How can Current Connected improve?

[HighTechLab]

No one ever gives us feedback on here...it's a blessing and a curse.

I'm taking the chance to take feedback constructively before it becomes destructive like other vendors on this forum.

Some things we are already working on:

• Hiring and training more technical support staff to spread the load of technical sales & support calls
• Extended Phone hours
• More complete catalog including Ironridge, Unirac, Tigo, multiple panel options and electrical panels, circuit breakers and wiring components so we can better offer complete solutions not just a majority of the solution.

What do you like and what can we do better?

 

[Nobodybusiness]

No one ever gives us feedback on here...it's a blessing and a curse.

I'm taking the chance to take feedback constructively before it becomes destructive like other vendors on this forum.

Some things we are already working on:

• Hiring and training more technical support staff to spread the load of technical sales & support calls
• Dedicated web developer to improve UI and website experience.
• More complete catalog including Ironridge, Unirac, Tigo, multiple panel options and electrical panels, circuit breakers and wiring components so we can better offer complete solutions not just a majority of the solution.

What do you like and what can we do better?

Never had any complaints.

Everything I have ordered from Current Connected has been received.
If we had any issues they were resolved.

 

[Pierre]

I like what you do and would support you if I was not located on another continent. Keep up the good work !

 

[rodrick]

Ordered 2 6548s last night and have they have been shipped out already what more could you ask for excellent service in my opinion

 

[houseofancients]

No one ever gives us feedback on here...it's a blessing and a curse.

I'm taking the chance to take feedback constructively before it becomes destructive like other vendors on this forum.

Some things we are already working on:

• Hiring and training more technical support staff to spread the load of technical sales & support calls
• Dedicated web developer to improve UI and website experience.
• More complete catalog including Ironridge, Unirac, Tigo, multiple panel options and electrical panels, circuit breakers and wiring components so we can better offer complete solutions not just a majority of the solution.

What do you like and what can we do better?

expand to the EU

 

[JJJJ]

Have not used your services yet. However have been using a crimper you reviewed on the other link. It has been very helpful.

 

[zcskywire2]

With the caveat that I've not yet bought anything from your store but I have visited the site repeatedly.

What I like, you are an official CALB USA cell distributior. It can be very hard to find proper cells from the manufacturers these days. I also like that the spec sheet is directly posted in the listing. Many sites still do not do that.

What can be done better? As you've said it yourself the website can be a little clunky at times. The main thing for me right now is on mobile it is very hard to reach the sub catagories in your navigation menu. I use Firefox mobile and when clicking on the navigation drop-downs for batteries, inverters.. etc, the sub catagory menu pops up but I get navigated directly into the main catagory before I can hit any of the sub catagories

Lastly, you talked about expanding your catalog, do you have access to more of the CALB catalog? I can completely understand not stocking more variety. I personally am just starting to look for sources of less common and generally less standard shaped batteries. However I think that there may be a market for the newer CALB L173f280 cells for example.

 

[wiseacre]

I've got to say your rapid growth is well deserved. I'm hoping you find the good help needed as you expand.

My first purchase was back in Sept, 2021
As promised I won't give the details but merely state that without your assistance my battery bank would be a pitiful thing.
I can say those rough cut busbars you posted for sale here on the forum were quite the deal. Took a bit of filling and sanding but they turned out as sweet as the discounted Lishen 202ah cells which you "warned" me might not be up to par but all 16 turned out to be Grade A in my book.

What impressed me is the fact you did your best to get me started when my budget greatly limited my ability to do anything.
Then to top that off you did it again with 16 salvaged SOK 206ah cells a year later.

On a "service" note:
After notifying you I received a 4s BMS instead of an 8s you said to keep the 4s and had the replacement shipped the same day.
All this shows you put a customer's satisfaction ahead of profit. With an attitude like that it's no surprise your reputation on the forum is stellar.

Your plans for the future are welcome news.
I can see Current Connected becoming a bee's hive of activity and will miss your personal touch as it becomes impossible for you to micromanage every inquiry. But my greatest wish is for your continued success. Knowing we were well met when I needed you the most is something I'll always be grateful for.

