UPDATE (3:15PM CST 1/18/2021): All affected cables have been replaced for everyone who has contacted us that had affected cables. We’ve emailed everyone that could have been affected 5 times now and replied to everyone that has responded. Cables shipped after 11/28/2020 and later are NOT affected by the recall.
UPDATE (3:52PM CST 11/29/2020): We’ve narrowed down the time that the issue started to 7/18/2020 based on reports from customers that we contacted going back to 1/1/2020. Cables made after 7/18/2020 are likely to be affected by the recall. We still would appreciate that if you purchased before then to still let us know whether they are defective or not as we are tracking all cables made in 2020. Cables shipped after 11/28/2020 and later are NOT affected by the recall.
UPDATE (5:00PM CST 11/28/2020): We received one report from an order on 6/9/2020 that was correct. We’re continuing to track when the issues with the cable assembly occurred and will continue to update this post as we gather more replies from customers who purchased the cable sets.
UPDATE (4:12PM CST 11/28/2020): We got one report from a customer that purchased at the end of July 2020 that has the defect in their cable. We are now recommending that no matter when you purchased the cables to check them for this issue. We will replace or refund them at your choice if you have a defective cable. See below. All people that have purchased one of these cables in 2020 have been emailed directly.
UPDATE (2:50PM CST 11/28/2020): We also have sent this posting our to our entire email list to make sure that everyone who purchased these gets the information.
We discovered tonight, around 9 PM CST on 11/27/2020, some of the 12 gauge power cables we sell were not correctly assembled. When checking the stock, we found that the assembling technician failed to crimp some of the ends properly.
All cables shipped after 11/28/2020 will be correct and assembled by Tim and our General Manager instead of the shop technicians going forward to ensure this never happens again.
If you purchased one of these cables, please check the ends and if they are not crimped correctly contact us, and we will refund or replace them at no cost. Below are pictures showing what a correct cable end and an incorrect cable end look like.
If you purchased the cables on or after September 1st, 2020, you have already been emailed by Tim directly with these details as well. 9/1/2020 is when we believe the issues started with the improper assembly. However, we would recommend that even if you purchased before 9/1/2020 that you check your cable ends to be sure.
Checking the cable ends
Below are pictures showing both a proper and improper cable end so you can check yours.
If you are unsure, you can send us pictures with your support ticket request, and we will be able to verify. You can also pull on the end connector and see if it slides off; one that is correctly crimped will not pull off. The connectors are the heat-shrink type with an adhesive lining in them, which is why they hold on without being crimped. Pulling on them with moderate force will dislodge the wire from the adhesive if it is not crimped.
What if I have a defective cable?
If you have a defective cable, you must stop using it immediately. Under no circumstance, if you have a defective cable, should it be used without re-crimping the ends yourself. The concern is that it could heat the connectors and damage the cable and/or your printer power supply terminals due to the end not being crimped.
Even though there is a connection with the wire and connector, it is not solid if the crimp is not there. Contact us with pictures of the ends and your order number, and we will either refund or reship (your choice). We will not require a return on the cables, so you can discard them, use the wire for a project, or crimp them if you have a crimp tool.
The only thing required for a replacement or refund (your choice) is pictures of the cables’ ends showing the defect and your order number for the cable set.
Our Commitment to Quality
We take our product quality and safety very seriously here. The staff that failed to ensure these were all made correctly will have proper corrective actions are taken and further policies put in place, effective immediately, to ensure that these are all made correctly from now on. We have emailed everyone who purchased these cables going back to September 1st, 2020, as we believe that is when the incorrect assembly started when we added new staff to the team. We’ve reviewed our security camera footage, and that seems to be when the assembly issues started. But if you purchased one of these cables, please check them anyway to be sure. No matter when the cable was purchased, we will replace or refund it at no charge if you have one of the defective ones.
I want to personally apologize for this happening in the first place as I take the safety and quality of our products extremely seriously. I have pulled and checked all remaining stock to make sure it is properly made. We are also permanently removing that technician from this type of work in our shop. Our General Manager will be checking these before they are stocked going forward, along with paperwork from him to ensure the quality and assembly check was carried out.
Tim Hoogland
Owner