ALJACOBSLADDER.com     

READ ME, FAQ and DAQ

This section is devoted to enhancing your understanding of why I do things a certain way. It contains basic warnings and upgrades, manufacturer changes and odd things we have encountered. It is and has been part of my legacy, that better is best.

 Don't even order a box till you understand the ramifications. The BLACK BOX part is easy  its a battery in a sophisticated but simple C’N’C computer cut case with heavy duty components, not paper wrapped with vinyl.

THE MATING PROCESS —  there must be a connection between the box and the flash. This is where some folks get confused. I will gladly call you and discuss it with you if it is not clear.  They tell me I'm the only one in the industry to do this.  Thats because I am a small company and that way we have made few mistakes nor personnel problems, non, I tried firing myself but just could not do it. Thus we are unique, you get real phone call, talk to the owner, no middle man and no press four for the menu.   More inportant, no bullsh*t.
 

THE OTHER GUY —  Used to Makes cables we use. Specifically the Quantum cables that start with an "M". Occasionally we use some from the K series (aka Bantam Series Cables)  They are easily available from from the very reliable ABC's of used mail order. Adorama, B & H, Calumet or any good pro quality camera store, or sometimes may be found used on eBay at good prices as long as they are not going to hell by degaussing.

COMPETITION  —  Since our packs gained in popularity we have seen a rise in the amount of similar packs and products offered by others and frankly we welcome them for sooner or later one of them will come up with a semi-decent idea and I will of course make it better, alas so far that has not happened.  Most of the things I have seen are throwbacks, or the usual Chinese products, with the reliability problems. Enough said.

WE DO NOT USE —  Cigarette lighter cables, hair dryer or electric shaver coiled cables, and LORD...help me please for those idiots using CAT 5 computer cable, nor burnable bags or Velcro to keep things together especially for mounting heavy really oversized batteries.

ON OUR REAL PERFECTION BRACKETS  —  can hold more and cost a fourth of the competition "L" style brackets, offer a balanced approach and are stronger.  They are made of STEEL, not plastic, not bent aluminum, not overseas plastic or low grade aluminum junk which is less than high grade aluminum junk.

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL OUR PRODUCTS ARE ALL ROHS ACCEPTABLE for overseas shipping and use, and our prices are better!  Lots better. We now have chargers for shipments to the U.K. most Euro countries, and Australia, New Zealand  and other worldly locations that legally have to be RoHS registered for overseas shipment and work on most Euro systems. Thats if we can ever ship safely again.

PORT or NOT TO PORT —   My packs come standard with two identical usable ports, both called DIN ports or plugs.  As you can see this is a very robust piece of metal.

• They were selected for their highest reliability but the over the counter cables we use from the other guy come with RCA ends that  are obsolete. As an engineer, I detest them. Almost 90% of the repairs I have worked on the past forty years are attributed to these RCA or correctly named "AUDIO JACKS”.    •  They were not made for power they were made for signal. NOT for power. They go back to the days of the record business.  That was before the 8-Track. 
  
  
• Why two?  The second port on the black box allows two flashes to be used at the same time if they are of equal value in output and performance.  It is called a matching DIN. The DIN is internal, stronger, more reliable, and more secure. Its wires (both positive and negative) are internal and the only thing the outside does is to connect stronger through a threaded collar that does not stress the cable itself or the relief strain.   For the best performance and bang for your buck, we use male and female DIN plugs from Taiwan, or Japan. No pot-metal cheapies from the China.
  
  
• If you already have a QUANTUM "M" series cable, with the collet that tightens, send me your cable and I will convert it (remove the end and upgrade it to the heavier DIN plug) for FREE with an order for the Black Box or Tuxedo. 

