Here at Sparksmith, we are always working to find new ways to add value to you, the customer. The following is a transcript of the video embedded below, detailing exactly that mantra.
(0:00) Hey everybody, this is Brannen at Sparksmith helping you see and be seen here with my old (0:05) man glasses on because I wanted to talk to you about something. Something that I've decided to (0:10) focus on for 2026 is what value does Sparksmith bring to the table. We had a question recently (0:20) on YouTube, a completely valid question about our tow mirrors.
The question was I see that (0:27) these look very similar to something on Amazon for a lot less money. Why would I pay more for (0:33) these? Well, the answer is stuff like this here, this email thread with the gentleman. (0:40) Now this, to be fair, wasn't tow mirrors, but it was a product that we brand as our own (0:47) and we stand behind it and we're here to support it.
This customer had a truck, another Cateye (0:54) with, he'd already put an LED bow tie in it. Unfortunately not from us, don't worry, I know (1:03) you're going to ask the question. I don't know when those will be out, but it is on the list (1:08) of things to do once we get these door handles done.
Now that's as of mid-February 2026, (1:13) so whenever you're watching this video they might be out by now, I don't know. Anyways, (1:18) sidetracked. So this guy emailed us and said, hey I've got some headlights already that have (1:25) running lights in them and turn signals.
I have a bow tie. If I buy your grill bars, (1:30) can we make all of this work together and can you put a splitter in there that will run (1:33) my bow tie and my headlights? So of course we said yes, yeah, we can modify or we can accommodate the (1:42) current equipment that you have on the truck and tie this in and give you a custom one-off (1:48) harness that fits your specific needs. Happy to do it.
You know, I don't, I'm not even sure I (1:55) really charged him extra for it. It's just sometimes I just enjoy the challenge of stuff, (1:58) which may be why I'm so broke, but I just enjoy this stuff. I really, really do.
(2:05) And the saga continued. Long story short, I know it's two minutes into the video and it's (2:10) too late to say that, but I am my father's son. If you look at, this is the longest of the email (2:17) threads and I went through and counted, this particular chain is 32 emails back and forth.
(2:24) And then there's a total of five email threads. When you add them all up, it's like 46 emails (2:33) and about four phone calls that we've been back and forth trying to figure out what's going on (2:37) with this guy's grill bars, because they were flickering. The white running light would be on (2:44) solid.
Everything else would be on solid working exactly like it's supposed to. And all of a sudden (2:47) a bar would just pop on off just randomly, very randomly. And so we went through all (2:53) these troubleshooting steps.
Like I really don't think it's the bars, um, because there are other (2:58) things that it could be. And we've seen other things where like an alternator starts to fail (3:02) and puts some AC voltage into the line and that can mess with them. Um, if there's a little bit of (3:08) corrosion on the ground wire somewhere and it's not getting a full 12 volts, that can cause an (3:13) issue.
Sometimes other components like these switchback headlights that he had, those can back (3:19) feed power from the running light circuit into the turn signal circuit, which will make the white (3:26) animated 2.0 grill bars shut off and try to switch to amber mode. Even if it's just a brief millisecond (3:31) pulse of voltage, it'll shut the white off and pop it back on. I've seen that happen.
So we were going (3:36) through all these steps like trying to figure out like, if it's a defective product, happy to replace (3:40) it. But I don't want to waste your time saying, well just throw parts at it and see what happens. (3:45) No, I want to figure a problem.
And that's where, that's what I wanted to focus on with this video, (3:50) was like the value add that Sparksmith brings to the table. Um, so going back to the tow mirror thing, (3:59) my response was, well, yes, you can get these things and they're very, very similar from Amazon. (4:04) They will be cheaper.
However, you have no idea who the seller is. You have no idea if they'll (4:08) be there next month or next year. I, in fact, when I answered that question, had just had two customers (4:14) request replacement components for their mirrors.
One got damaged from road debris (4:18) and it was just one of the caps. And we were selling just the cap for like 40, 50 bucks rather (4:24) than an entire new set of mirrors for several hundred, which is what any other seller would do, (4:29) quite frankly. Um, and had a similar situation with another one where something broke or they (4:35) were trying to get it painted or whatever.
And a piece broke and I was like, we can sell you just (4:38) that piece. I don't know of any other companies out there that will sell you just pieces and parts (4:43) to sets like these. In my experience, I've tried to do that even as a wholesale account.
Like, (4:50) hey, can I get just this piece? And they're like, no, we're going to send you the entire thing. (4:55) Um, and it just seems wasteful to me rather than just fix the problem. They just throw parts at (5:01) it.