John

 

[Bluedog225]

Overall, no real complaints. Please continue to only carry high quality products like victron and sok. Your shipping is excellent even with the occasional fed ex problems.

Getting all the odds and ends (breakers, switches, combiner boxes, racks, bits and pieces) in inventory and integrated into a reliable software tracking and ordering system will be a big hill to climb. Here again, I’d like to know I’m getting a good quality (and not counterfeit) product. Similar to ordering directly from Midnite.

Your videos are helpful but could use some polish. That will come with time or you can get some outside assistance.

A good selection of tools for working on solar might be good. Either for sale or just recommended. Even if it is just amazon links.

 

[sollap]

I have to echo everything wiseacre said. I made a couple purchases through the shack site, and you got personally involved to make the experience a great one. Your intentions for excellent customer service and having happy customers is more than obvious.

I don't have any suggestions for you at the moment, but I'll give it some thought. Personally, I would like to see more stuff on the shack, but that's just because I'm funds-limited. I know it's not your primary focus, and it's also subject to availability.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Pi Curio]

Having seen this thread I went to check your site to see what your store is about, and I like what you guys do. Similar to previously said, if I weren't on another continent I'd shop at your store for sure.

That being said, just because I'm not a customer doesn't mean I can't try and provide some feedback, considering I like what I see.

This is merely an observation, a constructive 'criticism' at best;

For sure, the website could use some work on the UI. Something minimalistic, yet functional and easy to navigate.

I wouldn't hang onto some 'specific' theme colors as currently, instead, a regular white background with a very nice main navigation header and page recognizable design in general. Keep it clean and nice looking. Something similar to the RichSolar website would probably be more tangible for you. Not just like it, more minimalistic, but I guess it's easier to understand what direction I'm referring to by giving a specific example.


Now the fun part,

I really like what you are offering on your websites. More specifically, good quality Solar Kits.

First, maybe consider increasing the range of SCCs offered by Victron


Last but not least, I've seen a lot of solar kits offered throughout a lot of stores, but very rarely these kits are even remotely good as yours.

Combining Victron SCC with RichSolar solar panels tells me everything I need to know about what are you trying to offer to someone looking to build a nice small solar panel system. The offer is legit in my humble opinion.

Having said that, have you considered offering more economical kits?

By economical, I'm not referring to cheap components but rather, maintaining the quality of the kit offered just with a more specific power range/need/budget in mind.

For people looking to have a small yet capable solar panel system with no intent to upgrade with more solar later due to the limited amount of space on their small trailers, sheds, and so on and on.

Quick example. a 24V system
-75/15SCC (@24V 440W)
-400W solar/ either 12V or 24V 2x200W RichSolar panels, more voltage or better shading management.
- Smart Battery Sense unit - Voltage and temperature sensing, control over charging in lower temperatures and more accurate voltage reading.

So far that's roughly 650-700$ kits with a few bits and pieces like perhaps a few cables etc

- And if expanding the offerings is of interest,
with 24V 50Ah battery and 400-600W Inverter(good fit price/performance Victron 500VA).

Where future expansion is already accounted for in regards to the storage capacity, by simple parallel connection of more 24V 50Ah batteries
(compact and easy enough to add on to the system within limited space)

This is just a quick example, but the point is, to make very nice, 'smart', economical, and quality kits for specific power needs and/or space limitations.

Offering quality kits within an even more affordable budget range for folks that have small power needs on their small travel trailers etc.

Anyhow, just a thought.

Keep up the good work.

 

[50ShadesOfDirt]

Every manufacturer should have a complete set of self-service tools on their website, for each and every product. As (I think) you are the sole distributor for SOK, maybe it falls on you to do (in the US) what SOK should be doing on their website. Don't know about the rest of your products ... yet.

It should be something like:
- a complete set of docs (datasheet, installation, operations, troubleshooting, safety/security, and warranty) ... in *downloadable PDF* format, not as a series of webpages we have to click through (there's an expletive floating around after more than one or two clicks)
- a wiki/forum
- a self-service system (for email questions, rma services, etc.)

When I look at a product page, and before I buy something, I have to see all of this available, or I start to think twice about buying something from that website/vendor ... every product on your site seems to have a tabbed i/f, so add a tab for "downloads", and stick everything in it in PDF form.

