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Thread: A lighting project gone bad

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Justloadit View Post
    What I am experiencing, is the lack/loss of skill in companies I am dealing with, both as suppliers and customers.

    The 'lost generation' has finally arrived, and we are experiencing the consequences of those missing years.
    I find that knowledge is very superficial. It is as if people feel that they can look anything up at any time on the internet. Another thing is that technological advancement kinda causes the loss of the need of deeper understanding. Millions of people can program Arduino (using internet sourced code) to do things yet they don't know the difference between volts and amps. Lets call this the "black box effect" - they can tell you about the inputs and outputs but they don't understand the inner workings of the box - which is the same as modern social media, general media or politics for that matter. They squabble about superficiality yet the important things in their own lives is a mystery to them.

    Another thing I find is that lots of people (including public facing staff) will be on Whatsapp or whatever social media platform while you speak to them. You get to the counter and try to have a conversation with a sales person but they are totally engrossed in their own little screen world that they hardly hear you. The little screen robs them of their already limited attention span.

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  2. #12
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    I had another lighting specialist have a look at the project (not being a lighting specialist ... I needed a second opinion) ... something interesting popped up ... as skatingsparks mentioned ... volt drop.

    I am told that it is not advisable to run a 12 VDC strip light longer then 5m ... you need an amplifier/booster ... what I see here is a combination of both an under spec'd power supply and a booster.

    @ over 10 m ... its gone be interesting to see what happens ... but here is the catch ... I am told that because the wiring in some cases is too short and others not long enough ... I have to either cut or extend the cabling ... the warranty falls away ... this was a a question I asked the rep as he cut the first strip to attempt to modify it to fit into the pipe ... he informed me that as soon as he cut the first piece of heat shrink off the strip light ... the warranty for the product he supplied was no longer valid .. eeeeeiiish ... so now I sit with thousands of rands worth of strip lighting being installed with no warranty

    All I want this is job to be done tight with the right equipment ... hence why I called the rep to get advise on how we can make it right ... he has decided that he doesnt want to communicate with me anymore ... I then went to the wholesaler who supplied the lights (xxxxxxxx electrical) and explained this fiasco to them ... they replaced all the aluminum profile and cover.

    So maybe someone should contact xxxxxxx lighting and ask them to respond to this thread and set the record straight ... I would be interested to hear what they think about all these issue ... maybe I am being unreasonable?

    This is why this has got this point ... the strip lights have been supplied and paid for ... but now I am told that mesmerize they dont have stock of "ANY" aluminum profile ... fortunately xxxxxxx had stock of Pioled profile ... so they supplied enough to replace all the profiles for the 12 V strip light (its going to be interesting to hear how we going to resolve the volt drop issue ... or maybe it doesnt apply to xxxxxxxx 12 V strip lights) ... but nobody has the aluminum profile for the 220 V neo flex and I am told the project once again is going to be put on hold for at least 3 weeks AGAIN.

    Removed names ... not sure if you are allowed to name on social media anymore ... with all the new laws?

    I shouldnt post when I am angry.
    Last edited by ians; 04-Jul-21 at 02:12 PM.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Justloadit View Post
    What I am experiencing, is the lack/loss of skill in companies I am dealing with, both as suppliers and customers.

    The 'lost generation' has finally arrived, and we are experiencing the consequences of those missing years.
    Saleman are just there to make a sale, rather than trying to establish an ongoing business relationship and on going sales.

    Just sell them something - onto the next one.

    Liek teh guys who sell generators. I know, you know and any electrician worth anything its not a good idea to use a ryobi/grip etc generator to bacjk up your house but they sell that. Works, but it ain't right.

  4. #14
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    This is not the same ... we not selling entry level/ DIY cheap cheap product here ... to give you an idea.

    The neon flex 230 V power supply ... I am paying R 75.90 ... online you can buy it for R35 including vat.

    The ML-TL-220Volt power supply ... I am paying R70.03 ... it looks exactly the same as the one above ... just the part that joins the strip light to the power cable is slightly different.

    I cut one of the power supplies open because they advised and charged me for 8 power supplies ... but in reality I only need 2 because the power supply is good for 50 m of 220 volt strip light ... 1 group of lights will require 1 power supply and the other group another power supply .. .that is how I learnt about the AC-DC bridge rectifier.

    The more I dig into this fiasco the more I realise how little the rep knows about his job ... to make matter worse he had 2 other reps with him who were being "trained" by him .. they were on site learning tricks of the trade .... eeeeeeiiish.

    I wonder if the owner of this company is aware of what is going on ... maybe I should contact the owner and speak to him ... The wholesaler has management involved in this fiasco and trying to assist to fix it ... they were just stuck in the middle because I bought through them ... the lighting company doesnt sell directly to contractors.

    A tip ... you can buy a 1000V 4 amp bridge rectifier from places like mantech and electrocomp you a couple of rand ... there is a fuse on the AC (input) side of the rectifier.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  5. #15
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    It doesnt stop ... so I start going through the invoice ... just when I thought it couldnt get any worse ...

    220-5050-W/W-8W per meter = R10.00 per meter

    220-5050-W/W-8W per meter = R85.10 per meter

    ooops ... so is the strip R10 or R85 per meter?
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  6. #16
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    and so it goes on and on ...

    I decided to do some research into 230 V strip lights ... because we have another situation were the straight strip lights which follow the contour of the counter tops ... they dont bend around the corners unless bent out of shape ... and to make things even worse they have a cut length of 1 m which not only makes it difficult to cut the long piece at the end ... we cant fit a 2 way connector on the corners.

    Imagine that I find a Pioled lighting catalog and there a rope light with a 200 mm cut length.

    At least with me being forced into having to do all this research into strip/rope/RGB lighting ... I wont get caught like this again.

    By the end of this I will be able to add master lighting specialist to my CV
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  7. #17
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    I take the strip lights supplied to the wholesaler and show them what lights are supplied and show them the application ... point out a few other things and they agree ... something just doesnt add up.

    The issues have been escalated to management level.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  8. #18
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    Now that I have to do research on lighting because you cant trust a lighting specialist to offer advice on lighting design.

    I learnt that we have another problem ... the light strips supplied are 5050 SMD ... no aluminum profiled suggested or supplied

    Heat Dissipation 2835 SMD No Heat Sink Required 5050 SMD Heat Sink Required (Aluminium Profile Preferred)

    It just doesnt stop ... talk about a lighting project gone F%^& bad.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  9. #19
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    The 12 V lights are 2835 SMD's supplied with aluminum profiles ... eeesih.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

  10. #20
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    Like everything else ... I should have paid attention and not left it for a "specialist" to design and supply the product.

    The R10k+ lesson we have learnt ... make sure you understand every aspect of the design ... what will be supplied and how exactly will it be installed and most import ... all the components of the installation are available.
    Comments are based on opinion...not always facts....that's why people use an alias.

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