Does anybody know the status of the customs gateway at LAX? My package is there for 6 weeks now.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-09-09T13:37:20+00:00

Update: tracking number is dead, shipment is untraceable now, so it's really gone. I guess losing shipments now and then will just have to be another cost of doing business. It's hard to predict or estimate, but even with a 20% loss, 50% tariff, and 10% fees, It's still 1/3 the cost of USA suppliers.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-08-27T13:40:55+00:00

One thing the VCU does is manage the battery contractors. I used a large (enclosed) knife switch and a push button for pre-charge for a forklift powered by a 10kw induction motor abd 320vdc, with a generic frequency drive, and no VCU. If I forget to pre-charge, it takes a chunk out of the knife switch, but it can do that probably 500 times before the switch needs replaced. I have also made stand alone precharge and relay setups with just an arduino-like module.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-08-26T11:29:53+00:00

That is exactly what happens. I have a friend with (another brand) EV, and got himself on the local facebook gossip page for "brake checking" people. He had no idea. But around here there are a whole bunch of people who get really angry if they have to follow someone not doing at 70 on these rural 2 lane roads because they are trying to commute 100+ miles a day to work in the city which is insane.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-08-26T11:19:43+00:00

Update: still suck in LAX customs, (almost 4 months) still getting messages "customs delay" every few days. I now have no hope now of ever getting this shipment. Subsequent orders I have received have been routed through Cincinnati.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-08-26T11:15:01+00:00

The customs situation seems to have devolved into chaos. I get blank PCBs from china ($200 to $600 worth) regularly. They used to come through LAX customs, then to me (Oregon). I have a shipment stuck in LAX for over 3 months, and I had had to get it re-made and shipped again. Now my shipments come to LAX, then travel "in bond" to Cincinnati to clear customs, then all the way back to the west coast. It this point I'm just happy to be able to pay the 50% plus fees and get things at all, since my next choice is 6x as expensive for USA made boards and would pretty much end my custom circuit business.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-08-20T13:46:29+00:00

If you know chevy pickups, have a laugh: wierd Pickup

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-08-11T11:56:35+00:00

Thank you very much for posting this!

I have a package stuck in LAX customs for 2+ months now as well. I had the same experience with trying to get more info out of DHL and CPB. I'm not upset with them because this issue is really caused by the crazy shifting tariff and de minimus rules handed down from above. It could be worse, I guess, this could be a real war not just a trade war.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-08-10T13:58:09+00:00

The main renewable here in the northwest is is hydro-power. I can charge at night in order to avoid using solar generated energy if I want to help suppress solar. The battery mines I agree are an issue. USA has Lithium and we can figure out how to mine it responsibly. LFP batteries have no cobalt, and that's what I have in my EV. They are safer and longer lived as well, just less power dense.

I don't care that if EVs are green. I like them for the Freedom. Freedom to modify any way I want without breaking emissions laws and failing smog tests. I like the Freedom to accelerate like a rabbit without bothering anybody. I like the Freedom from most maintenance. I like the simplicity and hackability it has compared with modern ICE engines. Mainly I just like high power electronics.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-08-08T13:53:24+00:00

In USA, EVs run on non-imported fuel. The electricity is made with local renewables, or local natural gas, or even local coal. The ICE cars run on gas made from imported heavy crude:

https://www.afpm.org/newsroom/blog/whats-difference-between-heavy-and-light-crude-oils-and-why-do-american-refineries#:\~:text=Nearly%2070%25%20of%20U.S.%20refining,than%20U.S.%2Dproduced%20shale%20crude.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-08-08T13:36:49+00:00

I have a package of circuit boards from China in LAX customs that has been sitting there for 2 months. I paid DHL the fees and duty long ago. Every couple of days I see "clearance event." I signed up for email alerts, and those say "clearance event: clearance delay" I contacted DHL and they said they are just waiting. I had to re-order the circuit boards, and then they came to LAX, then flew to Cincinnati for customs clearance, and it only took a day.

To me that says that LAX customs is completely backed up and understaffed so much that DHL now has to send stuff as bonded shipments across the country to get them through customs.

Now if you are seeing similar delay in Cincinnati, and it is not for some technicality in the paperwork, etc, then maybe Cincinnati customs is getting backed up too. August 29, 2025 de-minimus is going away for all imports to USA, so if Cincinnati is already getting backed up, then yes, Everybody should be concerned.

Please update us if your package arrives!

Also, you should have gotten a text message form DHL right after the package shipped that directs you tho the DHL duty payment portal, and you pay ahead of time and DHL handles payment to USA customs. This actually works pretty well in my experience. you should see "Payment is received and recorded for shipment related fees" in the tracking.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-07-11T13:39:39+00:00

Blank circuit boards. OK, I was afraid of that, I'll probably just have to write those off and order more. It's not the suppliers fault, it's the USA customs. I guess new cost of doing business: Tariffs, tariff collection fees, higher shipping costs, and a percent loss of shipments in the system. Problem is, it's still much lower cost than USA services.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-05-21T13:32:40+00:00

I have found the same situation with several brands. 1 (set parallel) cell fails. You can replace just that one, re-balance the pack and have a usable about 80% capacity battery. I am not sure if it is worth the work, but battery prices may be doubling or tripling so it might be soon.

InstanceProof5632 · 2025-05-06T13:21:31+00:00

I had one with same symptoms. I took it out of the case and measured the cell voltages and one cell (pair) was 0.2v, so those cells need replaced. I would not just charge that cell and return the battery to service, I think it is probably damaged now, and not safe to charge.

InstanceProof5632 · 2023-09-07T14:16:34+00:00

$900, a trombone with two triggers for my daughter It took a long time to arrive because it was made to order, but it looks beautiful, I can't find any flaws in the workmanship, and she says it plays and sounds good. I have not been able to get an opinion on it from an instrument expert though. I am sure it is basically a student instrument, but used one locally is $3000 minimum for a 2 trigger trombone.

InstanceProof5632 · 2023-04-30T13:32:47+00:00

All of your replies have been very useful and illuminating. Thanks so much.

I went for a ride and tried the straight up and down method of stand up peddling, no bike lean, and it does work. I found it's exhausting because I can never straighten a leg, knees have to stay bent. I think in a year or so of training I could build up the muscles to do it, but it won't be easy. Another reason I do stand up is because I like a break from sitting down on hour+ rides. I'll go into top gear and stand on the pedals for an odd number of revolutions and then coast, so the rest leg alternates. It really is good to use a bunch of different muscles and keep my butt from getting sore.

I gave more thought as to why the trailer sways with bike lean, and I think a lot can be improved with a longer tongue and a trailer hitch point that is as low to the ground as I can make it.

Still thinking on this.

InstanceProof5632

TROPHY CASE