rv9aviator
Well Known Member
Where is a good source for aircraft wire, connectors, crimpers and all the things I will need to wire my plane. Also is there a good reference book I should get?
Thanks
Thanks
Van's Air Force
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Where to buy electrical supplies
- Thread starter rv9aviator
- Start date
aadamson
Well Known Member
The places
www.steinair.com
www.affordablepanels.com
Book is from www.aeroelectric.com, but I forget what it's called...
Alan
www.steinair.com
www.affordablepanels.com
Book is from www.aeroelectric.com, but I forget what it's called...
Alan
aadamson said:
The book is the "Aeroelectric Connection" by the somewhat famous (and TRULY super nice guy) Bob Nuckolls. While you may or may not agree with everything in the book, it's an invaluable resource for electrical systems specific to aircraft and every builder should own it - in my opinion.
Also, another good company that I personally have purchased stuff from is B&C technologies, which is www.bandc.biz another small business that works hard to provide good products and good service.
My 2 cents as usual!
Cheers,
Stein.
vlittle
Well Known Member
electrical
Stein, don't be so modest.
I bought most of my electrical supplies from you when you were just getting started (except the stuff you didn't sell). I was always happy with your prices and service.
www.steinair.com
Thanks
Vern Little
RV-9A, flying
Stein, don't be so modest.
I bought most of my electrical supplies from you when you were just getting started (except the stuff you didn't sell). I was always happy with your prices and service.
www.steinair.com
Thanks
Vern Little
RV-9A, flying
rv9aviator
Well Known Member
Thanks again. I ordered the book and a crimper today from Steinair.
Davepar
Well Known Member
On one occasion I got Stein on the phone. He's a great guy to talk to, but he needs some extra hands. I've had problems with unreturned phone calls, unreturned emails, things missing from every order, etc. I really like the quality and price of goods from Stein, but I hesitate every time I place an order.
A lot of parts and misc electrical items can be purchased from Mouser or Digikey if you're willing to wade through the thousands of items they carry.
Dave
A lot of parts and misc electrical items can be purchased from Mouser or Digikey if you're willing to wade through the thousands of items they carry.
Dave
OK, so it's true! I'm hard to get on the phone, especially on Mondays or Tuesdays. That being said, we actually now have 3 phone lines (they are toll free) and if you get the answering service it's only because the other 3 are tied up - NOT because we're ignoring you. Currently I admit that the phone answering and return call situation is somewhat deplorable and needs to get fixed. We try valiantly to get them all answered, but sometimes we miss the boat - I'm really working on making it better and that's the best I can say about that. If you like (but I DESPISE) we could institue one of those interative menu's where you get to push a ton of buttons on the phone in order to shuttle calls around, but I really hate those things to instead you just get the answering machine if the other lines are busy.
Do we miss things sometimes? You bet...we've grown to the point where I don't personally do every order anymore so things happen...kind of like they did when I got my RV kits from Van's with missing pieces. But, I'm working to make that better too. No good excuses for that either. If you're the guy who indeed had "every order" screwed up, that's not right and I'll fix it...
We now have 9 guys working here so we're no longer just me, myself and me. I have another full time guy starting next Monday and that will no doubt help. We just moved into a new 6,000 sq.ft facility that is also helping out logistics quite a lot but we're still "moving in" so things are caotic. I didnt' publicize our move nor use it as an excuse, because I hate making excuses for things.
I don't have any really good excuses at all for the difficulty in getting hold of us on the phone, except that Mondays and Tuesdays are really bad, but Wed,Thurs and Friday are much quieter. Emails usually are much better, [email protected] is always monitored for orders and inquiries, and my personal email ([email protected]) is less reliable just because of the huge bulk of emails I get..but I try - there's a reason I'm still in the office at 8:30 tonight!
My apologies to anyone who got a screwed up order or an un-returned phone call. We are always terribly busy on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I'm guaranteed to be on the phone for at least 8-9hrs solid for those 2 days, so is at least one other of my guys. Not so much with orders, but hours up on hours discussing autopilots, efis's, wiring, etc... I find that most of us small companies (just like GRT, AFS and others) all run out of hours in the day to call people back but we're trying to get better. The only solution is to raise the prices a bunch in order to hire more help, but that's a fine line to walk.
Anyone who's ordered from us knows that if you're unsatisfied for any reason we'll make it right (as much as we can). We accept returns with no questions asked (even if you just ordered something to "try it out" - and believe me, some of you do) giving full refunds. If we ship you the wrong thing (which we've done occasionally) we don't ask for it back, and if we mess up on shipping we eat it.
Anyway, I didn't want to rant about how perfect we are, because right now we're far from it, but I just wanted to let people know we're very much alive and kicking, and really striving to make this a good business for both us and you. Is it easy, NO but we're trying the best we can right now.
Cheers,
Stein.
Do we miss things sometimes? You bet...we've grown to the point where I don't personally do every order anymore so things happen...kind of like they did when I got my RV kits from Van's with missing pieces. But, I'm working to make that better too. No good excuses for that either. If you're the guy who indeed had "every order" screwed up, that's not right and I'll fix it...