TECHNICAL:  WHY WE UPGRADE —  

• If you look at the collet-type plug that comes on the M cable. Unscrewing  the outside collet all the way exposes the hidden screw and the black or negative solder point. For some reason they work loose.  
• If this is screwed in too far it can cause a short and burn the cable.  Notice the screw is over the red or positive wire to the tip, we have received burnt cables if the wire is stretched beyond certain limits, the screw just went up in melt mode.
• So some individuals had a tendency to lock the collet even tighter and then after a while went to remove the cable and it's locked up.  So they get the pliers, spin out the RCA jack, and damage the unit. 
•   So please pay attention and follow this;  Order the cable from B&H or Adorama, Amazon OR ANY OTHER REPUTABLE VENDOR for your specific flash and "drop ship" the cable from the vendor to me.  
• This not only saves time but you save freight.  They include your name and any other info I need if it is no good and must be returned.
• I was getting  about 700 cables a year this way before COVID and CELL PHONES.   I will match it up and test it with the Black Box or Tuxedo after I install the larger DIN plug FREE, that's right FREE, for the first two with a Black Box and one with a Tuxedo. That is normally about $30.00 extra.
  
• Last year of full production I dumped two thousand of them at the brass metal junkyard as no one wanted them.

SAVING MONEY, BETTER DEALS, ONLY IF THE STUFF IS GOOD — 

•  I spend a lot of time with suppliers trying to keep prices down.  
• And this is a volatile market and one must plan ahead. Availability is sometimes day to day. 
• Most of the deals that I procure in turn, are made to keep prices down but not at the sacrifice of quality. 
• I now only use Kobicon jacks, plugs  and Marson high grade steel rivets. 
• Both cost double the price of the Chinese stuff available, but the Chinese quality (vendors will sub you) failed miserably. The only box ever returned for a broken rivet, was the only box I ever built with a Chinese rivet. A one cent rivet cost me twenty dollars in postage.
• I use TAIWAN, JAPAN, with USA preferentially when I can. I use the Postal service for the lower rates on a weighted product, average package range is 5-8 pounds.  
• I use fast shipping, insured, two day to prevent stealing and theft and you are charged what it cost me to do this.  
• Your fees for shipping include Paypal, packaging materials, gas, insurance and sometimes standing on line. 
• Normally pre labeled CLICK and SHIP means no time on lines, but cables and small parts cost me time and time is money.
• I have held the price line with basically free service, backing up the product and other special jobs I have done for customers, the increase is negligible.  We have made other changes: namely on the site. Separate page for Pricing, How to Order, Specifications, the top bar tabs get you there. 
• I am a one man operation and in thirty five  (Conservative years) years I have had no personnel problems, I like what I do.

WE DO NOT SUPPORT QUANTUM FLASHES PERIOD — 

For those who ask time and time again why I do not support the Quantum Flash series like the T2, T4, T4D, T5D's and Trios, I will give you the answers.  

  •  Primarily RISK. I can't afford to protect Quantum's. These are very proprietary strobes having very high accelerated voltage needs and when they fail, there is only one place in the world they can be repaired.  At Quantum. And it's not cheap.

  •  With repairs at about about fifty to seventy percent of the cost of a new unit, it's a place I don't like to frequent. Thats how they earn your business, no place else to go.  Many have tried to make money replacing batteries in Turbos but had little working knowledge and schematics of the boards and comparators. They need more than just a battery replacement, they need to be calibrated. 

  •  A customer of mine bought a used T2 off eBay  -- “ Bragging he stole it for $250.00”.  

• He never consulted with me —  
  • Four weeks later after I told him I do not support the T series, he wound up with both an angina attack and investing in a used Turbo for $250.00.  
  • The T2 stopped, the repair quoted was 425.00 to upgrade and restore the T2.  
  • No estimate of the medical costs.  He could of bought a new one.  he should of had his Nitro with him. He bit the bullet, had it fixed, and now the Turbo part doesn't produce enough for half a Wedding.   
  • And that will cost another $200.00. He has close to $1000.00 dollars in a unit he'll be lucky if he can get $250 for.
• He realized he should have called me and not  a salesman for  XXXX — 

Gorgan - Finister- Rules of Deep Sh*t Prevalation and Crap Avoidance --

• I have tinkered around electronics all my life, I make no claims to be a genius except when the  GF rules surface occasionally; I have learned over the years the following: 
  • Products that promise the moon generally deliver,  only it's "green cheese" in profits;
  • Look out for items that can only be repaired by the manufacturer;  
  • Anything that has an owners manual seventy to a hundred pages long means a repair bill that is just as long and empty space on a credit card.
  • Heat kills electronics, OBVIOUSLY the more the electronics the more the kill.
  • This type of strobe is limited to a specific series of packs made for it.  
  • Upon entry, you are committed to further costs as few almost no one make anything competitive that works with it.
  • Beware if things promised supersede anything Jesus, Moses or Mohammed promise. Like innovation, which requires lots of other components and cost, which is really BLING. 
  • You will never use half the features, but "you are paying the piper", especially with digital cameras and higher ISO. Simply overkill if you know what you are doing. 
  • Bottom line, they are VERY proprietary strobes and really designed to work mainly with their own gear branded packs. Now, thats called protection of profit.  
    
