No Standards = Low Standards
Marketing gurus often chant the phrase, “It’s not about the products, it’s about value. But what does this platitude mean to us? It asks not what we produce, but what we do. And this caused us to change our website's main byline to,
EGON IS CHANGING THE DC POWER RULES
Because there are no formal qualifications, no set curriculum or even a basic set of standards for DC power distribution in fleet Utes, campers, 4x4s or caravans, EGON is raising installation quality criterion not yet seen in this industry.
So, here’s the thing with with electrical installations in 4x4s, campers, caravans, etc: There is no qualification on planet earth that qualifies anyone to build a power distribution system in them. None! One assumes that auto-sparky courses taught in colleges and trade schools might be a worthy qualification. But they are not. How can they be when the curriculum doesn’t even touch the subject of building auxiliary power distribution systems? Which begs two questions: How qualified is the person doing the design and installation of a build? And secondly, how does a customer tell if they got a good job with their DC installation?
When dealing with a medical issue, we go a qualified medical practitioner. Their qualification is measured by the time they spend at college or university and sometimes the letters after their name. On the less qualified end of the scale are perhaps the chiropractors and physiotherapists. And for argument's sake, someone on the upper end of the scale might be a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. And when we need medical help, we know by virtue of their qualifications what to ask for, and what to expect.
But with DC power distribution, there are no similar yardsticks. You can’t even see an example of their work, like one might do with a graphic artist or accountant. Which means the guy or girl working on your rig could be on the end of the scale measured by having watched some YouTube videos and loves to doom-scroll Instagram. On the upper end of the scale you might be lucky enough to have a mechatronics engineer who was also spent 10 years in a workshop building rigs.
For decades this industry has been leaving the quality of its DC output to chance, and this is the reason why the quality of electrical installations is as untrustworthy as ever. One needs no qualification for working in a 4x4 accessory workshop. You just have to be interested in 4x4s and sometimes that isn't even necessary. The proof of this is that quality in one big-name store can be good, and the same branded store in another town, absolutely shocking. And no big name brand is exempt. No country is exempt. And with owner shops, one has to go by word of mouth because what else is there?
How does the workshop measure quality? (when they do)
- Did the job go out on time?
- Did the customer come back during the warranty period?
- Was the job profitable?
How does the customer measure quality?
- They gave you a nice coffee.
- The job was done neatly and on time.
- I can understand what they did because they explained it to me, such that I can troubleshoot if it goes wrong.
- It worked to expectations.
Of course, what really matters is the last one. But how does a customer know if their expectations are unrealistically high, unrealistically low, or reasonable? In short, they cannot unless they are highly experienced in the field.
How might the mechatronics engineer judge a good installation? He might ask the following questions:
- Is it neat?
- Is the wiring easy to follow?
- Is the system easy to fault check?
- Were the correct wire sizes and lengths used?
- Was the heat shrink done correctly?
- Were the fuses correctly located and rated for the safety of the system?
- Were the components fitted in appropriate places for distance of wiring and their ability to stay cool?
- Are the charging currents from various charging devices on spec?
Only a few of these checks are possible for even the above average customer to complete.
And here lies the problem: while the worst system might result in a rig being destroyed by fire, even a bad system works - sort of. The battery will still be charged by the alternator. And the solar panels will produce current that will feed the battery. When alternators get hot, they automatically protect themselves by reducing the current flow. If the cabling is poor, the cables will get hot, reducing voltage, and the alternator will not produce the rated current that the customer paid for. Likewise with solar. The solar panels will produce current that will charge the battery. But as solar panels get hot, they become less efficient. As MPPT controllers get hot, they too become less efficient. Heat can be caused by the wrong types of cables and connectors, bad location, poor crimps and unnecessary connections, all too common occurrences in installations. And all that heat is just battery energy contributing to El Niño instead of keeping the lettuce crispy.
While I have summarised the problem and the causes thereof, I'd like to present a solution.
What about the idea of a qualification specifically for the design and fitting of power distribution systems in vehicles using additional batteries and charging devices such as DC-DC chargers and MPPT solar?
Heiner is in a position to create such a course and set up a curriculum for a qualification. If we did this, we would make like to make it free to everybody; customers, tradies and workshops alike.
- Workshops can then advertise and promote themselves as 'qualified'.
- Qualified tradies can get employment at the best shops.
- Customers can hold the same qualifications as those building their rig.
If it works, customers who go to a workshop holding such a qualification can know that no one who works on their rig is on the doom-scrolling side of the scale. But instead have a grounding in DC electrics with real value.
So to answer the question, what do we do?
The Egon DC-Hubs go a significant distance to improve the quality of any DC power distribution system in which they are installed. They alone are raising the bar. But they do not go all the way. Offering such a course could close the remaining gap immeasurably, especially for those choosing to build power distribution installations in the traditional way. No similar offering exists anywhere today. Heiner and I have always thought of ourselves as pioneers of sorts. But this could be our biggest contribution yet.
This issue has been with us since I started playing with 4x4's over 40 years ago and because battery technology has allowed systems to become more complicated, the quality of the average installation has become steadily worse. And there is no end in sight.
This is an embryonic idea and we would love to hear from you once you think about it.
I produced a vlog last week on this story. It’s a bit of a rant, but one of my best.(Andrew)
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/Nw-Spd19hG4
EGON offers for May:
We’ve extended the DC-Wiring course special offer at just A$10.
EGON-DC-Hub NANO not quite so early bird offer, limited another 10 units, A$50 off. Offer includes bundled steel bracket.
Until next month.
Thank you for being part of our amazing journey.
Andrew & Heiner