We now have 9 guys working here so we're no longer just me, myself and me. I have another full time guy starting next Monday and that will no doubt help. We just moved into a new 6,000 sq.ft facility that is also helping out logistics quite a lot but we're still "moving in" so things are caotic. I didnt' publicize our move nor use it as an excuse, because I hate making excuses for things.
I don't have any really good excuses at all for the difficulty in getting hold of us on the phone, except that Mondays and Tuesdays are really bad, but Wed,Thurs and Friday are much quieter. Emails usually are much better, [email protected] is always monitored for orders and inquiries, and my personal email ([email protected]) is less reliable just because of the huge bulk of emails I get..but I try - there's a reason I'm still in the office at 8:30 tonight!
My apologies to anyone who got a screwed up order or an un-returned phone call. We are always terribly busy on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I'm guaranteed to be on the phone for at least 8-9hrs solid for those 2 days, so is at least one other of my guys. Not so much with orders, but hours up on hours discussing autopilots, efis's, wiring, etc... I find that most of us small companies (just like GRT, AFS and others) all run out of hours in the day to call people back but we're trying to get better. The only solution is to raise the prices a bunch in order to hire more help, but that's a fine line to walk.
Anyone who's ordered from us knows that if you're unsatisfied for any reason we'll make it right (as much as we can). We accept returns with no questions asked (even if you just ordered something to "try it out" - and believe me, some of you do) giving full refunds. If we ship you the wrong thing (which we've done occasionally) we don't ask for it back, and if we mess up on shipping we eat it.
Anyway, I didn't want to rant about how perfect we are, because right now we're far from it, but I just wanted to let people know we're very much alive and kicking, and really striving to make this a good business for both us and you. Is it easy, NO but we're trying the best we can right now.
Cheers,
Stein.
Jconard
Well Known Member
I have known the guys at Steinair since it was a part time business.
All I can say is that they all work very hard, and that the nice thing about working with them is that when you talk to them, they answer your questions and know what the heck they are talking about.
You can get an order taker immediately by calling the big stores....I won't even mention Spruce...but you never talk to anybody who knows anything about these planes, what we are doing, or how best to get it done.
And for the record, I am a low budget client, I honestly do not know how they can afford to service my requirements as well as they do. But I have never gotten an ignorant, wrong, or poorly reasoned answer from them.
These are the kind of guys we need to support in this market.
All I can say is that they all work very hard, and that the nice thing about working with them is that when you talk to them, they answer your questions and know what the heck they are talking about.
You can get an order taker immediately by calling the big stores....I won't even mention Spruce...but you never talk to anybody who knows anything about these planes, what we are doing, or how best to get it done.
And for the record, I am a low budget client, I honestly do not know how they can afford to service my requirements as well as they do. But I have never gotten an ignorant, wrong, or poorly reasoned answer from them.
These are the kind of guys we need to support in this market.
keen9a
Well Known Member
If its not already obvious
Stein = straight shooter, if his proceeding e-mail didn't make that obvious.
I had absolutely no interest in avionics or electronics until planning my Oshkosh trip last year (its an annual event for me), and I realized that soon enough I'd be making a rather large investment in this stuff. So my goal was to meet everyone in the industry. Some of the manufacturers were very helpful answering questions (shall I compliment Dynon and GRT too?), but the only retail person, and in fact the friendliest of the bunch was Stein. That, plus his frequent input to VAF has guaranteed him my business. Lucky for me his prices seem to be the best as well.
Stein = straight shooter, if his proceeding e-mail didn't make that obvious.
I had absolutely no interest in avionics or electronics until planning my Oshkosh trip last year (its an annual event for me), and I realized that soon enough I'd be making a rather large investment in this stuff. So my goal was to meet everyone in the industry. Some of the manufacturers were very helpful answering questions (shall I compliment Dynon and GRT too?), but the only retail person, and in fact the friendliest of the bunch was Stein. That, plus his frequent input to VAF has guaranteed him my business. Lucky for me his prices seem to be the best as well.
N395V
Well Known Member
He actually made that quite clear in a prompt PM after my initial post. It appears e mail is the best com channel for him once you get the right em account.
I need a panel built more quickly than I will ba able to do it and many on this list have convinced me he is the guy to do it.
B&C and Stein have most of the main supplies you need but, for a greater selection to fill in some gaps, try:
www.Digikey.com
www.waytekwire.com
Both have a large selection of usefull items. Terminal boards, fuse blocks, relays etc.
I start with Stein, then B&C then one of the above if Stein or B&C don't scratch the itch.
Jekyll
www.Digikey.com
www.waytekwire.com
Both have a large selection of usefull items. Terminal boards, fuse blocks, relays etc.
I start with Stein, then B&C then one of the above if Stein or B&C don't scratch the itch.
Jekyll
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Davepar
Well Known Member
To follow up on my earlier post... when I've pointed out the missing items from my orders, SteinAir has sent the missing items out right away. But this has happened on I think 3 out of 4 orders with them. I've had zero problems with every other vendor, including Vans.
I'm glad to hear your business is expanding Stein, and you're getting more people on the job. We need a good source for electrical parts besides B$C.
Dave
I'm glad to hear your business is expanding Stein, and you're getting more people on the job. We need a good source for electrical parts besides B$C.
Dave
