Knock off gear

[Joeboy]

Coincidence that all happened on the same day. Saloman treking shoes, Adidas Gazelles and a set of air pod pro's. £75 all in.

Let's see how long they all last. I still have a Samsung galaxy 2 knock off picked up in Shenzhen years ago. Works fine.

I know, I know, have at it.

[Tay]

You have more faith in some of that tat than I do.

I spent 20 years living in Asia and there is a LOT of tat..I've seen them in the streets of hong kong just putting any old safety stamps they feel like, maybe the items were above board...chances are they werent.

I've bought brake levers for previous bikes from Germany, which turned out they came from China.. first outing the brake lever snapped, luckily there was still enough level to apply the brakes. I've seen safety gear on eBay and Amazon that is quite clearly duff nasty dangerous crap.

Once Amazon refused to pull an item for a Motorcycle jacket with an airbag that was quite clearly a boat lifejacket... !

I have a bee in my bonnet about this stuff as a biker, but when tat is quite clearly designed to mislead, like fake crash helmets, just so some fat chinese fella can pay minimum wage to his staff and not be concerned about a few gweilo deaths I draw the line.

I've been gradually weening myself of Amazon and eBay for a few years now, but still fall for a few temptations - a la YMCA Micro inverters or whatever they were

Hope they work out for you, but I wont be holding my breath

[Joeboy]

Safety gear is a different thing, genuine or not at all. I'll test my air pod pro's on a boat trip today. Fingers crossed.

Tat!!!

[Tay]

Safety gear is a different thing, genuine or not at all. I'll test my air pod pro's on a boat trip today. Fingers crossed.

Tat!!!

I did a stupid thing, accidentally, but stupid nonetheless.

I dropped my small electrical tool box on an MC4 connector on my cheap'ish imported DC isolator (Herewith known as tat!!)

Problem 1.
Annoyed with myself I got out the spare MC4's and cable to make up a new one.
I opened the isolator and discovered it uses a smaller thread Male MC4 (©12mm) than my MC4's (©16mm)...had a check and all mine are 16MM even the prefab'd cables.

Problem 2.
Went I went to unscrew the cable that went to the MC4 the cable just came out, eg; the bugger wasnt even fully screwed down to fully lock the cable in.






1. Now searching for some smaller ones, I could drill out the box as I wont be using it outside but thought I stick to the design.
2. Will fully secure the new cable in place once connectors located.

The joy of tat ^^

Edited 23:49:

Sod it, must remember to never used them outside - Problem solved for now, now to find some grommits.

[Tay]

What worries me about this knock off stuff, is that some of it is getting expensive !!

These Isolators were 30 quid a piece, I[ve just taken the other one apart to see if the wires were tight and luckily they seem to be, once I get some decent gromits I'll be converting them all to the same modification.

I have found a supplier of the smaller MC4's suitable for panel insulation but frankly it seems like a rubbish design, so all ahead full witht he gromits..

How are the treking boots going JB? I find real tangible knock off items like those quickly fall by the way side, that is unless they arnt really knock offs but real stuff from the factory and flogging it off piste.

I doubt my ears could tell the difference between a £100 air pods to a coupla plastic cups held together with string. Too much loud music in my yuff.

[Stinsy]

Nowadays many "knockoffs" come of the same production line in the same factory as the real thing. Particularly stuff such as trainers and other high-margin consumer goods.

Stuff such as electrical switchgear is low-margin so the only way to make a knockoff cheaper is to cut corners...

[Joeboy]

What worries me about this knock off stuff, is that some of it is getting expensive !!

These Isolators were 30 quid a piece, I[ve just taken the other one apart to see if the wires were tight and luckily they seem to be, once I get some decent gromits I'll be converting them all to the same modification.

I have found a supplier of the smaller MC4's suitable for panel insulation but frankly it seems like a rubbish design, so all ahead full witht he gromits..

How are the treking boots going JB? I find real tangible knock off items like those quickly fall by the way side, that is unless they arnt really knock offs but real stuff from the factory and flogging it off piste.

I doubt my ears could tell the difference between a £100 air pods to a coupla plastic cups held together with string. Too much loud music in my yuff.

Thay are in a bag, I'm cutting about in sandals & no socks. Feet like a hobbit!

The airport were great. I'll try them again on plane but so far thumbs

[Tay]

Nowadays many "knockoffs" come of the same production line in the same factory as the real thing. Particularly stuff such as trainers and other high-margin consumer goods.

Stuff such as electrical switchgear is low-margin so the only way to make a knockoff cheaper is to cut corners...

Yup, spot on I think.