Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

FM Forums \| Lighting & Studio Techniques \| Join Upload & Sell	Search Used
1 2 3 4 end

Archive 2009 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

derek walter
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #1 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

You guys should take this conversation private, or start a new DIY thread.

Jus sayin....

Nov 25, 2009 at 01:34 AM

amplexis
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #2 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

derek walter wrote:
You guys should take this conversation private, or start a new DIY thread.

Jus sayin....
No Please, this is some of the most useful information i have encountered since i started reading Lighting and Studio techniques habitually.
not having to drag a Vagabond II deep into the woods is my idea of a bright future.
there is just about enough info posted to risk buying the parts and trying to build one.
my gratitude to bacilonur and everyone else who adds a useful source or hint

Nov 25, 2009 at 02:41 AM

derek walter
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #3 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

I agree it is useful information, but it is somewhat off topic for this thread, and probably should have it's own

Nov 25, 2009 at 04:02 AM

Mark Booth
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #4 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

This is the Kemple DIY pack that Joe mentioned:

http://kemplemedia.com/blog/2009/01/06/diy-alien-bees-power-pack-—-lose-weight-on-location-for-‘09-—-pt2/

Mark

Nov 25, 2009 at 06:16 AM

matprat
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #5 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

Just stumbled across this thread. I have had my JrX's for about two months but today I plugged into the Vagabond II for the first time. With both WL UltraZaps (800 and 1600), I also get sputtering flashes and misfires. This is with the phone cord attached. Unusable. The Jr's/ WL work fine plugged in to the sync jack (similar setup as PW's). What I did find is that if I unhooked the Jrx and left just the phone cord plugged in, I still got the same sputtering of misfires. I concluded the phone cord was bad. So perhaps it's not the JrX Vagabond II combo, it's a phone core Vagabond II issue. This sucks since I mostly use the WL's with the Vagabond and wanted to be able to adjust power remotely. Are there any remedies?

Nov 30, 2009 at 03:02 AM

kenyee
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #6 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

matprat: did you try the powerup sequence described above?

Nov 30, 2009 at 03:54 AM

Jimmy Ho
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.4 #7 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

I'm just now returning to this thread, and wondering if there was ever a fix or work-around to this problem?

Apr 02, 2010 at 06:17 AM

kenyee
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #8 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

Yep..read back through it..

Apr 02, 2010 at 02:43 PM

Jimmy Ho
Offline
Upload & Sell: On

p.4 #9 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

Kenyee,

So, it looks like it worked for you if you powered up your strobe first before attaching the receiver? I just ordered another set of RPs, so I'll give this a shot.

Apr 02, 2010 at 07:16 PM

kenyee
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #10 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

Jimmy: yes. You have to power them up in a specific sequence if you've got a quirky one...power the strobe up (model light and power sliders to full) w/ the RP JrX plugged in, then power up the RP.
Some bees just have opamps that have narrow tolerances. Simplest thing to do is to sell the ones that are quirky (I ended up that quirky B1600 and bought a white lighting which I'm a lot happier with, so it worked out well for me) and replace them w/ others that are not. I'd guess that maybe 10% of them are quirky based on random user reports...
Take some time to isolate the problematic one this time...

Apr 03, 2010 at 02:13 AM

RossJames
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #11 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

I saw this thread after I ordered JrX's, but I just got them today and tested them out with 2 AB800's and Vagabond II and everything seems to be working just like it should.
I was worried there for a bit that I wasn't going to be able to use them with the vagabond.

I did notice though that when connecting the RX to the AB800 I have to connect both the phone and the stereo (not mono) mini from the RX to the AB800 before powering on the JrX. If I don't do this, then the modeling lamp will track with the TX but the flash will not trigger at all...
I am a bit confused about this as RP makes it seem that the mini does not need to be connected between the two if the phone cord is... anyways

Apr 22, 2010 at 04:14 AM

kenyee
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #12 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

The issue w/ Vagabonds isn't that common...it's just been blown a bit out of proportion by this thread and is something to test for when you get them (or the cybercommanders).

FWIW, I've never had to connect the ministereo cord. Did you try different cables and different JrX RX? Wondering if you have a bad wire somewhere...

Apr 22, 2010 at 01:32 PM

derek walter
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off

p.4 #13 · Radiopopper JrX and Vagabond II problems

kenyee wrote:
The issue w/ Vagabonds isn't that common...it's just been blown a bit out of proportion by this thread and is something to test for when you get them (or the cybercommanders).
.

Exactly, I was one of the ones that had the problem initially, and it was rectified by simply poering things up in a different order.

Apr 22, 2010 at 05:41 PM


FM Forums \| Lighting & Studio Techniques \| Join Upload & Sell 1 2 3 4 end