First, we’d just like to say that our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected both directly and indirectly by the coronavirus outbreak.
How is the coronavirus affecting our production?
Whilst we design, develop and assemble parts and kits here in the UK, our PCBs – mainboard, solarboard and eight sensor boards – are all manufactured in China by JLCPCB.
We expected a production batch of PCBs to be delivered by JLCPCB in mid-January. As of now (11th February) we are still waiting on delivery. JLCPCB has done its best to keep us updated and we anticipate a delivery very soon. However, as part of our production, we wanted to include partial pre-assembled boards for some of the smaller components. At this moment, JLCPCB are not accepting any orders for SMD mounting production runs.
The JLCPCB website says “Production of multi-layer/ENIG PCBs, SMT assembly and stencils will temporarily be postponed until further notice.”
More information is available here:
https://support.jlcpcb.com/article/94-notice-for-production-delay-due-to-coronavirus
What this means for us is:
We have a limited supply of ‘bare’ PCBs which we are able to dispatch right now. So, if you have replied to our Sensor 01 & 02 emails and indicated that you are happy to fully assemble your boards, then we will be shipping your kit over the coming few days until our stock runs out.
We are currently looking at an alternative PCB supplier in the UK or Europe but so far, the costs are ten times that of JLCPCB.
Thank you for your support and patience during this time.
