is my cactus v2's battery dead?

Hey all,

I just ordered my cactus triggers and I can't get it to work for some reason... I have a 420ex and I put it to slave and set the group to a and the channel to 1. I installed the battery on the receiver and the led light has never come on. does this mean the battery is dead?

Thanks guys,

Nick

Has it fired? Did you remove the plastic from the battery?

Don't put the 420EX on the slave setting - that ties it to the Canon system.

yea the plastic is off the battery. So I don't use the 420 in slave mode? How would I set the groupl and channel than?


**Edit...that was the problem thanks..

Blender,

The 420EX has no manual adjustment, and the E-TTL slave functions only work when triggered with an E-TTL master (550EX, 580EX, ST-E2).

The bottom line is, if you trigger it with the Cactus set, you'll get full power all the time. There's no way to control the output unless it's on the camera's hotshoe or in E-TTL slave mode (see above).

$80 invested in a Sunpak 383 would expand your options in more ways than one.

There are two batteries, one in the transmitter and one in the receiver.

Remove the batteries and test the Voltage on both.

If you do not have a meter, cart them to Radio Shack and they will test them.

The transmitter batters should be a bit over 12 Volts, if it is a V1 / V2 / V2s style, the receiver should be a bit over 3 Volts.

Enjoy! Lon

Blender,

Had similar problem with my Cactus triggers when they arrived.

The receivers tested OK, but I coldn't get the transmitter to function. Even bought new battery to make sure that the battery wasn't an issue. Then I noticed that the trigger would work when the battery door was removed.

Closer inspection showed that the battery is such a tight fit, that as the door is installed and secured, that the battery is pushed down into its holder and the contact at one end (can't remember which end!) moves away from the end of the battery, braking contact. By bending the contact slightly with pliers, the contact always remained touching the battery when the door was secured to the transmitter.

They have worked fine since.

Don't know if this is your problem or not, but it might be worth a try.

Mike