Question regarding PWIIs, Flash Units, and IR Triggering

Candid Arts

So here is my situation. I have three PW II's (1 on camera, 1 on my 580 EXII, and 1 on my 420EX). I have access to a third flash unity for the weekend and will be doing some portrait shooting. I want to be able to have my two PW II's triggering my 580 and 420 flashes, and meanwhile set my 580 as a master and the third flash (which is a 430EX I believe) to slave, this way the PW II's will trigger both my flashes, and the IR from my 580 will trigger the third flash (430EX).

Is this possible? I tried just hooking it up with the system I have, PW on the 580 and camera, set 580 to Master and my 420 to Slave... The 580 did trigger the 420 via IR, however there was a big delay, about 1/4 of a second (ish). Is it just not possible or did I do something wrong in my test?

Thanks for any help.

ABphoto

I'm not so sure this will work propperly.

I know the PWII literature says you can't fire two of one unit but it might be worth a try, I can't see it causing any damage considdering your just halving the pulse.

Other possibilities may be to fire one from the camera on a remote cord and use the PW's to fire the other two. Or use a hotshoe optical slave for buttons on ebay to fire the extra one.