Today we are pleased to share the news that, after a lot of testing and refinement, we are ready to start shipping our latest version of the already popular Cat Components Start Box.
We have listened carefully to our customers and have sought to accommodate as many of the fantastic ideas you came up with together with our own. While the fundamental function of the box remains unchanged..... it still plays start sequences.... there are some subtle enhancements and improvements, some of which are:
Water Integrity
We have looked at ways to improve the water integrity of the system. While we will never claim that the system is waterproof, we have sought to ensure that it can be used in light rain at the lakeside. We have achieved this by:
- Using waterproof switches and buttons on the box,
- Adding a foam layer to the battery cover to help the seal,
- Added covers to the Speakers. This will soon be further improved using waterproof speakers,
- Added chamfers to the box joints and fully sealed the assembly joints with silicone,
- Removed the external speaker jack which will always present a water ingress risk and was used by very few.
Volume Control
On previous versions the volume was pre-set and required the box to be opened to make some crude adjustment of the volume, so we redeveloped our system to give you a volume control on the front panel.
Battery State Display
The addition of a Battery State Display allows you to monitor the state of charge of your 2S Lithium battery, giving you the opportunity to change or recharge it before it dies.
As the unit may be powered by any type of 2S Lithium battery, from a 6.6v LiFe to a 7.4v LiPo/Li-Ion, the display should not be taken as 100% accurate, just an indication. Those of you who use Lithium batteries in your boats will know that a battery looks well charged until it falls off a cliff and leaves your boat drifting, thats just how Lithium batteries go.
Carry Handle
This seems like a simple change, and the result is, but it took a bit of trial and error to come up with a solution that does not add cost and more importantly, create a water ingress risk.
Re-Sequencing of Audio
Those of you that have used one of our previous version start boxes will recall that the Cancel button on the box used to play the audio file that was assigned to position 2 of the selector switch. This meant that you had audio on position 1, then again on positions 3 to 8. This bothered us no end and so we changed things so that the Cancel button is now not part of your normal audio files. While we still have 7 audio files to play, they are now in sequence from 1 to 7.
Personalisation
Previously we offered you the opportunity to have some personalisation added to the battery cover and/or the box itself. Due to lack of demand we have removed the offer of adding personalisation to the box itself but still offer it on the battery cover. Now the personalisation on the battery cover is made using white printing filament rather than using a white marker pen on pre-embossed lettering. Far easier and quicker all round.
We continue to receive fantastic reviews from around the world by people who have previously purchased our systems. We thank you all for your custom and your positive feedback.
If you wish to order one of our start boxes then please head to our Online Store pages where you will find the Start box as well and many useful parts for our Radio Sailing Hobby including Winch Drums, Rig Components and Sail Marking Stencils, plus a whole lot more.
Finally, we wish to thank all of you who have supported us while we launch our fledgling business. It really is appreciated and we could never have anticipated just how well our products have been received and how far around the world they have gone. We are immensely thankful to you all.
Sincerely
Wayne
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