Statpower

gary j zingle

New member
Jun 5, 1999
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Arch, I installed the statpower in the same location as the original buzz=

box and wired it to the rear fuse strip only.

Although I only have about 100 miles since I installed this unit, I have
many hours (in the driveway) with the 455 running at the same time as the=

motorhome was plugged in (and therefore the statpower running).

Never given me any trouble yet.

Regards

Gary Zingle
1973 GMC 26 foot
Edmonton Alberta Canada
 
> He got real quiet and said someone would get back to me. Dont worry I
> did not tell him anything about who we were. Take Care Arch 76 GB IL

Well... they may have the data, but from the random sample you took this
week, I'm not sure they have a clue (We are still at the stage where
most companies do not understand the double edge blade they are playing
with... unless the boss listens to someone half his age about
the power of the internet) i.e. getting more orders... can be the easy
part.

Whatever you do, don't give them the course on interpretation of message
headers... (it's OK with me really, if you do, since I was not too happy
with the way they treated one of our netters... who was not given the
benefit of any warrantee because he had not installed or checked it out,
fast enough, and it was an infant mortality statistic). Compare that
with the positive spin FanTastic got by treating Emery correctly.

I have not followed all comments on this subject, but am I correct that
there seems to be the beginnings of a correlation between
'Statpower-refurbished'... and mysterious failure?

They should realize the need to re-establish their credibility 'why were
these units returned for refurbishment in the first place' ???
>
> Subject: GMC: Help
> Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 10:39:35 EDT
> From: Gcbr
>Reply-To: gmcmotorhome
> To: CustomerService

>I have a problem. Yesterday I was working on my motorhome. The house

- --
Regards,
John 74 Glacier
 
>The bad is that we will not learn from it. The ugly part is What did
happen to my >unit------why all of this BS? I value knowledge a lot
more than money so I dont >really feel I won this one.

Frankly Arch...

I don't believe a word of their cock and bull story about the exploded
unit vaporizing between warehouses! You mentioned a few days ago,
that you knew they were monitoring our comments on this explosion
(what I mean is, what clued you in to the fact that they were aware of
the groups interest/comments?)

They do seem to (still) have quite a pile of Refurbished Units in
their lobby on the Internet. I just revisited their site, and they in
fact seem to be using the On-Line Store to sell *only* Refurbished
Units at 40 to 60% off retail. They seem to have a large assortment
of models and sizes and all refurbished?

I remember some folks mentioning here on the net that they just bought
some of the refurbished units via the Internet. How are they working,
if any buyers are reading. I know you Arch, bought yours new through
a retailer. When was that Arch?

Regards,
John 74 Glacier DC GMC
 
I got my refurbished StatPowr 40 back in April and the coach has
either been plugged in or I have been driving the unit since then. No
problems except I had to get new batteries because I never checked
the water level (the PO installed them in a way that made H2O checking
impossible).
Richard Waters '76 PB, Troy, MI

>
> some of the refurbished units via the Internet. How are they working,
> if any buyers are reading. I know you Arch, bought yours new through
> a retailer. When was that Arch?
>
> Regards,
> John 74 Glacier DC GMC >>
>
> John - I bought mine as a refurb unit from StatPower in June and so far it
> has been working fine for the last 9 weeks. I've been on a 3000 mile trip
> and it has been plugged in continuously while I've been home.
>
> Emery Stora
> 77 Kingsley
> Santa Fe, NM
 
>>How are they working, if any buyers are reading. I know you Arch,
bought >>yours new through a retailer. When was that Arch? John

>I am replying to this off Emery's post because I dont seem to
>have your post yet. I bought a new Statpower 40& from West
>Marine about 4 months ago. Now Statpower is sending me a
>new one. Take Care Arch

Thanks both of you guys... BTW Arch, you will probably find my post in
your all-ready-replied-to pile. The good news is... that although you
forgot overnight, you gave approximately the same answer both times


Regards,
John 74 Glacier DC GMC
 
In summary so far, it is 2 bad and 3 good. One of the bad ones was
older by months than the 3 to 4 months average age of the sample
population... Several customers commented on the Fan... both constancy
and sound level. It may be related to whether a referring is running
or not as well as what charge current is flowing.

