Shipping delay on samples
over 8 years ago – Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 02:41:05 PM

Hi all,

We have some unfortunate news for you.

Somehow, DHL on the same day assigned the same tracking number to two packages. One being picked up in Mexico, and one (our one) being picked up in Hong Kong:

http://www.dhl.com/content/g0/en/express/tracking.shtml?AWB=8190447053&brand=DHL

What this means is that our package was accidentally shipped to Guadalajara in Mexico! In any case, DHL have now successfully located our package and are shipping it to us from Mexico using their Express service.

What this means is that we should now have the boards on Monday. Unfortunately this means we are not going to be able to ship any of the rewards before Christmas and, pending the confirmation of the boards functioning correctly, we now expect to be shipping in the first half of January

More updates as they come in, and once again we can only apologise for this error on behalf of DHL.

Thanks,
Aaron and the Pi Supply team

Final samples on their way, ethernet patch cable, BackerKit address lockdown and more...
over 8 years ago – Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 09:19:50 PM

Hi backers,

Lots more good news for you, which we are delighted to share.

Production update

Parts for the full run of 2000 Pi PoE Switch boards have been ordered and the first samples from the manufacturing house should be arriving early next week. We do not expect there to be any problems (as you know, we have already thoroughly tested previous versions and know which parts we need) which is why we have already ordered the first batch of parts.

We have also now got a much improved ethernet cable supplier. We have opted to go to a more conventional circular cable as it means we can do away with the "twist" in the cable. This, coupled with the fact that we are now using machine made plugs with mouldings (instead of hand made ones without) means that the cables should be a lot more durable in operation. Perhaps most importantly, they are red to go with the board!

As mentioned previously, the new Ethernet magjack connectors we have specified in this design have optional programmable LEDs and we will be including for free the two resistors needed to activate this functionality. You will have to solder them yourself, and they are surface mount, but hopefully this will prove to be a useful additional feature for some people.

Here are some pictures from our manufacturer:

When the units arrive with us, we will test them the same day, and if they are working correctly we will give the green light on PCB manufacture immediately. Since all of the packaging, components and other parts necessary will all already be in stock at the manufacturer at that point, we will then be able to complete the full production run in around 2 weeks, if all goes to plan.   

We therefore hope to be shipping out all Pi PoE Switch boards before Christmas. Once we have tested the samples next week we will be able to confirm this and then as we progress in the manufacture process we will be able to give more concrete shipping estimates (to the week, and eventually to the day!)

BackerKit address lockdown

As we expect to be shipping the products within the next 3 to 4 weeks, we will be sending the "48 hour address lockdown email" on Sunday 22nd November at around midday (UK time). You will then have a 48 hour window to make any final address changes. So if you need to change your address, now is the time to do it!  

Thanks,
Aaron and the Pi Supply team

Add on products ordered, design update for production, accidental LEDs and more...
over 8 years ago – Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 11:51:51 PM

Hi backers,

Further to our previous update, you should all now have received your discount coupons through BackerKit - if you haven't then please let us know in the comments and we will send it to you manually.

Another busy week here at Pi Supply HQ working on the Pi PoE Switch and we have lots to share...

First packages shipped!!

We are delighted to announce that we have now shipped our first packages from the Pi PoE Switch Kickstarter - we have shipped the Model B Kits to the backers who pledges at that level so if you are one of those backers then you should expect to receive something pretty soon.

Add on products ordered

We have started ordering all of the additional add ons that are needed in order to fulfill all of the Kickstarter pledges and BackerKit extras - Raspberry Pis, SD cards, Power over Ethernet Injectors and more.

Some of the bits have started to arrive and we will be keeping them safely until the Pi PoE Switch boards arrive and we are ready to ship. Here is the PoE Injectors which arrived today:

And the office doggies, Olive and Juno, are keeping guard of all of the add ons for you :-)

Accidental LEDs stretch goal!

Upon starting to order some of the components for the PoE boards to speed up manufacture when we get to that point, we discovered that one of our chosen parts (the input ethernet connector, which is a MagJack specifically designed for use with PoE devices) had a run on stock and was out of stock everywhere...an absolute nightmare at this point.

Fortunately, there is another connector by the same manufacturer with the same pinout whose only difference is that it has onboard status LEDs (like the port on the Raspberry Pi) and a slightly different footprint. There was enough stock for our manufacture run at a major electronics distributor so we have pro-actively ordered 2000 units of these parts in order to make sure there are no further delays to manufacture.

