This is the first email I received from the Directors in response to my email: "We are going to continue to make all practical modifications possible to satisfy your requirements, and give you the extra service that you need... However, the purpose of this message is to tell you that there are other expenses in installation of things like the 1800 watt inverter that you have not accounted for. Our price is an installed price with safety devices and large cables and automatic switching, and things like a very large triple circuit breaker midline on the 12v supply and such other things that you are not aware of.... You need to realize that the 240volt sub-boards have to be increased in size to get the automatic switching to all the outlets in the van, there are split circuits because the inverter does not charge up all the outlets or you would have some closed loops like in the case of the battery charger.... You may of course continue shopping and purchase the equipment elsewhere, but our Shop Rates of $60 /hour plus materials and GST will apply to the installation. I just don't want you to think that you are getting discounted equipment elsewhere and not take into account the installation and warranty here. Our prices are not just for the equipment. And sometimes the equipment is not compatible with the Outback or other equipment and the Owner second guessing us comes to grief for reasons he could not be expected to know... There is a lot more to the proper installation than you may think and I don't want you to get a shock when you
find out the actual costs... The same goes and is true for the Plasmatronics... First of all you might ask yourself why I don't have the
PL40 in my own van??? It is just not user friendly like out solar reg. Also we have tested and are in production of our own Solar regulator that
will have all the digital readout, and more LED lights for monitoring the system in all phases, plus PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) and all the features of the Plasmatronics and the Morningstar together in a more user friendly setout and in 40 amp configuration... This has been in development for over a year and the first one has been in service in my horse truck in extreme conditions since last year and is faultless and more user friendly with the readouts and constant LED for all charge and battery conditions and faults and safety mechanisms at a glance.... The problems is the same with consultation with people on the
BOG site and other so called authorities: No matter how well meaning, they are not the professionals that we are, with hundreds and hundreds of applications and ongoing research and development on a continuing basis... We really are the Experts. The Plasmatronics is a good unit and will do the job, but is not as efficient at Customer ease of operation as the one we currently offer; and is no where near the one coming on line in the next four weeks with all the positive features of both, plus much more, and in a 40 amp format for five panels... You are the second to be offered the unit, now I am sure the cat is out of the bag. Bob Lemon will receive the first... Now, don't take this wrong, personally we do not care whether you purchase it here or somewhere else. We just don't want you to be upset with us, when you get the bill for the installation, and we will not want to know about any Warrantee issues on that equipment. Again, I am just writing this to try and look out for you, in good Customer Relations, don't take it wrong, just letting you know of the full implications with no surprises.. We are going to have to do proper charging for people that outsource equipment, as our costs cover installation features that people do not take into account.. Another example is one person providing their own batteries, without taking into account the bronze marine terminals, proper cables and ends and sealing, battery boxes reinforced with fibreglass with drains and gas venting out the bottom and top- incase of a malfunction, clamshell covers on the outside venting, labour and GST all on board... They might think they are getting cheaper batteries but will lose it all back and more when we do all the installation.. Battery cable can be quite long and costly with installation, to other equipment, and people need to take all of this and more on board... And one more thing, you have our permission to put this one on the
BOG site. No matter how well meaning people are, we really are the Experts and do it full time, and have the ongoing research and development. People second guessing us sometimes have limited perspectives not taking into account the broader view and experience that we have doing it full time with a large team onboard, or are not aware of how things suffer on the corrugation or interface with other equipment, or how they react to the inconsistent or low voltage or off-frequency conditions of power supplies in the Outback... In your best interests, and hello to the
BOG Site, from the Directors at Bushtracker"
