I posted about essentially this same problem very recently. I have two
different kinds of these triggers including the 16 channel version here.
Both types will fire all of my various flash units including the Alien
Bee studio units. However, neither of them will fire my latest flash
acquisition which is a Canyon 540EZ. Actually, they will fire it once
in a great while... once out of perhaps 15-20 tries.
After consultation with Tim Hughes (some of which I think appeared on
this forum) I've come to the conclusion that the problem is related to
the low trigger voltage level of this particular flash. My particular
540EZ has a trigger voltage of (if I remember correctly) 3.35 volts on
AA batteries and 3.75 volts on a high voltage power pack. Most of my
old flash units are in the 10-12 volt range and the Alien Bees are
unknown to me except that the spec says less than 6 volts. I did try
the 16 channel radio slave on a friend's Canyon 580EX which measures
4.25 volts and the slave fires that one with no problem. So, I think
somewhere between 3.75 and 4.25 volts is a threshold for these low cost
triggers where they're simply not able to pull the switch closed.
Since I last posted on this subject I've heard from another 540EZ owner
who kindly measured his flash for me and reports that his shows 4.75
volts on fresh AA's. That's substantially higher than mine and I don't
know why they should be different. Unfortunately, I only know the
trigger voltage of that flash and not whether it will actually work with
my radio slave.
Perhaps you can add to the data base by measuring the trigger voltage of
your FL-36. Tim had given me instructions on trying to find the limit
using a string of diodes. I said then that I wasn't inclined to
experiment since it didn't matter to me that this particular flash
didn't trigger with the slave. I bought it specifically for on-camera
flash in the dark since it has a whopping 15 meter range on its
autofocus assist light. However, now that I know another 540EZ measures
much higher than this one I'm tempted to sell this one and buy another.
But, of course, I don't know if it's going to work or not.
What does *your* flash measure?
Chuck Norcutt
James Royall wrote:
> Firstly, I've put up photos from the 4-day portrait course I did just
> before Christmas. There's a few that are up there purely because I
> wanted to include at least one of everyone on the course. Thanks to
> William for the hotshoe pc socket adaptor - of course the college had
> IR remote triggers that went straight into the hotshoe so I didn't
> need to worry.
>
> web.mac.com/jamesroyall/iWeb/james photog/csm portraits.html
>
> The problem I'm having is with one of these:
>
> http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmagicQ5ftrigger (click on one of the
> items to see a detailed description)
>
> I bought the 16 channel version for no particular reason other than
> they were hardly more expensive than the basic version and yes, I'm
> sure the base cause of the trouble is that they're poorly made cheap
> bits of plastic from China. But I can't figure out what's going on.
>
> The trigger will fire my old T32 but not my new FL36, which is the
> one I need it to work with. Both flashes fired just fine on my OM2n.
> The confirmation light blinks on the receiver but whatever signal it
> sends out to the flash doesn't do the trick. I've been through the
> manual for the FL36 and can't find anything. I've tried insulating
> the other three contacts on the shoe of the FL36 to make sure there
> was no confusion from them making some kind of connection, but no
> change. From Chuck's mail in December it seems that the flash is
> supplying the power and the receiver is just meant to a switch that
> closes. Any ideas what it could be?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
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