Pre-Order Discussions

What we can't do is import said products from China.  Not without posting a huge bond, anyway.

The owner of ebay MSB that sell MPPT from China  and also sell used solar panel  disappear .  Maybe he had to pay the bond  ??    

Seriously now...selling used solar panels, or American solar panels has absolutely no bearing on any of this.

The issue comes down to importing solar panels/modules/parts from China.

And from what very little I know of the guy--and our experience with him--I suspect the issues there were of a far more serious nature than import logistics.

Nothing wrong with used panels 

make sky blue was a company Sean was pitching for many times.

i bought 6 pallets of used solar panels that work great...

the import tariff at 30 percent or so does add significant expense to importing solar products...

el cheapo msb charge controllers from china is what Sean uses... if i recall correctly....

a lot of companies have been avoiding the import tax by shipping to a non tariff country first,,🤔

PowerJack eBay sellers must have already paid the bond or tariff tax as they are still shipping...plus they already have a lot of products in several different warehouses in the USA....🤔

new companies importing China made solar products will likely encounter import tax woes in the USA especially as the Biden conflict pay for play political problems are exposed....politics and crooks in abundance....once they catch up to them.....🤣🤣

sounds like you are lucky as the inverter pieces and parts were not held up this time...and they are on a train shipment someplace.....but then again only 2 pallets or 3 pallets of Chinese pieces and parts.....🤔

sounds like you are lucky as the inverter pieces and parts were not held up this time...and they are on a train shipment someplace.....but then again only 2 pallets or 3 pallets of Chinese pieces and parts.....🤔

I  do not see update  tracking  they on a train or truck  or still  at Long Beach .   Lucky the shipping boss  know the  bonding agent  ??   

I have no idea where their boat shipment of pallets of Chinese parts are ,,, only the previous conversation indicate/suggest they will be shipped on a train , but the tracking is not available.....so just an assumption (i did not look at any tracking of the boat or anything)...they may still be setting on a loading dock in long beach for all anyone knows....

my LiFePO4 battery supplier had ship tracking and FedEx / UPS tracking all the way from one place to another so it was traceable....even the USPS has tracking for some things....

hard to say what they receive for final mile tracking or to the door delivery tracking of the in limbo pallets of Chinese made inverter pieces and parts.....Sid may have more details >>> or Sean...

I wonder what the voltage of the transformer primary and secondary are for the universal transformer with larger gauged enameled aluminum wire Is????? Sid said the toroid heavy iron composition core was laminated....but never seen anything about the voltage in vs voltage out....of the new improved universal transformer....

I think they will still incur a manufacture assembly tax in Michigan as Michigan likes to tax things ultimately.....raising the price again to assemble the inverter,,,,, seems the tax man never quits.....🤔

I know I had lots of tax from all kinds of angles to pay as a builder of things,,,,,but Michigan is certainly its own tax heaven or tax heXX....🤔

May still be setting on a loading dock in long beach for all anyone knows....    That would be bad if the train  do not wait for the delay  to get the bond .  May have to wait for the  next  available train  or truck .Sean may have to fly to Long Beach  and get a rental truck ??     .....   I do not know what the voltage of the transformer primary  of the new GS12kw .    Probably  32vac for the primary of the transformer  for 48vDC battery .   I can get a transformer with primary of 39vAC for 60vDC battery .   The min battery voltage is 55 vDC and the max is 70vDC  .    My 16s lithium ion BMW battery is 46vDC to 67vDC .  32vAC primary has a max 64vDC which is not high  enough  and 39vAC primary has a max 70vDC which is too high .   LiFEPO4 battery 16s work best with 48vDC inverter .     Most  inverter are not made for 16s lithium ion battery and  at this time I found NONE  but Powerjack can work .     

So much baseless speculation again.....

The problem is that we're dealing with America now.  And Americans really don't put the same emphasis on work as many other countries do.

I have requested further information from our shipping company--but I will be pleasantly surprised if I get a response tomorrow.

• Our custom main filter caps shipped several days ago...I have a FedEx label for that.
• most of the connectors have been completed; I am expecting those to ship within the next few days.
• Final PCBs were ordered last week, should arrive about the same time as the main shipment is expected.
• that's pretty much everything...

ETA to the "destination port" of Chicago is the 12th.  (There does not appear to be any further tracking along the way--or at least tracking of any sort there hasn't been provided.)

Still waiting on a quote for "final mile" delivery--as to whether it's cheaper to have a company deliver it, or whether it's more cost effective for Sean to drive down and pick it up himself.

May 9th, 2023:

• Shipping boxes + packing foam have been completed (actually several days ago).  Awaiting Sean to go pick them up.
• Shielded MOS cables have been completed; all cables will ship via air tomorrow
• Custom capacitors arrived yesterday.  They look good...note that this is one packing box, NOT the entire shipment of caps!  (There aren't close to enough caps in this photo for the inverter orders.)
  
• waiting for the local U.S. machine shop to produce the cases.  They're being a bit of a nail-biter here with no communication...we are seriously considering switching to a different company after this round.
• still no word from the U.S. shipping company about final-mile logistics and rates--and an email I got yesterday seems to indicate that they didn't get the tariff classification paperwork sorted while the (complete) shipment was en-route on the ship.  It does not appear that this will cause any delays--but still, you just gotta love working with American companies...

maybe you will have to find a better logistics company ....at least you have legal avenues available against USA companies,,,, not that you can ever collect from either one...

PayPal seems to be a good way to ensure your payments..... could be better ways.... to protect the money sent....

vs no way to sue a Chinese company for not completing the contract....

looks like your gaining a few more imported pieces and parts....😎

May 15, 2023:

• We didn't get any contact from the local shipping company on Friday regarding the shipment--despite that being the date they'd given us as the expected time the shipment was expected to land at a Chicago warehouse.  So I emailed them Saturday afternoon asking for any updates/info.  But as we're dealing with American companies now, obviously, I don't expect a response until later today (Monday).
• Close enough we can almost taste success...finally, at very long last.
• Final PCBs shipped a few days ago; final components should actually arrive today.  (These components were not included on the main shipment.)
• trying to get 1.2r2 ready so that all new inverters going out will have 1.2r2 in them.

Anything more

Yes.  I've been back at a part-time job this week, so the few hours I had last night were completely consumed with "damage control" (i.e. only the items of absolute highest importance); I didn't get a chance to update the forums then.

I did get confirmation from the shipping company that the goods ARE in a Chicago warehouse.

However, I missed an email from them five days ago (it was marked as "read", so I didn't see it--it's a business email address) with another round of "import classification questions" (which I responded to last night).  This means that the paperwork to release the shipment is NOT yet in order--and despite the shipment being physically READY to be released/delivered, it won't be.
I'm quite disgusted with this shipping company: they're like a loose bag of rocks--not connected together, not very efficient, and not very personable.  The time to start with all of this import paperwork was when the shipment was loaded on the original ship--NOT when it's literally ready to be delivered.

One thing is very clear to me: the CBP import laws are extremely against U.S.A manufacturing.  Let me explain:

• If we were importing inverters manufactured, produced and assembled in China, with Chinese labor...there is one single classification for the goods--and if I'm understanding the classifications I've seen, there are NO tariffs.  (There might be a "base" tariff for everything, but no "additional" tariffs.)
• Conversely, if we import the EXACT SAME inverter as in the above concept--only we import it in its individual pieces (as we are doing, for final assembly with U.S. labor)--now we have 5 reams of paper, four legal hoops to jump through, a myriad more ways to get some import classification wrong--and we get tariffed on every single item.  I don't know what the rates are yet--but anything more than "none" is significant.