Where's the design info, or howto info, or blogs, or whatnot ... things that get folks thinking about doing something, might also get them thinking about buying from you, vs someone else. Builds loyalty ...

This is generic, to all sites and info:
- Don't lock everything (the data, details, etc.) in a video, if possible ... many people like videos ... I dislike taking the time to go through a video and get the one piece of info I need at 46:22 minutes/secs in
- if the video is part of your story on something, or a series, that is fine, as I won't be rummaging through it to get a particular detail. I'll be wanting to get the whole story.

Thanks for doing what you do! It's a great site, a great story (from what I can piece together), etc. ... a few tweaks here and there.

Finally, what can I (or others) do to help? What do you want to get done, that you just don't have enough bodies or time for? Don't know where there is synergy, but perhaps ...

 

[Bluedog225]

Oh Carp! I forgot to suggest the DIY Solar Power Forum member discount!!! ?

(for members with min 1980 posts….). ?

 

[Hedges]

Get that SOK server rack battery working perfectly with SMA Sunny Island.
(This may be a dead-end market, but nice for those of us with 6048US. Support the European model 8.0, at least if it is coming to the US.)

Come up with a high voltage battery solution compatible with Sunny Boy Storage and the new SMA hybrid.
I think the supported BYD batteries are twice the price of server rack.

Of course these "suggestions" are for my personal benefit, may not be the best use of resources for you, considering available market.
SMA has engaged outside companies for products before (MSTE, Midnight), but that was to get something not already available.

A protocol converter between various inverters and various BMS might be the way to do this. Although, that little gizmo could enable other brands selling. Embedding it in your battery could help you keep the major sale. And, settings in battery are part of the secret to making it work. That could be sold as part of the gizmo, firmware that autoconfigures BMS.

 

[Bluedog225]

If current connected had carried sma, I’d have been tempted.

 

[Pi Curio]

expand to the EU

Yup, a 450 Million people market.

@CC Do it

 

[rhino]

Just more equipment for installations.. i.e. it appears you don't have PV Disconnect switch that can be used with the Victron MPPT RS 200A like a 4 pair IMO switch.

Also as others have said just sell higher quality equipment which will automatically keep you from having to deal with large amount of support requests.

 

[Rednecktek]

A couple things I'd like to see:

More BMS choices, JBD, JK, etc.

Breaker/box combos that come with the 2 pole box, DC breaker, and penetrations, screws, etc in variable sizes.

Combiner boxes that aren't $$tupid money.

Pre-lugged cable by the foot.

Basically, the bits and bobs that people still have to track down after they figure out panels, batteries, and inverter.

 

[Lt.Dan]

While I have only made 1 purchase, which was my Sol-Ark 12k, I was pleased with the transaction and price. Shipping was fast and it arrived in good shape.

The only constructive criticism that I have for you is to carry more products, which I know you are already doing. I love what you carry already, but I would probably purchase more if given the opportunity... After thinking about it, and cruising your website more, I can't even think of what else you should carry, so maybe just ignore me

 

[cs1234]

Consider taking paypal as a form of payment. I avoid purchasing from small vendors using credit cards directly at all cost. The only way I do it is if I absolutely can't get the product anywhere else.

 

[HighTechLab]

The main thing for me right now is on mobile it is very hard to reach the sub catagories in your navigation menu

YES! I finally dug into this this morning. 6 lines of code to fix it but figuring out those 6 lines took me about 2 hours . Should go live tonight.

access to more of the CALB catalog?

The new 280ah cells are coming in about 4 months. Unfortunately CALB does not provide them in the -B (bolt terminal) model, since their bolted connection is not rated for 280a (1c rate). Since we use them for solar at far below 1c rates, I have an order placed that will be going to SOK's factory so they can weld me on some terminals and then send them on one of our upcoming containers.

I've got to say your rapid growth is well deserved

John, you are the best. The canvas photos you sent me are hanging on the wall in the family room.

even with the occasional fed ex problems.

Gah! Kills me to hear this...but we did try pretty much every shipping company and sadly FedEx has statistically been the most reliable. I swear if we ran a shipping company with our customer service, we'd make billions.