Regards,
John 74 Glacier DC GMC
 
I bought a statpower 40 through the net about 6 weeks ago. I leave it on all
the time and it tops the batteries nicely. It seems to be working
flawlessly. I like it so much that I purchased the remote display and
temperature sensor.

I subscribe to the belief that an electrical device should run as much as
possible while under warrenty(90 days), to shake out any component
weaknesses, so to speak.

If I can get the onan fuel pump to pump gas then the coach will be almost
perfect(almost).

Enjoying the summer - in OH10

Louie Diamond
76 PB
 
>GMCers
>
>Well, my new Statpower 40& came yesterday. I am really bent out of
>shape that I dont know anymore than I did when it blew. Yes, it got
>replaced but we did not learn from it. Emery ask if I had the coach hooked
>to 110? No, it is hooked up to 220. I have checked each circuit and I have
>119.6 volts with both AC running. 120.3 V with nothing on. Yes, I live
>within 1 mile of the substation. I have the same voltage to neutral as
>to ground. If any of you have any ideas of anything I could have done wrong
>please let me know. I have checked and rechecked all charger lines
>for leaks to ground. They are clean as can be. Cleaning the solenoid
>in the rear battery compartment got rid of the last .001 ohm reading
>I was showing. Not getting any info from Statpower I feel this has all
>been in vain. If I have a problem I have no more info as to where to find it.
>Any thoughts no matter how off the wall will be listened to.
 
>In a message dated 9/14/99 10:55:43 PM Central Daylight Time,

>
>> in the rear battery compartment got rid of the last .001 ohm reading
>> >I was showing. Not getting any info from Statpower I feel this has all
>> >been in vain. If I have a problem I have no more info as to where to
find
>> it.
>> >Any thoughts no matter how off the wall will be listened to.
>>
>Henry
>
>?????????????????
>
>Take Care
>Arch
>

Here's what was in the message when I sent it ...

According to Statpower, the unit has output protection for dead shorts. And
it has a fuse for incorrect DC hookup. The charger also internal isolation
between the outputs.
It's a pretty good bet that the problem was with the Statpower and not how
you hooked it up. That said, the only issues that I see is the possibility
of inductive kickback when you tried to start your engine, or a run away
alternator. Inductive kickback happens under some condictions when an
electric motor has the power turned off while it is running. How much
induced current is generated depends on a lot of factors. Still, the
statpower isolators should have easily handled the transient.
Statpower is an ISO 9001 certified facility and their manufacturer is ISO
9002. So, here's what I suggest: instead of talking to customer service,
contact their Quality Assurance group and ask for a failure analysis report
on the unit that you shipped back. Since they have agreed to be an ISO 9001
facility, they must have procedures in place to deal with this exact class
of problem. If they are still unable to provide you with an explaination, I
recommend taking the issue directly to their President. Hopefully you'll
get a satisfactory answer before then.
The issue that I see isn't so much your particular unit as the fact that
the Truecharge goes into such critical applications where an electrical
fire could be a huge problem.
As an owner of a TC 40+ I have a vested interest in knowing the failure
mechanism in your unit - I'm willing to add my voice to yours in demanding
an explaination of any failure mechanisms that result in fire.

Henry
Who damned near set his coach on fire all by himself without the aid of
Statpower.

Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
ph: (831) 462-5199 / full service marketing
fax: (831) 462-5198
http://www.henry-davis.com/ http://www.henry-davis.com
 
- -snip-

>I had talked to customer service. Then I talked to Technical Support.
>Tech support are the people who said that they had a technician looking
>at it-----then said they could not find it. Last word from Tech Support
>was that they had spent 2 hours looking for it in receiving and could
>not find it. This was the last phone conversation I had with them. It
>seems like a dead end.

