Date:         Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:44:43 -0700
Reply-To:     Loren Busch <starwagen@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Loren Busch <starwagen@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Solar panels for your Vanagon
In-Reply-To:  <Pine.LNX.4.64.0706191413110.31026@birdbird.example.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Thanks for doing the comparison that I was to lazy to do.  What got my
attention was comparing Airizona with other sites I'd visited and the ease
of selection and ordering.
BTW, I placed an order with them over the weekend, got a notice of UPS
shipping this morning, then a notice of cancellation of the UPS shipping.  I
emailed them, wonder what's going on....

As for local supplies, that's one place that virtually every vendor of
everything is falling down on on the Internet.  I try and try to find links
at a vendors site that will take me to a list of local suppliers and they
just aren't there.  It gets even worse with some vendors that provide all
kinds of info on their site but won't sell to you, send you to one or maybe
two online vendors.
I've even gone back to the phone book and making local calls to try to find
stuff that I know has to be available over the counter right in my back yard
(greater Seattle area has anything you want) but I can't find it.  Example:
I wanted some Sorbothane for mounting the Norcold I'm putting in.  No way
could I find a link to a local supplier, ended up buying from McMaster-Carr
online.  Someone locally lost out because I was not able to find a local
link.

On 6/19/07, vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 19 Jun 2007, Loren Busch wrote:
> > As for the Anderson Power Connectors, the easiest to use online
> > ordering for these itmes that I have found is here:
> > http://store.solar-electric.com/anhicupoco.html
>
> This place appears to be packaging the connectors for you, which is
> handy if you don't realize that normally the housings and contacts are
> sold separately.  If you understand what to order, you can get these
> connectors a little cheaper - solar-electric.com will sell you one 50 A
> two pole housing plus two contacts for $6.50, while at Del City, you can
> get two housings and four contacts for the same price.  Sometimes a
> local electronic distributor (*NOT* Radio Shack) will carry Anderson
> connectors as well, if you would rather deal with a local store.
>
> If you are using any kind of connector like this, where the pins and
> housing are sold separately, it's usually a good idea to order a few
> spare pins.  That way if you screw up installing one of the pins, or
> decide to re-wire something, you can just install a new pin rather than
> replacing the whole connector.  You can get installed pins out of an
> Anderson connector with careful use of a small flat-blade screwdriver;
> some other kinds of connectors have a removal tool that is usually cheap
> and worth having.
>
> solar-electric.com does have a good link to an Anderson "how-to" article
> at http://www.flyrc.com/articles/using_powerpole_1.shtml .
>
> Matt Roberds
>
>