Changelog

What's new

A dated log of what's shipped — new guides, calculators, and tools, in the order they landed. Most recent first. Recent themes: sourcing-compliance guides (grid interconnection, Buy America), site-wide search, and ways to find every free tool and calculator in one place.

August 23, 2026
Leading with the tools, not the catalog: the homepage, sector pages, and nav now put the free calculators, practice tools, and guides first — the catalog reference data is still there, just no longer the front door.
  • New: POD & Skid Designer — size a modular power block (transformer, switchgear, distribution, backup, cooling) against a target load and redundancy level (N/N+1/2N), with 4 built-in challenge scenarios and an enclosed-POD/open-frame-skid toggle
  • Data Centers, Renewables, and Battery Storage sector pages rebuilt as full guides — redundancy, DC:AC ratio, C-rate, grid-forming PCS, and more — each with a dedicated tools section
  • Author byline and publish date added to all 11 technical guides, linked to a new "how the guides are written" section on the methodology page
  • Homepage hero and search now lead with the free tools; hero search now searches guides/calculators/tools instead of the parts catalog
  • 3 new guides on region-specific interconnection timelines: PJM, MISO, and ERCOT — each linked from the general interconnection process guide
  • Shared header/nav/token CSS extracted into a cached voltfield-core.css instead of duplicated inline on every page
  • A real, crawlable reference photo (with the same AI-illustration disclosure used sitewide) now appears on part detail pages, alongside the category icon
  • Pseudo-3D tile treatment on every category/tool icon site-wide (CSS perspective transform, no external assets)
  • Real procedural 3D models on the part detail page — genuine rotatable Three.js geometry (not a photo, not the CSS icon treatment), loaded on demand with a "View in 3D" toggle
  • New: Rack Elevation Builder — stack equipment into a 24/42/48U rack and check U-space, circuit power (NEC 80% continuous-load derate), and weight budgets
  • 4 new standalone guides on concepts that were previously only a paragraph inside a sector page: PUE Explained, Liquid Cooling vs. Air Cooling, BESS Augmentation Explained, and Inverter Clipping Ratio Explained
  • HowTo structured data added to the Practice Sandbox, POD & Skid Designer, and Rack Elevation Builder
  • Drilling & Completions and Industrial Supply sectors now surface their relevant free tools (BOM Generator/Match, Part ID, Specification Checklist) instead of only catalog links
August 3, 2026
  • Site-wide search across every guide, calculator, glossary term, and tool
  • "All Free Tools" hub page consolidating everything in one place
  • Two new guides: the grid interconnection process and Buy America / BABA compliance
  • Crowdsourced lead-time submission form for other buyers/distributors (reviewed before publishing, not automatic)
  • Sitewide SEO pass: canonical tags on every page, title/H1 alignment, added structured data where it was missing
  • Sitewide copy and schema shift toward an independent sourcing-agent framing — "sold and fulfilled directly" language replaced site-wide, quote-list/checkout terminology renamed to sourcing-list/sourcing-request language, and transactional Product/Offer schema removed from part pages
August 2, 2026
  • Sitewide dark mode
  • Search autocomplete on the homepage hero and catalog search box
  • Share buttons added to all 9 technical guides
  • 7 new catalog families closing real taxonomy gaps
August 1, 2026
  • Investment Payback & NPV calculator — the 20th engineering calculator
  • General email signup for new guides & tools on the Insights hub
  • Homepage accessibility polish (skip-link, decorative-icon labeling) and a back-to-top button
  • Lead-time ticker polish: pause control, edge fade, mobile touch-target fixes
July 31, 2026
  • Arc-flash incident energy calculator (Lee & Doughty equations)
  • Cable ampacity/conduit fill, ground rod resistance, transformer inrush, and motor-starting voltage dip calculators
  • Short-circuit withstand check added to the fault-current calculator
July 29–30, 2026
  • PCB Layout Tool: place components, route two-layer traces, run a live design check — with a step-by-step guide and 5 example circuits
  • Distinct category icons for every catalog part, replacing duplicated placeholder photos
July 28, 2026
  • EE Practice Sandbox redesigned as a drag/tap one-line diagram builder, with daily challenges, streaks, sharing, and an anonymous leaderboard
  • Glossary Quiz
  • 3 new guides: BESS fire safety (NFPA 855/UL 9540A), grounding & bonding basics, and short-circuit studies & breaker coordination
July 27, 2026
A positioning shift: ordering and checkout UI was first paused sitewide via CSS, and has since been removed outright, with every underlying page and dataset left intact. The Lead-Time Index and catalog reference data stay live as market information. The site's focus shifted toward knowledge, equipment reference, and engineering practice tools.
  • EE Practice Sandbox launched (v1): size a transformer, main breaker, feeder, and panel loads against 5 engineering checks
July 25, 2026
  • Specification Checklist: readiness checklist and copy-paste spec templates
  • Engineering calculators hub launched, plus TCO, MACRS, standards cross-reference, landed cost, HS codes, and compliance-mark reference tools
  • Embeddable Lead-Time Index widget and JSON data feed for other sites
  • Side-by-side compare tool, CSV export, and printable spec sheets on the catalog and part pages
  • 3 long-tail guides: transformer nameplates, switchgear compartments, and arc-flash boundary basics
July 24, 2026
  • Lead-Time Index launched as a standalone, citable reference page
  • 21-term glossary of energy/industrial equipment standards and terms
  • First guide: Pad-Mount vs. GSU Transformers
  • RSS feed for Insights and guides; Product/Offer schema on part pages; custom social preview cards sitewide