[RE-wrenches] Single Source Blues

[William Miller]

Friends:

I have whined to this forum before about quick connectors.  I have 
expressed concerns about safety issues, and I am sure I've expressed this 
point enough times.

I am now painfully aware of another big downside to this hardware:  Single 
source supply.

I am dedicated to using Multi-Contact Gen 2 hardware because that is what 
comes with the Solar World modules.  I have no choice-- I am stuck with 
them.  No one else makes them.

I now find that the MC connectors I use (panel mount) are not available due 
to a "Quality Assurance" issue at the factory.  They have been unavailable 
for three weeks and there is no prediction on when they will be 
available.  Through unlucky coincidence, I am in the middle of two large 
projects and do not have enough connectors to complete either job.  If I do 
not complete the jobs, I can not bill for them.  I still have payroll and 
suppliers to pay, but without the connectors, there will be no revenue to 
cover those bills.

I miss the good old days when I could choose from competing brands of 
non-metallic flex connectors, flex and building wire.  These are parts that 
are made for generic usage, are readily available and come from many 
sources.  (And they protect the wire from the environment and the 
environment from the wire.)

We are now victims of whatever monopoly manufactures the style of quick 
connect we must have.

William Miller