All three V6 units died within a few days.

PeterL · January 2017

I have three Cactus V6s which I bought about a year ago. I tested them at that time, and they worked fine. I haven't used them since until this week, when I used them on a Pentax K200D and an off camera Canon 430EXII (which I tested them on when I first bought the V6s). On day one, everything was good and no misfires. On day two, a few misfires. On day three, all the V6s suddenly stopped working. Both the Tx and Rx units light up appropriately and all of the power adjustments register on both, but the flash, a Canon 430EXII will not fire at all. I turn them on in the proper order (according to the revised manual), and I have cleaned the contacts, swapped fresh batteries often, done three factory resets, etc. The Tx and Rx appear to be in order but the flash does not fire, even in Short Range. I am using them for close range off camera macro photography, so the Rx and Tx are mostly very close to one another.

I have another Pentax, a K20D, and the V6s have never worked on it. The flash simply will not fire. Could it be the Pentax hot shoe that causes the problem? Is it a known issue with older Pentaxes? Oddly enough, I have a set of V5s, and although they work on the Pentax K200D, there are plenty of misfires. I think that I am going down the same road with them as well. When I used V4s with my Pentaxes and remotely controlled Canon flashes there was no problem.

EDIT OK, I think it is the Pentax hot shoe. Today (Jan 2), I hooked up my Canon 60d with a pair of V6s, and after resetting all of the settings on the Rx and Tx, the V6s worked a treat. So I powered off, and restarted and reset again, and they worked with no misfires. Again, and they worked fine. I really wanted to be able to use the Pentaxes for this kind of work, but I guess that won't work now. Too bad, because last week I ordered another V6 transceiver and an RF 60 flash. If they don't work on the Pentax I will have to return them.

Four hours later (Jan 2 still), I retried everthing with the Pentax K200D. The flash would not fire. Repeated the experiment with the Canon 60d, and the flash fired every time. I am happy that I can use them with my
Canon gear, but bummed about the performance of the V6s with my Pentax gear. Any suggestions?

EDIT2 Tried my V5s again with Pentax K200D. Now they won't work either. Switched the V5s to a different Canon (T5i) and they worked flawlessly. Looks like a hot shoe issue, or else my old Pentaxes are deteriorating. Is there any reporting of this problem?

Antonio · January 2017

Hi @PeterL, let me check with our R&D team.

WIll get back to you. Thanks!

Class A · January 2017

I'm assuming, when you take a shot with the K200D, the green LED of the on-camera V6 transmitter does not light up, right?

Perhaps the hot-shoe of the K200D is causing the issue?

Try putting the 430EXII on the K200D directly.

Does it fire? You may have to put the flash in manual mode, but it should fire via the centre-pin.

If the flash fires, but the V6's green LED does not come on (when you use it on the camera instead of the flash) then you know that the centre pin of the V6 is not aligning with the centre contact of your K200D for some reason.

You are making sure to not exceed a shutter speed of 1/180s on the K200D, right? For testing, I suggest to use "M" (manual) mode and set the shutter speed to "1/60s" (or close to that value). If you use a shutter speed beyond 1/180s, the K200D will not generate a trigger signal.

P.S.: You could try to rotate the V6 a bit in the K200D's hot-shoe to see whether you can establish contact that way. However, I never found that to be necessary with my Pentax cameras so I don't think that you'll find the resolution this way (unless something is odd with your K200D's hot-shoe).

PeterL · January 2017

"Class A"?? I know you from Pentax Forums! Anyway, putting the Canon flash on the Pentax hotshoe test: The flash would not fire. When I put the V6 in the hotshoe and the flash on the V6 Rx, the flash would not fire, and the green light LED on the V6 did not light up. When I did the "wiggle" test by rotating slightly back and forth, THE FLASH FIRED! I got it to fire 8 out of 10 times this way, and when it failed on the 11th try, I wiggled the V6 again and it fired without fail for another 8 times before I quit. I'LL TAKE THAT AS SUCCESS!

It's always the high-tech solutions that work, right? Incidentally, the K20D's hotshoe shows the same characteristics as the K200D's, but wiggling is a small inconvenience in exchange for being able to use my two old Pentax's with my 35mm Macro lens.

Thanks again, and thanks for the quick response... much appreciated. And it's nice to talk to a fellow Pentaxian.

Antonio · January 2017

Glad to hear wiggling worked. In most cases it is hot shoe connection issue.

Let us know if you require further assistance.

Class A · January 2017

@PeterL
Yes, I originate from pentaxforums.com.

Good to meet other Pentaxians here too!

I'm glad that the tip about the hot-shoe connection worked for you! Perhaps you can create a permanent fix by creating a small spacer in the hot-shoe. Nikon D750 users have to do something like this as well. I haven't heard about any such problem for Pentax yet, but the fact that the Canon flash does not work on your camera(s) directly either, seems to indicate that there is something amiss with this/these hot-shoe(s).

PeterL · January 2017

@Class A

On Friday, my RF60 arrived, so the first thing I did was to put it on my Pentax K200D and it worked flawlessly. Today, a new V6 arrived and, thinking that it was made at least a year after I received mine, I hoped that it would work as well. It did. It's marked "Pentax" and that is the only use it will get. So, I won't be trying the tape anytime soon, but I will remember it if the new V6 quits on a Pentax hot shoe. Thanks again.

Class A · January 2017

No worries.

All three V6 units died within a few days.

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