Reinforcing the lesson [Chinese tools]

Not much activity on the mending front recently. However, as if to hammer home the point of my previous post, a new shipment of Chinese stuff has needed to be returned. CPC had several things in their special offers and Clearance lists, so I purchased two PIR alarms - exactly the same model that I purchased on Police recommendation some thirteen years ago, but now only £8 instead of £33. Also there was a Crimping Tool Kit which had metric bolt cutting slots for 2mm to 5mm screws, and my old one is only suited for BA threads. With a selection of crimp connectors and a carrying case, the kit was less than £3.50. I also needed some AA batteries (for the alarms etc) and they were offering a 32-pack of Philips ones for around £7.

 


The stuff came promptly but was a disappointment. One of the PIR alarms was fine but the other proved to be missing a connector strip in the battery compartment, so could not be used at all. So much for the QC  inspection sticker...! Of the 32 batteries, five were leaking and partially discharged and as it was a sealed batch, I didn't trust the others - especially as they were going into the alarms for perhaps a year. The expiry date on each battery was October 2017. The rather weak crimp tool was completely Imperial and had nothing metric about it - all cutting points had American wire gauge designations and the AF threads in the bolt cutters would not accept metric screws. The crimp connectors seem flimsy and looked as though the PVC insulation would split when crimped, and finally both latches were broken off the case so it couldn't be closed.

Result: it all has to go back and we start again. I will accept a replacement PIR as they are usually good; the Crimp Kit was described as "metric" but probably isn't even available as such, and I will definitely be going for a different brand of batteries. My experience of Duracell is that even when discharged they don't leak (even though they too may be Chinese sourced, who knows). Maybe in time I will learn that a bargain is not a bargain unless it's a good product for a lower price than usual, and that bad products sold for their actual value are not a good investment.
================
UPDATE 11 July 2014
================
Given two apparently working PIR alarms, I installed them with confidence. After a few months, one has proved to be hard to use as the button action needs a really hard press, and the other has simply decided to sound off whenever it feels the need - even locked in a shed with no movement (and no insects or air currents etc). I should have known...serves me right.
===================================

When I was helping my father-in-law repair his garden shed, I leaned on the arm of his garden bench which promptly snapped off. The wood was rotten around the mounting bolt. I was intending to cut it out and let in a new patch of hardwood, but decided it was easier to replace the whole part with a new one in good pine. Having made a new bracket with the requisite holes, counterbores and such I soaked it all in wood preserver and gave it two coats of fence paint. It should now outlast the rest of the bench, and probably both my father-in-law and me too.