The Stairlift Guys

03/04/2026

Every problem has a solution
What the solution is has yet to be determined
That why it is currently a problem
Time for a cuppa

03/04/2026

Hi Team.
I had a call from a customer that wanted me to look at their A130 T700 that every so often seems to trip their fuse board RCD circuit breaker.
This has been going on for over a year.
Acorn had replaced the power supply and the units T700 MCB, but the fault continued too intermittently trip the RCD, they were at a loss.
I went to the customers and had a look, and this is what I found.
When installing the stairlift, the Acorn NZ installer had stapled the power lead along the wall, mounted the power supply, and continued to staple the low voltage wire along to the rail.
I have talked about this before, do not staple power or low voltage leads, Period.
Plastic electrical clips help secure cables more safely because their pins or nails are positioned to the side away from the cable.
They had driven two staples through the power lead, one through the phase wire, and the other through the phase wire nicking the neutral wire sheaf but not into the neutral wire.
This had the potential to kill the customer if they have touched the staple.
This imbalance led to the intermittent tripping of the RCD.
I repaired the power lead, removed all the staples, and installed it correctly.
This underscores the importance of maintaining integrity and pride in your work, as well as knowing how to safely install power supplies and wiring.
Problem solved no more RCD tripping.
Stay safe people, Roger.

03/04/2026

Hi Team.
I had a call from a customer that wanted me to look at their A130 T700 that every so often seems to trip their fuse board RCD circuit breaker.
This has been going on for over a year.
Acorn had replaced the power supply and the unit T700 MCB, but the fault continued too intermittently trip the RCD, they were at a loss.
I went to the customers and had a look, and this is what I found.
When installing the stairlift, the Acorn NZ installer had stapled the power lead along the wall, mounted the power supply, and continued to staple the low voltage wire along to the rail.
I have talked about this before, do not staple power or low voltage leads, Period.
Plastic electrical clips help secure cables more safely because their pins or nails are positioned to the side away from the cable.
They had driven two staples through the power lead, one through the phase wire, and the other through the phase wire nicking the neutral wire sheaf but not into the neutral wire.
This had the potential to kill the customer if they have touched the staple.
This imbalance led to the intermittent tripping of the RCD.
I repaired the power lead, removed all the staples, and installed it correctly.
This underscores the importance of maintaining integrity and pride in your work, as well as knowing how to safely install power supplies and wiring.
Problem solved no more RCD tripping.
Stay safe people, Roger.

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24/03/2026

Try diesel
Send you crazy

So today in New Zealand at our local Z petrol station, fuel is $$$$ price
Diesel = $3.50 per litre, $15.75 a gallon
Petrol 91 = $3.40 per litre, $15.30 a gallon

For myself, $210 to fill up a 60ltr tank plus “RUC” road use charges for my diesel

A lot of people I see (for stairlifts) are a tank of fuel away, so in reality that’s an extra $100 cost per visit to most customers
Two months ago it was $110-$140 to fill up

They are saying diesel will be $4 per litre, $18 per gallon soon
$240 a fill up

Question, Are you ready to pay another $140 extra for a visit?
This only covers the increase in travel fuel cost only, doesn’t include the RUC increase

This is the reality we are currently seeing in New Zealand and why fuel cost alone has a dynamic financial cost that companies have to pass on

So in conclusion it hurts everyone and costs everyone

The only ones making money on this is the price gouging fuel companies

Support the cheapest fuel and not the others
When their sales drop they will match the rest, but be assured it works both ways
When Z increases the cost per litre the rest follow straight away, collectively screwing us all, blatant price fixing
Roger

21/03/2026

Hi team, my website has been down again for two days.
There as been an update to the SSL cert and that has now taken effect.
It has just come back on line.
Good old Facebook just keeps going.
As always, I am happy to answer any questions.

20/03/2026

Bruno power supply going red and not charging the some times goes green and charging aok

Bruno rail connections
HR (high resistance) on the positive or negative, contact should be less than an ohm
See the colour difference on the contract strips
Clean with a scotch pad and some turpentine to shine up
Retest aok
Good practice to give these a clean when doing the service, make sure the are making good contact (less than an ohm), clean the strips, test done
If you need too clean the three pick up fingers on the carriage, a business card with turpentine pushed between them and the strips will clean them

19/03/2026

When the world says why? I say why not?
When the world says can't be done? I say why not?
Sometimes you just need to look at it from another point of view
Sometimes you just need to step back from it, have a cuppa and then have another look

15/02/2026

Logo

14/02/2026

Hmm, it is always interesting how people think.
Here is a little story for you.

Customer called me for a quote, standard $3k for a refurbished (SOB - sell on behalf) unit, rail cut down to suit his stair, had a longer one in stock so all good.
He said that was a rip off and was bidding for a unit on line and it was currently $50.
That is ok with me, plenty of people like to do it themselves, but generally they call back asking for help.
Yip that is what happened, he brought the unit for $550, said it was like new, great deal, but needed rail and help to install.
I told him that all of what I have is SOB, I do not own it, I often arrange deals to make rail longer between two SOB customers to be able to offer a solution for the customer that is in need.
So, when I told him I do not have rail and his option is to buy a SOB unit or buy another unit online to make up the length of rail he required, he hung up.
So, two weeks later he calls again, when I asked him how it was all going, I found this out.
He brought the online unit for $550, we already knew that.
After he had a lot of conversations with Acorn, they installed it as he was local to them, added a piece of rail to suit, $4,000.
The following day it would not work, additional cost from Acorn for a new board $1,600.
Now the remotes do not work.
He is 550+4000+1600=$6,150 in the hole and has a non-refurbished unit that will not work on the remotes.
I advised him to call Acorn again and get them to reprogram the remotes to the board, he said they said that would be $500.
So, I talked him through it on the phone, no thank you, just it is working now and hung up.
Do you think, I should I have said "sucks to be you, LOL"?
So, from what people are currently telling me, Acorn charges $8,000 for a new A130 T700 straight within the same city.
So, in conclusion, he could have brought a new one from Acorn for a little more, but instead he has a non-refurbished, non-tested $6,150 unit that he is having issues with, and he thought $3k was a rip off for a fully refurbished and fully tested unit made to suit.

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10/02/2026

Hi there, had a run of questions about the A130 outdoor units. As time moves on the A130 T700 outdoor are simply not as good as the older A120 outdoor. See video

10/02/2026

Hi there, often people ask about the A130HD for heavy duty straight. It is a bit of a marketing con these days. Happy to answer questions, see video.

24/01/2026

I thought this was funny, an old guy called and said he had an Acorn curve, the BMW model, that Acorn had given up on.
I said I was not familiar with the BMW model and could he explain more, he said Breaks Most Weeks, LOL, I understand, I like his sense of humour.

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