Similar to ordering directly from Midnite.

We do have the inventory tracking down at this point! Our warehouse manager is top-notch, and always lets us know when we are anywhere near concerned about running low on things. Also, we are signed on with Midnite to offer their products...I probably should start looking for a catalog manager to help get all the products listed.

Personally, I would like to see more stuff on the shack

That would mean we would need more returns...which...yeah, we don't want that!

considered offering more economical kits?

Absolutely! We have been trying to grow our kits offerings across the board and keeping them listed in a logical manner. A staffing bottleneck at the moment. I've been working on getting more help in tech support first, before expanding our offerings, so we don't sacrifice support for sales.

It should be something like:
- a complete set of docs (datasheet, installation, operations, troubleshooting, safety/security, and warranty)

Great idea! By the way we just revised the SOK manual about 2 weeks ago. It is still highly interactive for further reading which would suffer if you saved as a PDF, however, you can get the important content printing to PDF. We did this originally because Jakiper was ripping off everything we published, so I didn't want them just slapping their logo on the manual that I wrote to differentiate ourselves.

Get that SOK server rack battery working perfectly with SMA Sunny Island.

That perfectly part is the issue. SMA is not registering SOC% below 20%...no matter what we tell the inverter it's not listening. The rest of the bugs have been worked out.

Come up with a high voltage battery solution

Yes. Soon. A better rack for 48v too.

A couple things I'd like to see:

I agree with your list, except the JBD's. JBD screwed us over on our last order and about 300x 16S BMSs were nearly unusable. They also changed various design aspects mid-production run that made an even bigger mess for us.

Consider taking paypal as a form of payment

We used to. They messed up on our tax documents out of their own stupidity and put constant holds on our money for quite a long time. The holds alone forced us to take out a kneecap business loan when we were getting started in COVID. Did you know PayPal's outsources their tax department to a company in Ireland? Yeah, all of our confidential business information handled by a third party in a different country without our consent. I'm still salty about PayPal's horrible practices. Stripe is used by a lot of large companies and offer essentially the same buyer protection as PayPal without trying to put the sellers out of business. -endrant



I greatly appreciate everyone's feedback and am even happier to see that some of our ideas are inline with what is being requested!

 

[Rednecktek]

I agree with your list, except the JBD's. JBD screwed us over on our last order and about 300x 16S BMSs were nearly unusable. They also changed various design aspects mid-production run that made an even bigger mess for us.

Ok, that would be a good reason not to carry them. ?

 

[Shimmy]

Would love to see a 300Ah/16s server-rack style battery that can be mounted on its end and easily connected with a horizontal busbar (without blocking switches or screens). If you want to go all nuts, make a c-section of sheet metal with middle and end closure that can field-encase live parts and offer a mounting location for a main isolation switch, fuse, and shunt.

And, if you are into selling unicorns or ponies, get the base battery UL-listed.

Other than that, some of the prices are a little on the high side, so keep up the "get what you pay for" performance. Not sure if some of that can be overcome by bundling and packaging tested sets of integration.

I would avoid the "every day is a special" thing and other social gimmicks some of your competitors have.

 

[jcbarr23]

We used to. They messed up on our tax documents out of their own stupidity and put constant holds on our money for quite a long time. The holds alone forced us to take out a kneecap business loan when we were getting started in COVID. Did you know PayPal's outsources their tax department to a company in Ireland? Yeah, all of our confidential business information handled by a third party in a different country without our consent. I'm still salty about PayPal's horrible practices. Stripe is used by a lot of large companies and offer essentially the same buyer protection as PayPal without trying to put the sellers out of business. -endrant

PayPal is the absolute worst to deal with as a merchant. I once had $40,000 put on hold for 6 months over absolutely nothing.

 

[zcskywire2]

The new 280ah cells are coming in about 4 months.

So glad to hear this..I have a need to source real EV 71173207 style batteries with single m6 studs often. EVE moving to double studs has started to make that much harder.

While on the topic of those l173f280 cells, do they make a 305 version. There's a lot of uncertainty floating around on that and I figured you were the best to ask since you have an almost direct line.

Lastly congrats on the website bug fix, as a coder by trade I feel your pain.