    

DEFINITIONS  —  

• "Proprietary" Has one letter more than "Prosperity". They go hand in hand.
  
• "Terminology": The art of terminating the high credit card limits of VISA.
• "Accelerated packs"  Accelerated packs are those with on board capacitors that charge the flash capacitor from within bypassing the usual path. It does however, add lots of electronics and cutoffs, comparators, resistors, LEDS and other components.  That adds cost and a new word.
• "Maintenance". So add the maintenance every two years on a TURBO Pack (100-200) becasue few tell you NiMH have a shelf life, gradually deplete over time and vastly overrated as a power supply.  Now you will see the real cost of ownership. We call it stepping not up but off the cliff.
• "Stepping Up"   You step up to the window and hand over your credit card.
• "Made In the USA"  Not always true. The internals actual cells and components like PEPI, heat sinks and cut-offs are often made offshore. "Mexico for Assembly" usually means Chinese parts shipped to Mexico, assembled or glued, taped, welded, soldered together and then shipped to the US through NAFTA dodging most tariffs. 
• Thus every two years or so you will upgrade the guts, or repair the faulty "place the electronics on a hot battery" design in my language.

MY STYLE - SIMPLE  —  

• I see it differently. I like simple.  In electronics "less is more" because less also means less failure.  
• More BLING more KA-CHING. Ring that register.  Thats the real reason junk gets added.
• More features and more dollars even if the features are really not that efficient or even needed and subject to higher levels of self-destruction.  

MOTIVATION UNEXPECTED WORKED —  

• I have long since put "personal reasons" beyond any negative endorsement of their products and strictly look at things from a simplistic viewpoint. Nothing in business made me as mad, strictly a personal insult, thrown at me 35 years ago from an arrogant executive cretin working with QUANTUM at a trade show.  The owner was that cretin.
• The owner Lori —  I was up and coming at the time and saw him as a guru.   At the PMA, I had asked of him a simple question after telling him I was interested in battery pack making.  I told him I admired his engineering and product line.
• In return, I got a rabid and rapid response, which included an explicative I do not use in the company of nice people.   At that point, stunned by the rudeness,  I was contemplating ripping his face off,  held back by my friend from jumping over the counter and I told him  I decided to make my own for all to use and as far as he is concerned, may I speak from the grace and beautiful French language, “ Aller forniquer avec les animales”. 
• For those with limited French  “ Go back to fornicating with animales “ .  He saved face that day literally.
• The business I have done over the years more than made up for an insult.

NO QUANTUM BATTERY PACKS — 

•  I do not service any Quantum's. I used to re-battery them, tweaked the comparators and returned them to service. There are just too many that are getting old, too many versions, different boards, and some are beyond hope and really need the garbage can. 
•  I do not wish to get into the middle of these eBay squabbles. I am not the judge. You bought it used, Caveat Emptor!  
• Send them to Quantum and expect about one to two hundred dollars for batteries and a new board if it needs one. With new batteries they will calibrate the pack. 
• The NiMH fail on the Quantum's from lack of usage and then long recharges, as the battery heat given off when charging and dis-charging will cook the electronics.  That's the brown stuff you see around the boards when they get old. Looks like melted shellac.  Shows up on all their cables too.  
• Those units used 2/3 sub "C" cells and actually not common at all. It also means most aftermarket guys gave up redoing (new batteries) the Turbo NiMH 2+2'S     
• That's because the batteries they used had to fit in the old case style they had on hand. A nice protectionist slant. The batteries used are proprietary. 

