OK, I've been trying to get this whole strap and other failures thing into focus. This includes not only working on my little 'test kit' but taking to 'the guys' at TV about the field returns.
It seems there's a lot of misinformation floating around being taken as fact by the well intentioned. As was explained to me, straps are simply not failing as folks think they are. Those reporting multiple failures (up to 4 or 5?) are simply mistaken about what the real problem is. Specifically they told me of a fellow who's sent his unit in 3 times for this problem (strap failure) and yet hasn't really had it happen even once. He had a switch go bad, and had this protective spring collapse, but the strap was sound all 3 times (even though they upgraded it just to be sure one of those times). There has been a single failure of a soldered or welded strap built in the current way. Originally they would score the backing on the adhesive strip on the strap near the top and 'stick it down' before stripping the bulk of the backing off to stick it to the side wall of the tube. This was leaving a score line on the copper that failed as it flexed. This was found in the days of soldering and corrected (they now peel it part way back and put a radius rather than curve in it with no score mark to collect the stress). None of these has failed, except the one that did. There the issue turned out to be the original first tubes are slightly longer, not an issue when the strap is connected after installation, but the welded ones are made on a jig. Since finding this they've either used a hand made longer strap or replaced the tube with the newer, shorter version.
The bottom line is the reports we're getting here are basically false, at least in large part it seems. Straps are not seen as a reliability problem by TV.....assumptions and net.wisdom to the contrary. IMO we don't yet have the straight story here, we're repeating innocent guesses as fact. I know this will trigger some angry 'that's not what happened to me' responses, but I'm repeating what I heard from TV......and based on my understanding of these sorts of things I tend to think they've got a proper handle on it. They are facing some typical 'chain reaction' issues where one change (say soldering rather than crimping connections) leads to another (like new problems with straps popping up) in addition to the usual challenges.
And again, they can point to 'finally fixed, working right now' units that actually had no problems found when they were returned to their anxious (and now happy) owners. No defect was found and corrected, this is not uncommon in Customer Service, ask anyone who's done it for a while. The customer always being right means they're never wrong...... If they change technique, shift strains or grind or whatever and suddenly get better results that won't be their fault, "there must be something wrong with my clubs!".
No comment on the individual owners, just a typical situation with people in general I think.
So, back to troubleshooting for the end users. Not only will this hopefully give us some more useful insights to the real issues but will also hopefully let a guy decide (for instance) the core is fine and doesn't need to be cleaned up and sent along. Or that the problem is definitely a switch that can be now replaced without sending the whole lot in. And so on.
Right now the kit is two simple pieces. One is a foot or so long jump wire with a tiny brass screw soldered on one end. The screw end can be pushed into one of the medium size holes to make contact wtih one of the setscrew/pins retaining the screw plate and be used to isolate the strap connections. It can also substitute for a switch to confirm the problem there or not.
The other piece is a vinyl cap with a hole punched in the end and the body cut back. It can be used to hold one end of the wire against the screw part of the cart while insulating things so only the center screw is exposed. This is then pushed on top of a freshly charged battery with the other end of the wire held to the bottom to confirm the status of the core (no need to clean and send in a good core if the problem is elsewhere in the unit). I'm still not done on tests for spring/battery fit but will have that sorted out soon I think. The owner will also have to provide some aluminum foil and a few dimes I think.
But for now, you might rethink PMing me and asking for a kit when they're ready (later this week I think). Free for the asking to anyone who sends their name and US address to me.....at least for now. Very few have. I have made tooling and bought parts to make the two pieces but don't intend to be in that business for ever.....or very long even.
For now, I'm confident there is no generic problem with Cera straps, connections, cores, batteries or switches as shipped. The design is good and they know what they're doing. Despite reports on this Forum to the contrary.....
Time will tell, thanks for listening.
OF