ebay wizard weirdness

_belial

_belial

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Hi all,

I've been very happy with my PT-04 ebay wizards for a while now. But as I was using them this week they both started developing a VERY strange fault indeed.

Now I have the following

1x PT-04 (v2) receiver/transmitter
1x PT-04 (TM) receiver/transmitter

Canon speedlite 430EX.

Now either set works fine, in that i can test + shoot and flash fires off, all happy. I can even get the different transmitters/receivers talking to each other.

However... the problem is that out of nowhere, they seem to be firing off without me doing anything!? Most annoying. I've tried different channels, but to no avail. I know it's a problem with the wizards and not the flash as the little red led on the receiver flashes when it pops, and if receiver is OFF it doesn't happen. And it's not a problem with the transmitter, as i took the batteries out of those.

Any (sensible) suggestions?

Thanks in advance
 
Tried a different location? I dont know how complex the signalling used on these is, but is it possible that there is some local radio signal setting them off? Is it at regular intervals ? or specific times or does it seem random?
 
Thanks Who?

I tried them at an abandoned hospital the other day (so shouldn't have been any interference) and that's when it started. Just been testing them again in the house and yep they're still doing it. I'd have thought trying all the different channels would have eliminated the possibility of it being interference as well?
 
Nope, brand new duracells in there :(
 
NM, I see the response on Flickr.
 
Are you usung the flash on the hotshoe of the receiver, rather than a pc connection? That can cause random unexplained firing - it does with mine
 
I've tried both PC connection and hot-shoe, but it's definitley not a miss-fire caused by the transmitter, as I took batteries out of both transmitters and the flash was still firing :)
 
_belial said:
I've tried both PC connection and hot-shoe, but it's definitley not a miss-fire caused by the transmitter, as I took batteries out of both transmitters and the flash was still firing :)
Click to expand...


Ahh...you see the hotshoe missfire isn't caused by the batteries, but rather by the thin metal plate on the top of the receiver shorting out the contacts on the bottom of the flashgun....
 
Ahhh sorry, I misread, and thought you meant the sender and the cable from flash port on camera to transmitter. Now in which case nope, i've not tried any other method as the 430EX doesn't have any pc port, just a hotshoe.
 
:thinking:

So, let me get this straight....you connect your 430ex directly onto the hotshoe of the receiver and the flash will sometimes fire randomly without being triggered by you or the camera/transmitter?

Where do you have the flash/receiver when it fires in this random way - is it on top of a lightstand or umbrella bracket?
 
Yes, the 430ex is directly on the hotshoe of the receiver. camera/transmitter definitley not firing (again took batteries out of the transmitter and werent' attached to camera).

IT can happen in any position, on a bracket, in my hand, on the floor, makes no difference (and nope, nothing was touching the pilot button :p).
 
This is a really common problem with the Cactus triggers (in fact I bought some old flashes because it was so flaky with my 430) with the 430 and 580, I have heard that the only way to get it to fire stabily is to seperate the flash from the hotshoe trigger (I know this defeats the idea), I think I saw it on flickr, will see if I can find the link.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Ahh...you see the hotshoe misfire isn't caused by the batteries, but rather by the thin metal plate on the top of the receiver shorting out the contacts on the bottom of the flashgun....
Click to expand...

If you have look at the hot shoe on the receiver you will see that it has two small metal tabs attached to a thin metal plate which encompases the centre pin of the receiver. The function of the tabs is to secure (for want of a better word) the flash onto the hotshoe. The trouble is that it doesn't - the flash can rock back and forwards, causing it's centre pin to make and break it's connection and short itself out triggering the random firing.

You could try bending the tabs on the metal plate to see if you can get it to make a more secure contact or you could try and pack something under the plate to stop it moving. The only other alternative is to use a pc cable or mod the receiver to accept a headphone jack and make up a cable to link it to your flash via a pc connection (if it has one) or to a an adaptor which has a pc connector on it if it doesn't.
 
mine does this if im moving them about on the light stands if they are wobbling about. not much of a problem though imo
 
mine does it all the time - sometimes more frequently than others. I find if i switch the receivers off it stops the problem so have jsut put it doen to the receivers. They are not the best made things in the world. i just shrug it off!
 
Mine does the same too, have put it down tot he fact they are poverty wizards. SO am ditching them soon and getting a set of AlienBee's when I go to Cali later this year.
 
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