The Remote Slave Unit (RSU) can't get to work

Hi any ideas?

I have a The Remote Slave Unit (RSU-N) by https://heinrichsweikamp.com/but I can't get it to fire my slave strobes. I tried it with a Sea&Sea YS 30 with a Sea&Sea sync cord with Nikonos point. This did not fire the strobe but strobe set to slave will fire.

Next I tried an Ikelite DS125 with Ikelite to Nikonos sync cord (red) but that did not fire either.

Any ideas on what I need to do to get it working.

Cheers Alex

Hi Alex

I have the triggerfish from Hedwig. It had 2 versions, one without internal batery (that uses power from the strobe to power up the sensor and give the signal to the strobe to fire). That version is not compatible with the Sea&Sea YS30 (and 0YS120 - YS90 - YSD1 - YSD2), but it is compatible with the Ikelite strobes.

To be avble to work with these Sea&Sea strobes, Hedwig had developed a triggerfish model with internal batery (to have power enough to give signal to the strobe to fire). This version has been discontinued.

I do not know how the RSU works, but if it needs also power enough from the strobe, it might not be compatible with the Sea&Sea. Strange (by comparision with the triggerfish) is it not working with the Ikelite.I do not know if the RSU has a bigger loss on the electrical signal that makes the strengh of the signal to not be enough to activate the ikelite.

I imagine 3 possible issues for the RSU not being work fine:

1- problem with the cable/connections

2- not compatible with the strobe (as is has no internal batery, at least with the Sea&Sea it might not be compatible)

3- The RSU unit being faulty/broken

BR

Pedro Alves

Hi Alex.

The RSU needs a minimum of 4V on the strobe connectors to work (https://heinrichsweikamp.com/accessories/flashaccessories/rsu-bxx.html).

On the manual of the ikelite DS51 (i did not searched on the other models), it does not say what is the voltage on the trigger circuit. But There is an explanation how can be shorted the circuit to force a test trigger of the strobe (only do that if you are confortable with the explanation on tha manual - http://docs.ikelite.com/instructions/4044.1-instructions.pdf, pages 19 to 21). You can also measure the voltage on that circuit if you have a multimeter.

Another thing I noticed on the HeinrichWeikamp site, is that the RSU is not compatible with TTL strobes. I understood by your words that the slave strobe does not fire at all, If the slave strobe fires but the photo is not lit, them it means that you are activating the RSU with the pre-flash. If it is so, you need to activate the RSU with a strobe that is not imiting pre-flash.

BR

Pedro Alves

Ok cheers for that Pedro I'll try a few things and see if I can get it working on the Ikelite.

Cheers Alex