Flooded Batteries on Float

Well, I just got an education. Thanks Mex!

Your engine was made, your transmission was made, your frame was made, in either Windsor Ontario Canada, or Monclova/Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Mexico. Brake pads, power steering components, even the glass is made in Mexico. NAFTA. Mexican part shipped to Canada is considered a Canadian part. Cylinder heads cast at the Sicartsa steel mill in Monclova ending up in Portland Maine, are Made in USA.

Oh the game playing doesn't stop there. Digital control models made in Indonesia, programmed in India are shipped to Mexico and then the modules are sub assembled thus covered under NAFTA then shipped to the USA. Made in Djkarta, with adhesive label on harness "Made in Mexico. Delphi and Motorcraft use nothing but made in China starters and alternators. Got a Denso alternator or starter? Product of Guondong prefecture China.

Customer reviews are my sole source of pre purchase confidence and arm twisting. 567 reviews and 4.75 stars is a good indication the product is not junk.

As pointed out in an earlier response, Korean-Japanese leadership run the top of the heap factories. Americans employ Koreans and Japanese as interfaces. USA management is concerned with bottom-line quality, just in time logistics, and to lubricate the bamboo gears of the titanic mechanism as needed. US purchases are keeping 800,000,000 chinese employed, so Beijing listens to pontifications handed down the Americans at the factories. Dollar diplomacy in action. But it's the Japanese and Koreans doing the engineering and nuts and bolts physical administration of the factory's white shirt and tie crowd. Chinese white collar workers have 2 masters: The buyer and Beijing. The Government Central Committee has one master - the fear of three quarters of a billion workers carrying pitchforks and torches with growling stomachs.

BTW the module for that TDS meter is more than likely Chinese. Poland produces excellent bearings and the Czech Republic make some of the finest consumer lathes and mills on the face of the earth. Tooling, too.

Meanwhile on this half of the earth, LTH battery S.A. de C.V. keeps spitting out Optima batteries.

Now do you -really- believe the department of Commerce demands certificates of origin for NAFTA parts? If you do, then you'll believe that crude oil actually is shipped to the USA from the far East. Or that the USA needs to import one microgram of crude oil from beyond its borders. The key word is -need-.

It's a massive, pea under the walnut shells con game to reduce taxes.

So I have to concern myself with that purchase of 100 555 timer modules on eBay that cost me one single US cent. Damned shipping cost two dollars twenty nine cents. Or the 117 ampere MOSFET transistors that cost sixteen cents each, solid state relays four dollars (25 amp DC relays) free shipping. The star heat sinks, next month a shipment of 11,000 1/4 and half watt resistors, thirteen dollars delivered. One ohm to 4 megohm. One percent resistors. Then the optocouplers, PC boards. And finally LED chips.

I ran my company for 22 years. The "secret" to success is not what you sell a product for, it's what you buy it for. And excessive warranties are death to a company's solvency.

We'll see tomorrow how much of a discount Hero Long March Factory no 221 is going to give me on a sizable purchase of LED driver modules. Pure Chinese product. Am I worried about quality? nah! The most they can do is blow-up and take off an arm or a leg - I got a spare of each.

Mex wrote:
Do an audit of everything in your rig, what DIDN'T come from China (short list).

Hmmmm ... I did a partial audit on my rig several moons ago. Turns out the most important part of it - the Ford Econoline chassis - had at about the time we bought it (don't know about now) the highest percentage of U.S. parts and manufacturing of ANY vehicle available in the U.S.. It was around 95-96%, if I remember correctly, and we all know about the quality of this U.S. made product.

I don't necessarily advocate U.S. over Chinese. What I advocate is quality you can count on item after item, time after time. Much Chinese stuff I come across is still in general all over the map on quality. Some is very good, some isn't so good ... including electronics. At this point in my life I no longer have the research time, or spend-over-and-over-for-the-same-thing money ... to waste on all over the map quality.

As much as possible I now look first for either U.S., or German, or Japanese, or Scandinavian, or Swiss, or English made stuff because it seems pretty close to universally good quality. I may have to add another country to my trust list of places to buy from because I recently bought a TDS meter from Romania and so far it has been very impressive.

BTW, there can be a BIG QUALITY DIFFERENCE between Chinese products from Chinese owned companies and Chinese products from American owned company divisions located within China.

People forget that the computers and mobile devices they use come from China. Cracks me up.

I cannot swear to it, but it's more than likely. You need to blow air inside the case if you are going to try operating your charger on a boost setting OEM has set a strict time limit for using. Favor a lee (please read) the Sears Manual. Hate to see a perfectly good antique replicate Mt St Helens on PMS.

There is nothing wrong mechanically with those power supplies, nothing at all. Got news for you - eighty percent of the electronics in your made in USA auto were made by folks who eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Do an audit of everything in your rig, what DIDN'T come from China (short list).

The Chinese are capable of manufacturing good stuff and they do it quite often. LG, which stands for "Lucky Goldstar" is now considered "good stuff". The MegaWatt is either Meanwell or a damned good clone. Yeah, I now much prefer it over the old standby Harbor Fright 10-amp transformer charger, even at double the price. Anything reliable that allows me to control reality is top drawer in my book.

If it's a question of "Made In USA" ethics, be prepared to paint yourself into a corner availability and price wise. The USA makes the best construction equipment, tools, batteries, generators, and digital control merchandise on the face of the earth. No heavy shirt can compete with a Pendleton, or Woolrich. But when Daiwa came out with a open face spinning reel that ripped the underwear off my made in USA reel, when Honda provided 1-pull start motors in competition to 100 pull start Briggs and Tecumsah boat anchors, it woke me up.

Loyalty as compared to Foolishness are set too close together for my comfort.

If something is better, it's better. But for some, a Budweiser is better than a Heineken. To each his own. I am tickled I can go on eBay and purchase stuff. Beats not having enough money to purchase anything...

The Mega Watt unit is made in China. Give is a try, remember it is a power supply. Nothing automatic.

"I have a life to live on limited funds pension while some folks sit at desks and plot to control and corner various essential commodity markets. Ethics? You must be joking."

Mex,

To boil down your answer to my where-made question ... are you saying that the Mega Watt unit is indeed made in China?

If true ... I'll just for the fun of it try to get by a bit longer with my 25-35 year old Sears charger (which was probably born in good old U.S.A.) set to it's 50 amp engine starting mode for faster charging of my RV's batteries.

Remember Lambda? I do. Fondly.

Power supply for hifi preamp made with Lambda 24V Din rail supply. This little blue machine has really clean power:

Testing.



Finished PS:

I'll give you a clue...

The standard of the industry Meanwell, is made in Taiwan. or probably more accurately, made by Taiwan. Remember Lambda? I do. Fondly.

Thank your lucky stars Lucas of England has no dog in the fight. Expensive garbage. Same with Girling brakes. Then there was the French. Oh my god. A Peugeot. Fan clutch. Circular steel rings totally exposed, with plastic brush holders that aged quickly in radiator heat. PLASTIC! Stack three cubes of dice one atop the other. Cut a piece of coat hanger for the clip. FORTY SIX DOLLARS EACH at a distant Peugeot dealer. And this was what (?) thirty some odd years ago.

The "cause" of outsourcing, government gluttony, and labor caused what has happened in the USA. It was not an act of god. I have a life to live on limited funds pension while some folks sit at desks and plot to control and corner various essential commodity markets. Ethics? You must be joking.

I'm curious, is the U.S. getting it's pizzaz back ... or is the Mega Watt power supply from China?