Thread: Help with UK import Trend Airshield

It shouldn't make any difference Arron. The power outlet supplies AC current which means the polarity reverses 50 times every second.
The UK has the same 220/240V 50Hz power supply as us so you can cut the UK plug off and put an Aus plug straight on.

Edit: Just realised that you are talking about a moulded DC power supply, so no plug to cut off Still shouldn't make any difference which way it is plugged in. Try a different travel plug.

Or you could just go down to Dick Smith (or Jaycar who are usually cheaper) and buy a power pack with the right plug to fit the battery pack. You can usually get adjustable as well as fixed voltage power packs - the old power pack should indicate which way the + and - are on the plug at the battery end just take the old one along to check the plug is compatible.

I went to dick smiths and checked the Jaycar catalogue yesterday. I can get 4.5 volt powerpacks, but not 4.2. Not sure whether it makes any difference but didnt want to try it just in case. Staff at Dick Smiths were a bit non-committal about it.

Anyway, its been charging overnight and no result so I guess the original pack must be faulty. I'll contact Axminster after its had the required 24 hours charging, although I did want to fix the problem locally if it didnt cost too much extra.

Cheers
Arron

Can I ask why you purchased this unit in the UK??

Trend Airshields are available in Australia - I have seen them at Trend Timbers at Mulgrave and they are also available at Carbatec.

Originally Posted by Markw

Can I ask why you purchased this unit in the UK??

Trend Airshields are available in Australia - I have seen them at Trend Timbers at Mulgrave and they are also available at Carbatec.

Sorry, Mark, but do you really need to ask a question like this? Its all about rip-off pricing.

I import a lot of stuff and, in general, find things with a retail price around 40% of the Australian price - around a third of the Oz price without VAT - and even with freight added can usually land things at around half of the Australian price, rarely over 60%. Naturally I do not get an Australian warrantee, international warrantees are rare, so I have to pay for servicing but this is rare with quality stuff.

Several years ago, I made a decision to no longer support the lifestyle of the greedy big billionaire, the greedy whiniging billionaire, the greedy little billionaire, and the greedy bald billionaire. Their rantings in the media, especially about GST exemptions can be summarised as "Tax every-one, but exempt me."


Fair Winds
Graeme

Originally Posted by Arron

Anyone else with an Airshield Pro with UK pins ? cheers and thanks
Arron

I bought this adaptor from Jaycar for use with my Airshield Pro, works great.

Adaptor

Originally Posted by Markw

Can I ask why you purchased this unit in the UK??

Trend Airshields are available in Australia - I have seen them at Trend Timbers at Mulgrave and they are also available at Carbatec.

Mark, assuming you're fair dinkum with your question, then the landed price was about $350 Australian including delivery. Delivery was expensive because there was a battery inside so it had to go TNT Courier, but nonetheless got here in less then a week.

Carbatec has them on sale currently for about $530, Trend was about $560 when I checked. The UK price was 153 Pounds including free local delivery. Thats about $A200. How can this markup be justified ? Frankly, I just wouldnt buy it at the local price on principal, no matter how many difficulties I have with it I still wouldnt. And please, dont anyone bring up the hoary old nonsense about how buying overseas is costing Australian jobs - read some basic economic textbooks - its the ridiculous markups that is costing jobs as Australia rapidly zooms up the high cost spiral becoming increasingly irrelevant to and isolated from the rest of the world.

Admittedly, having the power supply fail has taken the gloss off a bit, but then I've got no reason to think Axminster wont square up to it and send me another power supply.

cheers
Arron

Is the plugpack regulated or unregulated? If it's 4.2 volt unregulated (which, if it puts out 3.6 volts under load it sounds like it is) then a 4.5 volt replacement should be fine.

Photos of the unit?

Originally Posted by Master Splinter

Is the plugpack regulated or unregulated? If it's 4.2 volt unregulated (which, if it puts out 3.6 volts under load it sounds like it is) then a 4.5 volt replacement should be fine.

Photos of the unit?

Yes, I would have thought that the difference between 4.2 and 4.5 volts is within the normal range of either plugpack. As usual, I just dont know enough about electronics to make decisions myself.

Heres a photo of the plugpack and travel adaptor. Does this tell us if its unregulated ?

cheers
Arron
batterypack.jpg

Originally Posted by Arron

Mark, assuming you're fair dinkum with your question, then the landed price was about $350 Australian including delivery. Delivery was expensive because there was a battery inside so it had to go TNT Courier, but nonetheless got here in less then a week.

Carbatec has them on sale currently for about $530, Trend was about $560 when I checked. The UK price was 153 Pounds including free local delivery. Thats about $A200. How can this markup be justified ? Frankly, I just wouldnt buy it at the local price on principal, no matter how many difficulties I have with it I still wouldnt. And please, dont anyone bring up the hoary old nonsense about how buying overseas is costing Australian jobs - read some basic economic textbooks - its the ridiculous markups that is costing jobs as Australia rapidly zooms up the high cost spiral becoming increasingly irrelevant to and isolated from the rest of the world.

Admittedly, having the power supply fail has taken the gloss off a bit, but then I've got no reason to think Axminster wont square up to it and send me another power supply.

cheers
Arron

Firstly I don't see why my asking was seen an unreasonable (fair dinkum or whatever) question as you had not indicated in the thread of the differences in pricing. Your further ranting on disparat pricing only shows that you don't understand that pricing is based on "What the market will bear". Pricing for any retail product has no consideration for jobs or national economies or any other such stuff. Companies, irrespective of what they sell are there to make money - thats what they do and if they don't then they cease to function. Your comparing a market base with more than 4 times the population in something like a tenth of the area.

From what I can see and assume that to some small extent that your time is valuable, at least to you, you may have had better value by purchasing this locally. Maybe you should consider purchasing a local genuine powerpack rather than going further into the hole with aftermarket products albeit adaptors or aftermarket plug packs. So far I haven't seen mention anything about the pack wattage/amperage and if this system is a lithium ion pack then there would be no way I would consider other than genuine.

Ok - that's not a plugpack, that's a battery charger, which makes sense as 4.2 volts (and 3.6 volts) is a lithium battery voltage.

I'd suggest a replacement like this:
3 5mm DC 4 2V AC Charger Power Adapter 450mA FOR Direct Flashlight | eBay

OK, so I"ve just heard back from Axminster. They have ordered a replacement charger from Trend and will be sending it to me as soon as they recieve it.

This response didnt surprise me - in my dealings with this company they have been terrific to deal with.

I wont be using the faceshield for a week or two anyway, so I have no problem waiting.
cheers and thanks for the advice from everyone
Arron

Have you e-mailed Axminster, where you bought it from. There service is very good and they should supply a replacement, normally free of cost.

You may need to supply a confirmed failure, so maybe a sparky would need to give you something having tested the output and getting nowt.

Always worth a try.

Dragonfly did you see my post just prior to yours -- or did we each respond at the same time ?