—  USED QUANTUM'S SHOULD BE AVOIDED  — 

All USED Turbo Quantum's are not the same. Three things to avoid; 

• Especially those that look used on eBay from a Pawn Shop Operation, Offer twenty dollars, that the tops a pawn shop will pay for one. Thats why they are dumping it on eBay. 
• Be cautious when an ad on the web say's "no charger, could not test"; Bull Manure.
• Any other disclaimer; AS IS, can't test etc.
• New Battery: Especially when they have been rebuilt, butchered by installed batteries by someone other than Quantum without calibration. 
• New battery just doesn't cut it as a sale pitch, if all it needed was a new battery, why is it being sold? 
  
• Quantum used at one time a very proprietary battery with true Gel qualities made by Sonnenshine. The Sonnenshine's are way long gone, at the end of their unused life-cycles, as in the phrase shelf-dead. So if you had an oldie with the Sonnenshine and the lights come on, it means nothing, it will die after ten flashes.  
• Upgrade with a new PowerSonic, and  all the reads for the comparators and charge circuits are off target, it needs calibration. Screwed again. Send to Quantum.

DIGITAL CAMERA BATTERY — DCB, INC

A DISASTER IN THE MAKING AND A PERFECT STORM

Years ago —  I gave up trying to reach Tim, not getting reply calls from Tim Dodge the owner.   I met him at the PMA and I was thinking of helping him. It was like he dropped off the face of the earth. Like many companies today Tim got caught up in all the fun of business. I canonly speculate but the product might of had a few glitches not apparent at the time of design. It had a few problems.  Like blowing up Canon 580-I new strobes and Canon not warranting they because they were overclocked.

THE PERFECT STORM  —  

• For at least a few seconds he had the fastest packs on the planet. But as many found out SPEED KILLS. 
• He was endorsed heavily by Rob Galbraith, the noted sports shooter and website writer who fan fared his product with a great amount of enthusiasm.  He does that like most who get bribed with toys. He loves those toys when people throw things at him for free.
• He was the DCB's closest supporter and used to write great things about these packs till a few problems set in. 
• The Canon 580 was one and over time it surfaced that it had, and has a low threshold of pain.  it also had terrible wi-fi and ran hot —  It was also HOT amongst the Cano-files who like Niko-files jump on something as soon as it is announced. They disintegrated, big time, many of them. Thats not good. The cables were an integral part of these puppies for speed and they might of been the culprit. The $159.00 atomic speed atomic cable culprit.
• Speed kills and heat kills and fast flashing at full power kills.
• PC-CORDS:  In the Bronx NY, PC cords made the Canon cables with the built into too-hot a capacitor which lit up the 580'S They needed a 320 or less and they got 340’s.  We tested on. Who specked the capacitor?  Both sides blamed the other with suites as they blewup a myriad  of Canons.
• I have to side on the PC-CORD side since no one else spoke up for the DCB side. They both threatened suit against each other.  Result: Canons Repair Facility in Jersey got a huge rush of strobes in for repair. Canon always wins. Sports shooters who swear Galbraith is the Messiah had a few swear words, Canon refuse them for repair as they wereover clocked and “ Abused” 
• A hot pack filled with NiMH batteries running at close to twenty volts, a capacitor rating possibly too high, and obviously the PC cord capacitor possibly was dialed in with wrong numbers and a celebrity endorsement. Many were lost in the PERFECT STORM!  
• Bottom Line —   I do not, can not, will not work on these packs, and they were piling up here, next to Quantum 2+2 batteries (see the photo above). And a happy fickle finger for the moron who called me 3:00 AM, thinking, because I live 15 miles from former Tim's DCB headquarters in Oldsmar, I am associated with them. No Sir. Wrong, and may the next lightning bolt or power surge find your ear at 3:00 AM.  Schmuck!  They went to the aluminum junkyard.
• There is nothing repairable in these things without a schematic. And this is truly tough micro-work, very compressed for those not skilled. 
• We can't even get the batteries out without using a drill press or bench arbor as a ram. 
• Heat eventually causes swelling.
• The guts were connected by contact, surface to surface and held in place by tape and friction. 
• The case is aluminum (sharp edges in places) adding to the perfect storm of heat amplification. 
• The instructions read: "when the pack got warm it was charged".  No comment.  When it got warm enough times, Your credit card got charged.