420EX slave to 550EX goes into power save.

I just got a 420 to slave to my 550 and found that the 420 goes into power save mode after 90 sec. It doesn't seem to wake up if you half press the shutter like the 550 does on SE mode. I'm using a D60 with an off camera shoe adapter for the 550. The slave works until it goes to sleep. There is no on/off/se mode switch on the 420, and the manual is no help. Photographing birds remotely is hard if you have to walk over and press the test button on the flash before shooting!
Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

You are correct that the main switch is only Power Save On and Off. It goes to sleep after 90 seconds, but it will wake up again when called upon. You might want to investigate whether your issue is with the 550EX or the 420EX, or maybe even the camera body. Have you got any of this running in a strange mode of operation? Is the AF-assist beam working on the 550EX and on the 420EX?

---Bob Gross---

It should re-awaken if you push the test button on your 550 and point it at the 420. You should be able to do that remotely. I'm surprised that your 420 goes to sleep that quickly. Mine seems to stay awake for at least five minutes, although maybe I'm shooting enough that it doesn't go to sleep. Hmm ...

The system actually works with both flashes firing. I shot about 50 test shots boxing differant combinations of camera modes/ flash modes/ diffusers... They all worked as expected.
I am using manual focus preset to catch humminbirds. The camera is fired remotely by long cable. While waiting for the birds to showup, the 240 goes to sleep. It does not wake up when you half press the shutter release. The 550 does wake up from the SE mode. The 240 does wake up if you fire a shot (with the 550 flashing) , but it does not fire; however it works fine again until it goes back to sleep. Also the timeout is not 90 sec like the manual says, but more like 5-10 minutes.
The problem is the 240ex is not waking up until it sees a full flash from the 550.
I am in E-TTL mode, High Speed Sync, Av, with a D60.
Thanks for any help. -Eugene

What is a 240? Isn't that a Datsun model?

---Bob Gross---

Sometiems I hvae tihs porbelm wehn wokrnig on teh copmuetr utinl ltae at nghit. I'm mcuh bteetr nwo! -Eguene

The sleep on the 420 is about 5+ minutes. The manual says 90 sec and I just assumed it was correct.

If I press the test button on the 550, the 420 wakes up when the 550 flashes but:
1. How do you test fire it remotely?
2. The flash will scare some of the birds.
3. If the 550 is asleep, pressing the test button wakes up the 550, but does not wake up the 420.

Any way to wake it up remotely without a flash, or taking a (missing flash) picture?
-Eugene

1) You can't test fire the 550 remotely, but I assumed that you had the 550 next to you at the camera position. If it IS with you, you push the test button on the back of the 550. The 550 will emit the short informational pulse and THAT is what turns on the 420 at the "remote location". The 420 will respond with it's own little pulse and the red light should start blinking again.

I say "remote" to continue with the same phrases we've been using, but it must be in line-of-sight and not too far away. I've used mine in auditoriums with the 420 ten meters away from me. However outside in daylight this might not work.

2) Yes it could. But the 420 is only sending out a small pulse in response to the 550 and if that scares the birds then the full power won't let you get more than one shot either.

3) It should wake up the 420. Mine does. Make sure that you have the body of the 420 (the part with the translucent red plastic) pointed back at the 550's location. The sensor that needs to see the 550 is in this part of the 420. If it can't see it it won't work. Of course you rotate the flash head to aim at your subject, but the flash sensor must be aimed at the 550.

To clarify, the camera and flashes are near where the bird is, and I'm controlling the shutter from about 30 feet away by cable, so I can't get to the flash. I might be taking pictures for hours at a time with long periods of no activity.
On a test setup, with the 550 on the camera and the two flashes looking at each other (All I can see is spots ) I am in HS sync mode, redeye reduction turned off. The system works as expected, until...

When the 420 goes to sleep, the only thing that wakes it up is either:
A. a full photo taken with the 550 flashing,
B. pressing the test button while the 550 is awake, causing the 550 to flash,
C. power cycling the 420 or pressing the 420 pilot button to wake it up.

Can you wake up the 420 without a flash from the 550?


BTW, I found that if you let it sit long enough, the 420 turns it's self off completely, and you have to power cycle it to wake it up. The channel number does not even flash.

I wonder if there is a way of disabling the sleep mode?

If I went wired connections with all the TTL offshoe stuff, I wonder if it would have the same problem?
-Eugene