Posted by Steve O'Dea on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 @ 07:40 AM
As a child of the 1970’s and 1980’s I have noticed a huge difference between then and now. Many of the everyday tasks that we do now and the technology required for these tasks have absolutely no resemblance of comparable tasks we did 20-30 years ago. Social networking was hoping on your bike and riding to the corner street light to meet your friends. Gaming consisted of “cops and robbers” or “hide and seek” outdoors, in the heat without the aid of anything electronic. Sandlot baseball, football or dodge-ball games were commonplace. TV had 3 channels and one really snowy one. So much has changed, and that is great. I don’t want people to think that I am a guy who walked 20 miles in the snow, uphill both ways to school everyday. I did walk to school but it was primarily level ground and was only a 5 minute walk. I had it pretty good and you know what – I still do. It is just so different now.
With Facebook, Twitter and the many other social networking sites exploding in the last few years, people (and companies) are either going to keep up or be left behind. You don’t have to join these to be successful, but with new generations entering the business world who have only known these networking sites we need to realize that these are not going away. YouTube is the same way. Sure you can watch people attempt (and fail) at jumping off a roof into a pool, or a clip of a skateboard accident that serves as a warning for anyone hoping to become a parent one day. It is also a great place for businesses. Video blogs and how to videos are important and new ways to touch your customers and prospects.
Pacer, not to be outdone, has launched a YouTube page and we have our first video on the site. Christopher Carter here hosts that video and he did a great job in explaining a little about our company and our processes. We have very little experience on camera, and when my face inevitably makes up on YouTube for Pacer, you will see why. Our goal is to educate on how we are capable of helping you, your business or with your current project. Our goal is to have four or five of us from Pacer as your hosts for these very brief and informative videos. Our goal is to improve in the content and production quality so that you can lean on us as a trusted source for information both on our website and our YouTube page.
We welcome constructive criticism from you so we can get better on each one. Please be warned though, my forehead will not get smaller but only bigger as I lose more hair every day. Become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and you will see special offers in the near future. Since riding our bikes to the park will no longer bring us together, hopefully these social networks will.
View our channel on YouTube here.
Posted by Sheila Knott on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 @ 02:01 PM
By: Steve O'Dea - Pacer Solutions Expert
For many years the marine industry has been our bread and butter. We have been with boat builders, marine manufacturers, and aftermarket suppliers as our customer base. They love the fact that our tinned copper superior wire and cable is flexible, high quality and easy to work with. Being a wire and cable manufacturer means we also have a competitive price advantage over most distributors and retail centers. Marine repair professionals are used to seeing our name on boat wire, on the boats they work on to get back to seaworthiness. This has been good news and a little bad news for Pacer. The good news is that we are the company most people think of when they are considering wiring for a boat. The bad news is that sometimes people only think of us when they are considering wiring for a boat and not for appliances, automobiles or other industrial applications. Hopefully we can change that perception soon.
Underwriters Laboratories® (UL) classifies just about every product we use daily and wire is certainly no exception. The wire we manufacture, right here in Sarasota, Florida is UL1015. This is a great, all around type of electronics or appliance wire. This do-it-all (OK, not ALL but you get the point) wire is a stranded, flexible, hook up wire. While this wire is qualified for many wiring applications, the construction is very basic. It is primarily manufactured with stranded, solid, bare and tinned copper conductors with PVC insulation. This PVC insulation creates a chemical, flame and moisture resistant barrier. We manufacture our UL1015 using stranded tinned copper conductors.
UL1015 hook up wire is typically rated for use up to 600 volts and for temperatures up to 105° Celsius in a dry location. This rating lends itself to use in various types of equipment. The difference between bare copper and tinned copper typically comes down to application and preference of the installer. The tinning is to help defend against corrosion. This is why it is used so much in marine applications. In the harshest environments people use this wire, so for added value use this wire when the environment is not as harsh. Because we manufacture this wire, you may find it more cost effective and better than purchasing through a distribution chain. This makes the UL1015 wire we manufacture the perfect solution for so many applications that its uses are endless, even outside of the marine industry. Call or email us to discuss your latest project and how our high quality wire can help: 941-378-5774 / websales@pacergroup.net
Posted by Sheila Knott on Mon, Jan 25, 2010 @ 12:43 PM
By Steve O'Dea - Pacer Solutions Expert
Would you trust sitting on a chair with only 2 legs? We can all agree that is a stupid question. Save for some episode of "America's Funniest Home Video's" or a YouTube sensation, no one would sit on a chair with just 2 legs. Now chairs with 3 legs properly spaced are a safer bet to rest your rump on, and 4 legs is an optimal choice. What does this purely hypothetical and frankly silly scenario have to do with our business? Well, it will all make sense just follow me.
When crimping battery lugs a four point crimp is much better than a two point crimp. What I mean by that is the more points you can crimp the better, especially when relying heavily on the mechanical crimp. Because we make superior wire and cable that has very fine stranding we do not recommend solder. Many proponents of solder say that it gives another level of protection to a mechanical crimp. The advantages to using a highly flexible, fine stranded copper wire and cable such as resistance to heavy vibration is diminished when soldered. Soldering turns all those little flexible strands into one solid piece and as such creates a brittle point. Resistance to heavy vibration is a major selling point in performance wire and cable and their applications.
Pacer recommends a nice heavy crimp and adhesive lined heat shrink to finish the assemblies. We sell 2 types of battery lug crimpers: First is the AMP Rota-Crimp (VT600850) which can crimp lugs from 8 AWG to 4/0 AWG. We have used one in our battery department that must be 20 years old and it still works great. This tool is heavy duty and features unique spring loaded rotating crimp dies to allow the user to crimp a full range of cables without switching out loose die pieces. This crimper offers a four point crimp on the lug too. I would not recommend this for a hobbyist but for a serious professional (who doesn't mind investing in better tools) it is perfect. We also sell a version of the AMP Rota-Crimp (VT601075) that will crimp lugs up to 1/0 AWG. The second is the Crimp Master Crimp tool. For larger gauge lugs from 6 AWG to 4/0 AWG (VT0280) the Crimp Master is a less expensive alternative. This tool features a dial to adjust for the correct crimp gauge and a three point crimp. The version of the Crimp Master that crimps gauges 6 AWG to 1/0 AWG is the (VT0280C).
We understand that dropping that kind of dough on a tool is not in everyone's budget, especially when you don't need this feature that often. The important lesson to take from this post is that putting the lug in a crimping jig and hitting it with a hammer is not the recommended method for high performance crimps. A two point crimp is not sufficient.
Pacer engineers battery cables for many of the marine manufacturers here in the US. We utilize a pneumatic crimper that creates a repeatable, consistent mechanical crimp that tests way beyond industry standard. We can make these for you too. Because we have our own wire and cable manufacturing plant, we have an advantage on the materials. Even with our labor factored in, many companies utilize our service because we can build these cables custom for less than investing in all the tools and materials. Let us invest in the inventory and processes to supply you with a top notch cable assembly. You will know that the assembly has been tested.
So as you can see the crimping battery lugs does not take a rocket scientist (but if you are one and you are looking for an assembly - call us). It does, however take an understanding of the many numbers that you need to consider before you take on the job.