do have a small bag of male pieces that came with this lot and I was wondering what those were for. I am hoping this is the case, I will check it out and see if we have any luck!

How are the recievers working if they arent connected to the sync port?

gonzogolf wrote in post #16676350
How are the recievers working if they arent connected to the sync port?

They connect through the RJ11 jack. Like when using the Radio Poppers or CyberSync plus the sync port should have a dummy plug to disable the slaves.

agv8or wrote in post #16676587
They connect through the RJ11 jack. Like when using the Radio Poppers or CyberSync plus the sync port should have a dummy plug to disable the slaves.

Yes, they have RJ11 jacks.

I used the dummy plugs with no success. I went step by step with 1,2, then 3 of the lights hooked up and didn't get consistent results. Sometimes it would work for 5-6 shots, then not work, then randomly work again. I moved the receiver in all kinds of different locations and proximity to the receivers, moved the receivers, etc.

I ended up just running the the longer sync cord straight to one of the units with the other two working as slaves with absolutely no hiccups. I am at this point I am finding this method to meet my needs just fine and may ditch these radio remotes all together...that's how irritated I was getting today.

In reading up on the system and looking at diagrams one thought comes to mind. Have you tried another sync cord between your camera and transmitter? It sounds to me like you have a connection problem between the camera and transmitter or a possible issue with your transmitter if all the strobes are affected at the same time. If you had a single strobe that was an issue then it would likely be in that strobes receiver or connection.

This statement in the manual stood out: "3. The provided sync cord connects the transmitter to the camera (1/4-inch stereo plug into the transmitter, PC connection into the camera’s PC outlet." It states a 1/4" STEREO plug. Are you possibly using a MONO plug? Sometimes this makes a difference. Most radio triggers use cables with mono plugs and I have heard of issues with them using Stereo plugs so maybe the reverse is at issue here. I know when I was using Radio Poppers they use cables with a Stereo plug and I once was mixed in a Mono plug cable and had issues.