New product for Lineman and electricians?

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Totally not addressed in that video (although I got bored really fast and didn't finish it) was regulatory compliance issues. No UL listing, no bueno. Even though you might not need UL for the utility industry, if you don't have it, they won't likely take a chance on it. And even then, UL listing is not a panacea, it's a starting point. You STILL have to get a proven track record for a product before it's viable. I can see the circle-jerk irrigator guys buying into it, their stuff generally only has to last a season, maybe two and they need that are cheap and fast when the farmer is screaming at them.

I once got involved in a utility heat shrink repair sleeve that didn't have the traditional "zipper" that had to be cut off after shrinking, it used a double wrap type system, saved a lot of time in making a repair and was much much more friendly to being pulled through conduit. It took 5 years of field testing with one willing utility to get acceptance, then the minute they gave us an order for 10,000 pieces, a more well known competitor (Raychem) released their version and it was all over in one brief moment. Raychem then bought us out and put a bullet in us (the owners made out, us worker bees got zip).
 
Jraef said:
I can see the circle-jerk irrigator guys buying into it, their stuff generally only has to last a season, maybe two and they need that are cheap and fast when the farmer is screaming at them.
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Not sure if I am supposed to be offended or not:).

Whatever we put in needs to last forever, just like everything else does, never mind they abuse the hell out of it, leave doors open, access panels off, etc.:( They also want cheap and fast majority of the time.

Listed or not, I have better faith in crimped on connections and shrink tube if going on buried aluminum conductors. I have never seen shrink tube fail, if properly sized and applied, seen other insulating methods fail on buried conductors, seen conductors fail right next to shrink tube insulated repairs.
 
kwired said:
Not sure if I am supposed to be offended or not:).

Whatever we put in needs to last forever, just like everything else does, never mind they abuse the hell out of it, leave doors open, access panels off, etc.:( They also want cheap and fast majority of the time.

Listed or not, I have better faith in crimped on connections and shrink tube if going on buried aluminum conductors. I have never seen shrink tube fail, if properly sized and applied, seen other insulating methods fail on buried conductors, seen conductors fail right next to shrink tube insulated repairs.
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No offense meant, it's not the electricians I was referring to, it's my experience with the farmers buying pumping plant panels that was behind that comment. Those that I dealt with would pay as little as possible to get through THIS season, but next season, it's a whole new game. Quality of what they wanted installed was always secondary to price and speed at which it could be up and running. Hey, I get it, it's a tough life with a lot of uncertainty and I'm not cut out for that, it takes big kahones to want to be a farmer now. It's just that I always felt I was trying to help them by suggesting better quality that wouldn't need to be replaced year after year, and they almost ALWAYS opted for cheaper now, worry about next year when next year comes. So a cheaper / faster solution to cable splices is something that I would expect them to embrace wholeheartedly, but that success story to me would not translate into ensuring overall success in the general market for that splice system.
 
Jraef said:
No offense meant, it's not the electricians I was referring to, it's my experience with the farmers buying pumping plant panels that was behind that comment. Those that I dealt with would pay as little as possible to get through THIS season, but next season, it's a whole new game. Quality of what they wanted installed was always secondary to price and speed at which it could be up and running. Hey, I get it, it's a tough life with a lot of uncertainty and I'm not cut out for that, it takes big kahones to want to be a farmer now. It's just that I always felt I was trying to help them by suggesting better quality that wouldn't need to be replaced year after year, and they almost ALWAYS opted for cheaper now, worry about next year when next year comes. So a cheaper / faster solution to cable splices is something that I would expect them to embrace wholeheartedly, but that success story to me would not translate into ensuring overall success in the general market for that splice system.
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They sure aren't cheaper at $39 a pop. I also was not amused by the fact that they were using metal slip joint pliers to reef down on a plastic part. What could possibly go wrong?
 
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