Randomize

I’ve had a TON of trouble with the CyberCommander, which is totally unlike my usual experience with Alienbees products.

After hours of debugging, I think I’ve finally created a checklist that works to get a multi-light setup working with my AB800s, CSR+ receivers, CST transmitter, and CyberCommander controller.

• The CSR+ receivers don’t seem to work correctly when the polarity is reversed on the outlet, so check that. They may also be sensitive to an open ground.
• According to PCB, the lights need good 120V line voltage.
• Use the telephone patch cords that came with the receivers. Telephone cords from Radio Shack seem to not work correctly.
• Make sure the CC and CST have fresh batteries. The CC seems to eat batteries if you adjust light much.
• Put all lights on the same Frequency, different channels starting at “1”
• Plug the ¹⁄₈″ patch cables that came with the CSR+’s into the back of the lights, but NOT into the CSR+s. This disables the slave sensor. The CyberCommander setting to disable slave sensors does NOT appear to work correctly. Tape the other end of the patch cables so nothing contacts them and fires the lights accidentally.
• Turn all of the buttons ON on the back of the lights, and put the power slider at MAX (¹⁄₁).
• Turn the lights on FIRST, then plug in the patch cables (which should already be plugged into the CSR+s). This *may* fire the lights once, or may not.
• If the DUMP button doesn’t work, something is wrong.
• The connector on the bottom of the CyberCommander is loose. Put it in your pocket and use the CST on the camera hot shoe. This fires ALL lights using the last-known CC settings (the CC sends the settings to the CSR+s, not to the CST).
• Make sure the test button on the CSR+ fires the light. You may have to press hard.

Separate checklist for the CyberCommander:

• Make sure the bracketing settings are at -0.0f for all channels and groups
• Make sure the Frequency is set to the same as the CSR+’s
• Go into Spec Lights and make sure each light has the right device type and modeling light wattage. Set all unused channels to “None”
• When one light channel is selected, only that light should fire when using the test button on the CC, but the CST test button or camera shutter will fire all lights.
• I think the CC sends out an update to all lights when the Channel mode is set to ALL, so go there first and adjust the lights to get it to send baseline settings.
• Adjust each channel individually up and down, making sure the modeling light tracks with the power setting (after a delay of a second or so) and fires without firing the other lights.
• Move back to the ALL channel and make sure all lights are firing at the right levels. Quickest way to make sure all is well is take a shot at f/22, 1/160s, ISO 100 with the camera pointed at the lights.
• The CSR+’s seem to “remember” CC settings. I don’t know how long, but make sure you start bringing the CC to every shoot since you can’t adjust the light power when using the CSRs with the telephone cords and a CST transmitter (you can adjust the lights manually if you use the ¹⁄₈″ trigger cables, but then the CC can’t adjust them).

Hopefully that’ll either help someone else out there, or at least give me a checklist to work from in the future.