some update to my previous post, as I wasn't 100% happy with my cheap PW cable, I decided to DIY it. I ordered remote control shutter release from ebay - $2.99 and went to electric shop and got a L shaped mini jack connector - $2. After I disassembled the remote control release I put the three cables on the mini jack (there's a lot of different charts on the net. It took me around 10 minutes to solder iron the cables to mini jack connector (that's the part of job I didn't liked). After that I just joined the flex unit with d3s and fired the mini... and it worked - like a charm. One thing over here, if You want to have the flex mounted in the hotshoe You need to disable the hotshoe in flex. Anyway, the whole thing costed me $5.99 and app. 30min of my life :)

SkintBrit said:
Maybe you do have an issue with your TT-1 as mine flashes constantly and at regular intervals. Yes, please let us know the result of your conversation with PW's.

So it turns out that the TT1 was a defective unit. I was in touch with Customer Support and after trouble shooting for a little while and following his advice with no success, he told me to return the unit and I'll have it replaced.

adamz said:
Following the topic from: http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=4468

I've been shooting with PW since August and thought that's a normal behavior - as written in the manual, one shot for calibration and then it goes. Therefore, I'm surprised You have such a problem. The only configuration change I've made in my PW set was enabling hyper sync followed by upgrading the firmware.

I guess it is a normal behavior as long as it can be disabled. Customer Support told me that the metering on the camera is responsible to keep the PW TT's active, but as long as the metering has more time before going to sleep (or disabling it completely as I did, for testing purposes) you should get a shot every time you make an exposure. I wasn't getting that no matter what my metering settings were.

Thanks a lot guys for the help.

@skinbritt - when You left the 1mm space between the end of plug and P1 connector on PW flex it works like a charm, need to find out a permanent solution for attaching the cable to flex - most likely I'll just cut the end and instead of mono connector will put a stereo mini jack at the end.

Do the cheap cables seem to work OK? At the price of the original PW one I bought for my D700 I wouldn't buy another, but at the price you paid adamz, I'm tempted to get a spare in case I ever have call to switch the master with the remote. Would you recommend the one you just bought? There's an awful lot of difference between $10 and £70!

They had them on Amazon last night as a lightning deal. Was tempting but with Christmas time I didn't really have the extra money.

heheheh, just read my first post again... indeed confusing :) anyway, got two cables - just in case I'll lost one :), of course I use only one cable and plug the one end to flex P1 and the second end to camera :)

adamz said:
@skinbritt - so I got my cables today - paid +/- $20 for two with P&P and... can't trigger the camera remotely. once I connect one of the cables to d3s and the second one to flex.

"Two" cables adamz, I don't understand? What are you using two for? One end on THE cable plugs into the camera, and the other into the PW. Do you mean two cables or two ends?

played with it a little bit more and found out that once the cable is not fully plugged into flex (app. 1mm gap) it works fine, I guess it's the cheap cable - will try to change the minijack into other one to make it work.

@skinbritt - so I got my cables today - paid +/- $20 for two with P&P and... can't trigger the camera remotely. once I connect one of the cables to d3s and the second one to flex and press the test button, the camera fires. unfortunately the same thing doesn't when I press the test button on minittl. checked both modes - the default and basic trigger and got the same effect - no remote triggering -green light on flex, red on mini - camera connected to P1 on flex and placed in hotshoe. I have the 3.0.3 firmware on both of units. any ideas of what's wrong?

Maybe you do have an issue with your TT-1 as mine flashes constantly and at regular intervals. Yes, please let us know the result of your conversation with PW's.

Thanks for the help.
@adamz---I thought that was the case, too. So I even went as far as changing the TT1 for basic triggering, as I like to shoot in Manual Mode anyway. According to the manual, as I understand it, would disable the calibration shot. This did not work. The first shot would still be a misfire. I guess I'm so used to the PW plus 2's--you press the botton, you get an exposure--that I would expect the same function on the other "more advanced" radios. I'm really hoping this is just a setting I need to change, and not a a)defective unit or b)a default setting that cannot be changed.
In any case, I'll wait for PW support team's reply. I'll post my answer for anyone interested.
I'm still not sure about the LED light on the TT1-According to the website, it should flicker once every two seconds. The TT5 does this, but the TT1 flickers every two seconds for about 8 seconds with intermittent flicker in between (not full power green light) and then it stops completely. No more flickering, until I engage the camera again. The TT5 is flickering every two seconds as long as I have it on. Is this the case with yours?

@SkintBrit---Thanks for the follow up.

alherdez, following on from my last reply on your original thread, I'm thinking that my problem was not the same as yours. My problem was that the TT-5 on a remote camera, wouldn't fire the shutter until the metering had turned off (it would respond once to the TT-1 on the master camera, and then wouldn't fire again until the remote had gone to sleep). The solution for me (after talking to PW) was to tick the "disable shoe communications" box in settings/misc. Obviously in my situation I am not using the hot shoe on the TT-5, so this isn't going to help you. I think adamz is right in your case, it's normal behaviour.