And I'm not like that. And this is one of those cases too. So we got the tow mirror guy fixed.
(5:07) Um, the comment on YouTube, and you're welcome to go look at my tow mirror video out there on (5:11) YouTube. And, um, it's one of the comments in there of like, he was like, Hey, you know, (5:16) appreciate the response. And I'm pretty sure you ended up placing an order like in the next day or (5:19) so.
Um, and back to this gentleman with the bow tie badge and the switchback headlights, (5:26) and he wanted to integrate our grill bars into it. Well, after going back and forth, (5:30) we're finally like, okay, we've tried everything. I even sent him a test harness.
(5:34) Again, there was no charge for any of this for the time that I spent with the 30 some odd, (5:38) 40 some odd emails, uh, the phone calls, the test rig that I sent him. Like sometimes (5:45) it's worth the time and effort and money on my part to just satiate my curiosity, (5:51) but also to provide the level of customer service that I would want for myself. (5:56) So, you know, coming back to that value thing, like what do we add? Why do we charge what we (6:00) charge? Well, because when you're here, when you come to Sparksmith, your family, all right, (6:06) I'm going to take care of you and I'm going to be here long after these Amazon brands are gone.
(6:11) Um, and so that's the buy-in for the Sparksmith brand is you get this one-on-one support. If you (6:20) call the phone number, you're going to talk to either me or Emerson. You're going to get one (6:25) of the two of us.
Um, you might get voicemail, but we'll get back to you. So, you know, that's, (6:31) that's where I'm going with all this is. It's a very personal curated experience.
If you ever (6:37) need any tech support, you're going to get me or Emerson, one of the two, and you're going to (6:41) get a direct line with us to solve exactly your problem and, um, address exactly the issues and (6:49) concerns that you have for your specific setup, because even in a niche as narrow as 03 to 07 (6:56) Chevy Silverado's, there can be a lot of different things happening. We're able to solve a lot of (7:00) different problems. Some of them we've seen some of them we haven't, but one way or another, (7:04) we're going to figure it out.
Um, and in this case, I ended up deciding we're going to try one (7:09) more set of bars and see if maybe those are defective. We're going to get the old ones back (7:13) and test them, see if we can really drill down and figure out what's going on. Uh, and to answer (7:17) the question of what is in my hand, it is something else that I've done again.
I'm not charging him (7:21) for this. I just wanted to try it and see if it works. I have these DC to DC voltage regulators (7:27) that I bought and I added, you can't, it's hard to see, but there's a diode in there.
(7:33) So we got power coming in through a diode into the regulator, then the output. So it takes 10 (7:40) to 15 volts in and converts it to a steady 12 volts out, added a capacitor, a rather large (7:47) capacitor to make sure that it, if there's any gaps in voltage, it will fill it in with the capacitor. (7:54) So we're going to filter out any kind of AC voltage or anything like that.
Add a capacitor, (8:00) steady out any kind of flickering that might happen through this. And this will be something (8:04) that just plugs in inline between our harness and the grill bars that we're also sending with this. (8:09) Obviously this one's not complete.
I have to pin it out, add some heat shrink and make it look like (8:13) a finished product, which I intend to do next. Um, so we're sending this and a brand new set (8:19) of bars to this guy that's had 40 some odd emails. Um, and if this doesn't fix it, we're going to (8:25) keep digging down this path and we're going to figure it out.
Um, you know, just cause that's (8:31) how I operate. That's my MO. That's what I want to do.
That's what I want this business to be. (8:36) That's what I want the brand to be is something that you're like, okay, I bought from Sparksmith. (8:40) I know he's got my back.
I know that he's going to support me. If I've got a question, if I've got a (8:45) problem, it doesn't matter if you bought something that's 20 bucks or something that's several (8:49) hundred dollars. I don't care if you're a customer of mine, you're a customer of mine.
I treat you (8:53) like family. So that's the Sparksmith value add a nine minute spiel for today. Uh, I'll be back (9:02) with some more.
Like I said, we're picking up live streams and stuff. I hope you guys tune in and (9:06) enjoy them. I hope they're useful.
Um, but for now I'm going to take care of this gentleman and we're (9:12) going to get his grill bars working with the stuff that he has existing on the truck one way or (9:16) another. We're going to figure it out. So thank you for watching.
Seriously. Thank you. Appreciate (9:22) you guys.
Y'all stay good out there and we'll see you on the next one.