What does this mean for you? Well, it means you get an extra and unexpected stretch goal...user programmable LEDs! We have updated the PCB design to connect the LEDs (one bi-color LED (yellow and green) and one single colour LED (green) on the ethernet input port to the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins. We have also added space on the board for two through hole resistors - the idea being that if you want to use the LEDs you just solder in the two resistors yourself. If you would rather keep the three GPIO pins (GPIO22, 23 and 24) for other purposes, then you don't need to do anything - just leave the resistors unpopulated and it will work straight out of the box! We will be including the necessary resistors with every board.

Whilst this is not a major upgrade by any means, we thought it was a real shame to have LEDs on the board and let them go to waste! So hopefully this comes as a welcome surprise :-)

Production update

This design change has not really set us back in any way - we have already made the necessary PCB design changes, and we were also lucky in that the PCBs for the 20 pre-production samples we were making anyway had not yet been manufactured and we therefore were able to sneak this design change in without wasting any time.

Once the samples are ready, we will express ship them to the UK and when we receive and test the samples (and ship some out to First Edition backers) we will then be ready to push straight on into bulk manufacture.

We hope to be shipping the final boards within around one month, or thereabouts.

Packaging, stickers etc...

We have also got a final design for the stickers, which should be finished printing in the middle of next week. Here is the proof:

We have also got a final design for the packaging agreed (it is just a basic white cardboard box with a barcode label on the top - nothing fancy!) so we now have everything ready to go for when the Pi PoE Switch boards have finished being manufactured.

We can't wait to start manufacture, get the items shipped, and then see what you will make with the Pi PoE switch boards, and should have many more updates over the coming weeks.

Thanks for your patience and support,
Aaron and the Pi Supply team

Production started, shipping starting soon...
over 8 years ago – Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 06:24:24 PM

Hi Backers,

Thanks very much for filling in the BackerKit surveys, this has been very useful and has allowed us to push on with manufacture with a more accurate picture of what we need to order to fulfill the pledges and add ons. There are currently just 19 of you left who have not filled in the survey - if one of those 19 is you, then please fill in the survey as soon as possible as we will be locking the surveys down on Friday 16th October at 12pm. You will still be able to update your address at this point, until we lock down the addresses closer to the time of shipping.

Production

We are still waiting for one of the major components to arrive in the warehouse / manufacturing plant (it is the long lead time part we mentioned before - it should arrive in the next week or so). In the interim, we have started with PCB production and the sourcing of all other parts, and once we have everything ready, the PCB assembly will also be under way.

We are undertaking quite a large run (2000 units), so to start with we will assemble and test a few boards out of the full batch before pressing ahead with the whole lot, but since we have already had 20 production samples created we do not expect there to be any issues here.

Shipping starting soon

If you are in the Model B Kit or First Edition pledge levels you should have received a notification today that your add ons had been locked down and that you have 48 hours to update your address details. After this 48 hour period is up, your address will be locked down and your pledges will ship out imminently.

As mentioned above, other backers will have their add ons locked down on Friday and once we have the full production stock on its way to our warehouse you will also receive the 48 hour address lock down email.

Sorry

We are extremely sorry that this production process has taken significantly longer than originally expected and that our communication has been sub par throughout. We are however extremely glad to be on the home stretch now (as I am sure are you). We are very confident you will enjoy your Pi PoE products when they arrive on your doorstep in the not too distant future. Thanks for your continued patience and support.

All the best,
Aaron and the Pi Supply team

BackerKit Survey Prep
over 8 years ago – Fri, Sep 04, 2015 at 12:01:15 AM

Dear Backers,

Things are progressing well behind the scenes but we unfortunately ran into an unexpectedly high lead time (8 weeks) on one of the most important parts of the module (no alternative part) which we were not expecting.

In any case we are now much closer to final production and will be sending surveys out shortly...

BackerKit Surveys 

Due to the number of backers we have, we decided to use BackerKit instead of the standard Kickstarter survey option to manage surveys, addresses and pledge options (additional items pledged for etc). 

We will be sending an email with a special link to the BackerKit surveys in the next couple of weeks. Filling in the BackerKit survey is important and will help the project tremendously - it will allow us to ensure the right items go to the right people, and will also allow us to ship your items quicker. 

You do not need to make a login and password to fill out your survey, just fill it out and you’re all good to go! In the BackerKit survey, please answer any questions we may have regarding your pledge, provide shipping information, pay for international shipping if you forgot, and if you want you can even order more items or “add-ons”. You do not have access to this link yet, but it will be available soon via email! 

If you’ve decided later that you filled out something wrong in the survey, you can actually go back and change it anytime before we announce the cut off date for changes. If you use your Facebook login for your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit invite will be sent to the email you used for your Facebook account. If you have another email you prefer it to be sent to, please email [email protected] or send us a message through Kickstarter. 

All BackerKit surveys will be sent out within the next week - if you have not received the survey by the 10th September, please let us know here or email [email protected]

Thanks,
Aaron and the Pi Supply team