• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

This will be an interesting thread moving forward......

C

Camshawn

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
601
Location
Langley BC
Occupation
retired
On standby generators, we always switched off the charger before disconnecting the battery. The arc from the charger can wipe out the newer electronics( from a few Cummins field service techs). I would imagine that welding could possibly cause problems with the electronic. It would be a prudent to spend 5 minutes disconnecting the battery as opposed to the time and cost of figuring out a problem if one occurs. Cam
 
M

MarshallPowerGen

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2017
Messages
449
Location
Northwestern USA
Occupation
Generator Technician & Equipment Mechanic
Camshawn said:
On standby generators, we always switched off the charger before disconnecting the battery. The arc from the charger can wipe out the newer electronics( from a few Cummins field service techs). I would imagine that welding could possibly cause problems with the electronic. It would be a prudent to spend 5 minutes disconnecting the battery as opposed to the time and cost of figuring out a problem if one occurs. Cam
Click to expand...
Yep, recently went through a mess of issues replacing a MQ (Thomson) controller because the charger wasn't shut off before swapping batteries. Old style dumb charger that went to full output with the batteries pulled.
 
C

Camshawn

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
601
Location
Langley BC
Occupation
retired
Thomson used to be a great local company, need a part, call Naresh(?) (tech guy in the back) and he would have what you needed ready by the time you got there or walk you through the setup as he was completing it. Learned a lot. By the time I retired, it was jumping through hoops to get anything out of them in less than several days. The technology has changed so much over 30 yrs, from voltage sensing relays to cards with pots to IC’s and control boards.
 
W

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,554
Location
Canada
If they can afford over $200k they can afford to hire a helper for Vetech for a lot less less than half of that, maybe a 1/4 of it . They can't claim they're strapped for cash. They can't make any money if their equipment is down and takes 2 or more weeks to fix because Vetech is overwhelmed with all the other abused and neglected equipment.
 
W

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,554
Location
Canada
I worked with a guy who was a manager at a large steel supplier. They had a big lay off apparently because of a poor economy and lower sales. He had to lay off several long term employee's and some with only a few month's. He wasn't laid off but quit because right after the lay off the general manager figured they needed a larger plasma table or something. I forget exactly what it was but they already had a perfectly fine one and it wasn't even fully utilized. It was about a $250,000 piece of equipment that wasn't really needed. The GM just wanted it. His conscience wouldn't allow him to continue working there if they could afford $250K for a machine they didn't need after he had to lay off about a dozen workers. He took a big pay cut but had no regrets. He was a really nice guy too.
 
Acoals

Acoals

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2019
Messages
1,350
Location
Wisconsin
Occupation
Jack of all trades/Master of none
Welder Dave said:
If they can afford over $200k they can afford to hire a helper
Click to expand...

No, that's not how it works . . . as though they have a drawer full of envelopes of cash.

At any rate, if they don't want to hire a helper for Vtech, they don't have to. Simple. It's their business, they can do as they like with their money. If their equipment goes down and it takes two weeks to fix it, that is their problem.

If they "got their act together", at least in a way that made the internet happy, they wouldn't need Vtech anyway. Then what?
 
O

Old Doug

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
4,552
Location
Mo
Welder Dave said:
I worked with a guy who was a manager at a large steel supplier. They had a big lay off apparently because of a poor economy and lower sales. He had to lay off several long term employee's and some with only a few month's. He wasn't laid off but quit because right after the lay off the general manager figured they needed a larger plasma table or something. I forget exactly what it was but they already had a perfectly fine one and it wasn't even fully utilized. It was about a $250,000 piece of equipment that wasn't really needed. The GM just wanted it. His conscience wouldn't allow him to continue working there if they could afford $250K for a machine they didn't need after he had to lay off about a dozen workers. He took a big pay cut but had no regrets. He was a really nice guy too.
Click to expand...
From what I have seen if they don't do stuff that makes no sense they won't last anytime??
Acoals said:
No, that's not how it works . . . as though they have a drawer full of envelopes of cash.

At any rate, if they don't want to hire a helper for Vtech, they don't have to. Simple. It's their business, they can do as they like with their money. If their equipment goes down and it takes two weeks to fix it, that is their problem.

If they "got their act together", at least in a way that made the internet happy, they wouldn't need Vtech anyway. Then what?
Click to expand...
The problem is they will make it someone else's problem.
 
Vetech63

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,440
Location
Oklahoma
It seems the company officials are confused, at least they were yesterday. Alan texts me (I hate texting really but it seems his favorite way to communicate) asking about the machine me and the operator declined. After the 3rd text I just called him. He wants to know why we had made that decision and that they needed something yesterday. I said besides the current condition, there is zero local manufacturers/dealer support for Roadtech. The mechanic there informed us that he had a parts order for a 2021 machine that was going on 2 months without being completed. It's NOT a good fit in my opinion. That isn't going to change.

The machine we DID like for condition/operation was a 2021 model, less than 800 hours, and has the bugs worked out of it and job ready. They (ALTA Eq) priced it at $480K.

Alan doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to look for used equipment, that I can tell. I feel like I'm being asked to do a fleet managers job by helping them look for a material transfer machine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top