Arch,

if you want to pursue it further the QA guys can help dig out the real
facts. Maybe they really lost it. Maybe they didn't. The reason why I say
go for QA is because under ISO9000 "standards" there are specific
repolrting requirements for Returned Materials that failed. If you want me
to follow up with these folks for you, I'm willing to do that if you give
me the RMA info (number, date shipped etc)

Henry

Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
ph: (831) 462-5199 / full service marketing
fax: (831) 462-5198
http://www.henry-davis.com/ http://www.henry-davis.com
 
Arch -

thanks for the info. I'll call tomorrow and see what I can break loose.

Henry

>In a message dated 9/15/99 6:05:02 PM Central Daylight Time,

>
>>
>> if you want to pursue it further the QA guys can help dig out the real
>> facts. Maybe they really lost it. Maybe they didn't. The reason why I say
>> go for QA is because under ISO9000 "standards" there are specific
>> repolrting requirements for Returned Materials that failed. If you want me
>> to follow up with these folks for you, I'm willing to do that if you give
>> me the RMA info (number, date shipped etc)
>
>Henry
>
>WOW this is the best news I have heard in a long time. I honestly want
>to know what happened. Why did it explode? I wont hook up my new one
>until I hear from you.
>

Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
ph: (831) 462-5199 / full service marketing
fax: (831) 462-5198
http://www.henry-davis.com/ http://www.henry-davis.com
 
>
>WOW this is the best news I have heard in a long time. I honestly want
>to know what happened. Why did it explode? I wont hook up my new one
>until I hear from you.
>
>RMA 12839
>Shipped 8/25/99
>UPS tracking # 1Z 6X2 572 03 1039 418 9

I talked with QA a few minutes ago. They have your unit on their desk.
Initial reason for failure was a failued MOSFET transistor that controls
drivers for the individual outputs (the three charging circuits). This
caused output drivers, and other circuitry to fail.

To help them determine the root cause, can you give me the following
information:

1. which outputs did you have batteries hooked to?
2. engine batt to which output if you know
3. battery types, group size, etc. New, old, etc.
4. drain from the air compressor if known.
5. how many hours did you have on the unit.
6. any other info that you can give me regarding the operating conditions
of the unit. I'll also let them know of the generic GMC electrical
characteristics.

More info on confusion over having/not having the unit -
US RMAs go to a US warehouse and are then shipped to Canada. Vancouver had
a truckers action in which soem things were not delivered. Statpower showed
unit received because it had been received by Washington warehouse. So the
tech's answer that they had it was right. So was the answer that they
couldn't find it.

More as it becomes available.

Henry

Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
ph: (831) 462-5199 / full service marketing
fax: (831) 462-5198
http://www.henry-davis.com/ http://www.henry-davis.com
 
When a spirit of cooperation and helpfulness among members is directed toward
solving a problem, this net really shines!

Lorry

>
> >
> >WOW this is the best news I have heard in a long time. I honestly want
> >to know what happened. Why did it explode? I wont hook up my new one
> >until I hear from you.
> >
> >RMA 12839
> >Shipped 8/25/99
> >UPS tracking # 1Z 6X2 572 03 1039 418 9
>
> I talked with QA a few minutes ago. They have your unit on their desk.
> Initial reason for failure was a failued MOSFET transistor that controls
> drivers for the individual outputs (the three charging circuits). This
> caused output drivers, and other circuitry to fail.
>
> To help them determine the root cause, can you give me the following
> information:
>
> 1. which outputs did you have batteries hooked to?
> 2. engine batt to which output if you know
> 3. battery types, group size, etc. New, old, etc.
> 4. drain from the air compressor if known.
> 5. how many hours did you have on the unit.
> 6. any other info that you can give me regarding the operating conditions
> of the unit. I'll also let them know of the generic GMC electrical
> characteristics.
>
> More info on confusion over having/not having the unit -
> US RMAs go to a US warehouse and are then shipped to Canada. Vancouver had
> a truckers action in which soem things were not delivered. Statpower showed
> unit received because it had been received by Washington warehouse. So the
> tech's answer that they had it was right. So was the answer that they
> couldn't find it.
>
> More as it becomes available.
>
> Henry
>
> Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
> PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
> Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
> ph: (831) 462-5199 / full service marketing
> fax: (831) 462-5198
> http://www.henry-davis.com/ http://www.henry-davis.com