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05-24-2014, 03:32 PM   #1
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Cactus v6 help

I bought three cactus v6 gizmos to use several old flashes that I have with my pentax k-5. I have a couple vivitar 283's, and a sunpak 333. For some reason I cannot get any of these flashes to flash using the cactus triggers. I figure I must be doing something very simple and wrong. I get the untis set up in manual mode, all on the same channel, all in the same group. When triggered, the green lights on the cactus receivers and transmitters all light up, so I think that means they are working together.
But the flashes will not fire. The flashes fire fine on my film gear using pc cables. I cleaned the hot shoe connections on the flash with electronics cleaner, but nothing.
Any ideas?

05-24-2014, 04:27 PM   #2
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Is that group set to fire at full power (1/1) on the V6 master (TX) unit? I think those are all manual-only flashes (or Auto-thyristor, not any form of TTL) so the V6's won't be able to fire them at a reduced power using its own signal. Output power would each need to be set at the flash itself.

Just a guess... until Class A wakes up on the other side of the planet.
05-25-2014, 06:50 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by dogzilla Quote
For some reason I cannot get any of these flashes to flash using the cactus triggers.
Hmmh, sounds very odd.

Please excuse me for trying to make sure that the most basic things are set correctly.

Is it possible that your flashes are facing the wrong way?
  1. Mount a flash on a V6. Make sure that the flash's back end points the same way as the V6's LCD panel. If the flash has an LCD display, you should be seeing both displays from the back. Your flashes do not seem to have LCD displays, so you should be seeing the on/off switches of the flashes when looking at the V6 from behind, i.e., seeing the V6's LCD panel. Make sure that the flash is pushed into the hot-shoe all the way.
  2. Turn on the flash and set it to manual mode. Make sure the flash is not set to perform optical triggering. Set the power to something non-zero, e.g., full power.
  3. Turn on the V6 by moving the switch to the "RX" position. The group choice does not matter.
  4. Fully press the test button on the V6 (the one the flash is sitting on). There is a half-press which is used for testing communication and AF, and a full press. If you press correctly, the status light will flash in green.
If the flash does not fire then either there is a defect or you have incompatible models.

It is very unlikely that your models are incompatible. There are only a few exotic flashes that require digital communication with a camera before they enable the most basic centre pin firing that the V6 uses. Your flashes look nothing like that. They are flashes with a standard ISO hot-shoe, correct?

Please try the above with all your V6 units to exclude the possibility of one or two units having an issue with the female hot-shoe.

You could also check, if you are comfortable doing it, to test whether the flashes support the standard centre pin firing, by shorting the centre pin contact at the bottom with the ground contact on the side of the flash's hot-shoe. Or just double check that they are still firing with your old equipment.

Another test you could make to troubleshoot is to see whether you can obtain a flash from someone else and see whether it works with the V6.

You could also check what the selected flash profile is. Press the "menu" button and turn the dial until you reach "CHOOSE PROFILE". Make sure you have "MANUAL FLASH" selected for your initial tests.

Once you can get a flash to fire in the way described above then you can move to triggering via the transmitter which just requires to use the same channel and having the respective groups active (the button with the group letter(s) you chose for your receiver(s) must be lit).

I checked the troubleshooting section of the manual, but it does not have any other hints for this problem.

I hope the above helps.

If things still don't work, please send an image or describe the results of further experiments. It would be most unusual for all your units to be defective.

Last edited by Class A; 05-25-2014 at 07:20 PM.
05-25-2014, 07:10 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by panoguy Quote
Just a guess... until Class A wakes up on the other side of the planet.


I believe you are right about the flashes not supporting remote power control. One should be able to trigger them, though.

If a V6 receiver uses a "MANUAL FLASH" flash profile, then the power level setting does not matter. So there is no need to make sure that the power level on the transmitter shows "1/1". Any power level should fire the flash (at the power that is set using its own controls).

05-25-2014, 10:15 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by dogzilla Quote
The flashes fire fine on my film gear using pc cables.
Perhaps that's the missing link here. Do the flashes fire OK when connected to the Cactus via a sync cable (if you have one that matches the 3.5mm plug the Cactus needs...)?

You may need an adapter to go old-fashioned sync cable to the 3.5mm Cactus x-sync port. One, unfortunately, doesn't ship in the box.

Also, as the Cactus v6 manual warns: "Flashes or strobes with reversed polarity connectors DO NOT WORK with the Cactus V6".

It may also be useful to work your way through section 5 ("5. Flash Not Triggered/Shutter Not Released") of the Troubleshooting section of the Cactus v6 user manual (pp70-72).
05-26-2014, 12:28 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by rawr Quote
Do the flashes fire OK when connected to the Cactus via a sync cable (if you have one that matches the 3.5mm plug the Cactus needs...)?
Good question!

Apparently the Vivitar 283 disengages the hot-shoe when a PC cable is attached and sometimes the respective leaf spring doesn't make contact again, even after the PC cable has been removed. Should be fixable, if you want to continue the hot-shoe.