Following the topic from: http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=4468

alherdez said:
This is the first time I've posted on this forum, so I'd like to thank you for your attention. I recently bought a set of PW's--TT1 and a TT5, along a SB700 flash. I have a D300. I updated the firmware as suggested and mounted the units; TT1 on camera, TT5 on the flash. I began shooting and it worked perfectly. However, I noticed that once I stopped shooting for about 20 seconds or more, the first shot would cause a misfire. I would have to shoot a second time to engage the PW units again. Now, I've used PW Plus 2's and this doesn't happen. I even tried shooting with the TT1/TT5 on camera and the PW plus 2 on the flash and this would not occur. Am i missing something? All settings are factory set. I have noticed that while the TT5 LED light flickers every 2 seconds as it normally would, the TT1 LED's flicker constantly---every 2 seconds for a about 4 times, with continued quick flickering in between and then it stops completely. Is this normal? I couldn't find any info on this.
Hey guys, thanks a lot for any help provided.

I've been shooting with PW since August and thought that's a normal behavior - as written in the manual, one shot for calibration and then it goes. Therefore, I'm surprised You have such a problem. The only configuration change I've made in my PW set was enabling hyper sync followed by upgrading the firmware.

" I'm sure you must know, but you're aware that if you plug a Flex or Mini into your computer via the USB lead WHILST TURNED ON, the computer will display their battery level?"

SkintBrit - Did NOT know that. Again the forum brings it into focus! The latest update allegedly will allow me to toss the SB400 onto a flexTT5 and voila, there is my tiny little kicker. (Early here yet and that may be something I've already been able to do, but read about the update a while back, and there was something new that seemed pretty sweet.)

With Nikon reinvesting in infrastructure, it is great to have their products to enjoy for so long. This Silly Season, it's about wanting what you have not about having what you want...

Thanks to everyone who has kept me focused especially through a very, very tough semester. Been seeing some really new tech at work and wow, a lot of toys to learn about and catch up on. Go Ice Cream Sandwich!

Happy Holidays everyone. Also like the tips about sticking a TT5 on the main body when I expand my ranges. Even more food for the creative spirit resting in me (us all.)

I bought a mini and a flex at the same time - brand new out of the box at a wedding reception in a large ballroom the mini couldn't get the job done. Mounted on a d700 I couldn't take a portrait-oriented (vertical) shot more than halfway across the room with the flash firing. It needed direct line of site, and this was at only about 40 feet away. Switched the mini for a flex (a PW plus ii was on the remote flash) and it worked every time from any part of the room.
Exchanged the mini for another flex the next day.

I bought Two spare batteries to keep in my case as soon as the Mini arrived and I could see which one they took. I'm still using the one that came with it. I'm sure you must know, but you're aware that if you plug a Flex or Mini into your computer via the USB lead WHILST TURNED ON, the computer will display their battery level? How much charge does it say yours has?

The sync just became intermittent
The slave was in another room, illumination a door way
It may be the battery was dead
how often to you change yours
I now put a fresh rechargeable batteries in for every ever shoot
I found the button batteries cheap on EBay may be they are at fault

sevencrossing said:
I have been using the Mini and and the flex for a while now.

Unless you worried about size, I would not recommend the Mini

I now use a flex on the camera, it seems a lot more reliable, and takes the same AA batteries as the the flash ( the mini takes AA non rechargeable button battery

You're right about the hard to find battery Seven, the only place I have found them for sale in the UK is Maplin, but I'm surprised to hear your reliability problems with the mini. What have you noticed? I use the mini because of it's size, I find puting a flex on the hotshoe just makes the camera feel so ungainly. Maybe I've been lucky, but I haven't noticed any issues with my mini.

I have been using the Mini and and the flex for a while now.

Unless you worried about size, I would not recommend the Mini

I now use a flex on the camera, it seems a lot more reliable, and takes the same AA batteries as the the flash ( the mini takes AA non rechargeable button battery

adamz said:
@SkintBrit - and I still haven't :(

Curiouser and curiouser? Maybe they stagger notification to avoid a simultaneous worldwide hit on their systems, with thousands of users all trying to download the updates at the same time?

this look good, think i'll get one when i get a pcb plm

A word of warning. be careful if using them them with the Lastolite A2412 TriFlash bracket. The horizontal staine, can snap the the hot shoe bracket on base of the wizard
I looking for a bracket that uses spigots

@SkintBrit - and I still haven't :(

I received an email today from them saying :

ControlTL Firmware Updates
3.0 for Nikon and 6.0 for Canon
PowerST4 firmware update 5.1

You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up to receive e-mail notification when new firmware updates are available for PocketWizard products.  We've released a major firmware upgrade for the MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 for both Canon and Nikon as well as the PowerST4 for Elinchrom.  New features include HyperSync™  Automation, SpeedCycler with an AC3 ZoneController and Flash Power without a camera.  Additionally, many improvements have been made to the firmware which affect a variety of cameras and flashes

Better late than never, they're obviously just a little slow at sending them out.

SkintBrit said:
... Anyone received an email telling them of the new update? Fortunately now thanks to Niko, .......

No. Same here

So Niko

1 A big thank you
2 How did you know ?