ST Generator Heads Direct From China

[WStayton]

Hi!

I'm a newbie here and accumulating the pieces for my "system", and, suffering from congenital cheapness< hate to spend more than eight bucks for a ten dollar bill! <grin>

So I was wondering if anybody has tried buying ST generator heads direct from the manufacturer in China?

I've done a little exploratory work and have found that I could buy ST Generator Heads in 24 kW size in quantities of twenty pieces for something like $320 while a domestic importer wants about $720 a piece for the same unit!!!

Shipping is a pain, but I got a quote from one company for about $90 a unit for twenty of them.  That would put the total price at about $410 vs about $830 for the domestic unit with shippping to me in the Southern Tiuer of New York,

I've also done a little "trolling" for potential customers on CraigsList in both New York and Northern Pennsylvania, and, so far I have about thirty people who have intdicated that they would be interested in buying a unit, although they are of various sizes in their desires.  Of course, when it cam time to put the money down, I'm sure that many of them would back out, but the interest IS there!

So, is this something that COULD be done? And, has anybody done it so far??  I REALLY hate to pay twice what something HAS to cost!!!  What can I say, I'm TIGHT!  <grin>

[rcavictim]

Tom Osborne is the friend of our's here who you need to see about a generator head.  He sells out of GA, USA.  I bought my two 3-phase 24 kW/30 kVA heads from him and had to pay all the extra to ship into Canada but it was still a good deal for me.  Importing 20 units from China because I needed to save $$$ on one sounds like way more hassle and work than the possible savings represent.

There is the issue of quality.  Ordering from China directly you may not like what shows up at your loading dock.  The units I got from Tom had sealed bearings and were wound with actual copper wire, not aluminum.  The cooling fans were aluminum not plastic.

Do a site member search.  His email address is, akatosborne (at) hotmail (dot)com

[mobile_bob]

by the time you order 20 units, get them shipped and pay all the extra fee's that you are unaware of (like customs fee's, broker fee's, dock fee's
and depending on where they come in, dock fee's and other crap) then have a a few heads that come in in error (wrong voltage, damaged in shipment) and then end you will be the one providing warranty for those you sell, plus have to handle them by turning around and arranging shipping to those that bought  them from you, and also provide storage for those that don't sell for whatever reason. and probably a few other things that don't come to mind right this moment and you will likely conclude that twice the price is quite reasonable from a north american reseller.

and if you have an issue with your head or one that you sell, you will be faced with buying more or what? sending them back for warantee at your expense.

somethings are ok to cheap out on, buying direct is probably not one of them.

some of the st heads from china are plain junk, bad brgs, cheap construction, poor castings, plastic fans, cheap inferior insulation, bad brush holders and slip rings, skimped out on laminations etc.  for example at one time you could buy an st5 that weighed in at anywhere from about 175lbs all the way up to 210lbs, so you have to wonder where the weight was cut?

no one i ever heard of was happy with their first experience ordering direct, there always seems to be problems that added to cost, or were problems with quality or both.

bob g

[dieselgman]

I concur with what has been said about the hassles with importing this stuff. I have been doing it for 10 years but it seems there is always a new twist and turn to screw things up. Tom Osborne is a very helpful and knowledgeable resource for these, he does a great job of supplying everything that is needed including customer satisfaction. We use his product most of the time... and happily stay out of the China import business. India is enough to deal with and we can at least speak somewhat close to the same English over there.

dieselgman

[WStayton]

I knew that there had been quality issues in the past - just sort of figured out that that WAS in the past - maybe not, huh! <frown>

I had though that having the weight of the unit was sort of a way to judge the quality - don't think anybody is casting lead in the bottom to make them weigh more, so if it weighs more, I, again, assumed, that it was more substantial - again, maybe not!

As to fees you don't know about - the freight quote I got was from a big company and it was for the units delivered to my place of business.  They did list charges for various customs documents/fees, etc. is it reasonable to assume that those are ALL of the fees, with nothing else due when the truck pulls up, inasmuch as they say nothing about additional fees?

I'm planning on having them delivered to my brother's farm equipment business, so I THINK I understand the fees there!!!
He's cheap, but I DO have to listen to the b!@#$%^n! <grin>

For how to deal with a defective unit:  I had though that I might tack and extra $20 onto each unit ordered and then have that in the kitty for bad-out-of-box units.  That obviously only works if the failure rate is small.  I would think, if they are shipping these units around the world the failure rate would have to be something reasonable, but, I guess, you never really know until you have them in your hands.

For crappy bearings, I was planning to just order a box full and issue two new one's with each unit!  Is there anything else that is systemattically wrong with these units like the bearings?  I know about the fans, but, it seems to me, if you specified "metal fans" on the purchase order, they would arrive that way, no???  Likewise, if you specified "copper windings and field coils" on the purchase order are they not obligated to comply if they accept the order?

I'm still planning to at least get quotes - I am just to tight to pay twice what something has to cost me, though I may regret that ultimately!

[rcavictim]

This sounds to me like penny wise and pound foolish approach.  Just sayin'.  There is wisdom of experience and sage advise posted on this page as a result of your inquiry.  I am usually much more guilty than the next guy when it comes to obstinately trying to save a buck on principle but there are hard limits I try not to cross when good reason dictates.  I see this as one of those times.

[Crofter]

I think you should do it! Experience is a wonderfully effective teacher!

I think one of the first lessons might be how infinitely little leverage you have and how little pressure you can exert on someone when reaching across several oceans.

[WStayton]

To be frank, I hadn't considered the possibility of having womething wrong with ALL  of the generator-heads in an order such as having them arrive with aluminum windings instead of copper.

I realize that the enforcement value of a very tight and very specific purchase order is only as good as the legal system behind it and the Chinese legal system is NOT something that I really want to spend the time and effor to test!  <grin>

In view of the forgoing, I guess that you have convinced me that buying direct from China is a bad, if possibly cost effective, idea.

That is the sort of error of omission that I am thankful for having the database of everybody here to look over my shoulder, and keep ME honest!!!  Thanx for doing that thankless task!!

Regardz,

Wayne Stayton