The reversed polarity issue is also worth considering, even though normally extremely few flash models have reversed polarity naturally. But sometimes repairs result in a reversed polarity that won't matter with a film camera but will cause problems with a large number of radio triggers. With a little DIY, reversed polarity can be switched back to normal.

Thanks, rawr, for pointing these additional two problem sources out.

Seems unlikely that both the Vivitar 283s and the Sunpak 333 should both have at least one of these issues but it is of course a possibilty.
05-26-2014, 05:10 AM   #7
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Thanks for all the replies.
Unfortunatley, I do not have matching cables for the cactus units. My film gear does not have hot shoes, I have always used these flashes with cables, and they work fine in that mode, but I cannot test the hot shoes that way.
I think the issue is with my flashes, and not the triggers.They are easy to set up, and when triggered they both light up appropriately.
When jumping with a wire across the pin, as suggested, the flashes will not fire.
Considering how old these flashes are, and the fact that they have pretty much always had synch cords in, I would not be surprised if the leaf spring someone mentioned is toast on the vivitars ( I have 2), and I bet the sunpack has much the same.
Time to figure out how to open these puppies up.................

05-26-2014, 05:36 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by dogzilla Quote
When jumping with a wire across the pin, as suggested, the flashes will not fire.
That means it is not a reversed polarity issue.

It seems almost certain that the hot-shoes are not working anymore.

You could try to assemble a sync cable yourself by using the cables you have and an audio cable (3.5mm stereo) that would fit into the V6 and that you may have around somewhere. At least for testing purposes that should work. You'd have to get the polarity right then, though.

QuoteOriginally posted by dogzilla Quote
Time to figure out how to open these puppies up.................
It is quite likely that you'll be able to repair the hot-shoes as the construction should be really simple.

However, make sure that you don't get zapped by the flash capacitor. I'd fire the flash at full power and then immediately open the battery door. This should get most of the charge out of the capacitor, but there will still be residual charge. The high voltage shock you could still receive could still be quite nasty.

If you don't get near the capacitor (which is often in the flash head, I believe) and make sure you don't touch the wrong cables / contacts then you should be OK. As long as you stay near the hot-shoe and the flash is turned off, you should be OK.

Last edited by Class A; 05-26-2014 at 05:57 AM.
05-26-2014, 06:54 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Class A Quote
That means it is not a reversed polarity issue.

It seems almost certain that the hot-shoes are not working anymore.

You could try to assemble a sync cable yourself by using the cables you have and an audio cable (3.5mm stereo) that would fit into the V6 and that you may have around somewhere. At least for testing purposes that should work. You'd have to get the polarity right then, though.


It is quite likely that you'll be able to repair the hot-shoes as the construction should be really simple.

However, make sure that you don't get zapped by the flash capacitor. I'd fire the flash at full power and then immediately open the battery door. This should get most of the charge out of the capacitor, but there will still be residual charge. The high voltage shock you could still receive could still be quite nasty.

If you don't get near the capacitor (which is often in the flash head, I believe) and make sure you don't touch the wrong cables / contacts then you should be OK. As long as you stay near the hot-shoe and the flash is turned off, you should be OK.
Too late- those capacitors hold a lot of juice..........
Im thinking it is time for a couple new flashes.

Sparky
05-26-2014, 09:15 AM   #10
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Flash capacitors are quite capable of stoppping your heart so if you not used to working around 315V + DC then DON'T assume you'll be ok.

I.e

1 If you don't know what a brinkley stick is or don't own one leave alone
2 If you don;t own a HV multimeter and know how to use it leave alone

It's not worth dying over £10 worth of flashes when even if fixed won't utilise the V6's capabilities.
05-26-2014, 01:13 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by awaldram Quote
Flash capacitors are quite capable of stoppping your heart so if you not used to working around 315V + DC then DON'T assume you'll be ok.

I.e

1 If you don't know what a brinkley stick is or don't own one leave alone
2 If you don;t own a HV multimeter and know how to use it leave alone

It's not worth dying over £10 worth of flashes when even if fixed won't utilise the V6's capabilities.

So you're saying I shouldn't lick them to test the voltage?
05-26-2014, 01:27 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by awaldram Quote
Flash capacitors are quite capable of stoppping your heart so if you not used to working around 315V + DC then DON'T assume you'll be ok.

I.e

1 If you don't know what a brinkley stick is or don't own one leave alone
2 If you don;t own a HV multimeter and know how to use it leave alone

It's not worth dying over £10 worth of flashes when even if fixed won't utilise the V6's capabilities.
This should be a sticky. !
05-26-2014, 02:07 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by dogzilla Quote
Im thinking it is time for a couple new flashes.
Make sure that you'll be able to remote control their power with the V6.

You may want to check out this V6 compatibility thread that points both to the predefined profiles and also accumulates success / failure stories.
05-26-2014, 10:57 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by maxfield_photo Quote
So you're saying I shouldn't lick them to test the voltage?
Oh, thats quite safe, you may blow a hole in your tongue but it wont kill you.!
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