When Installations Go Badly - True Stories

We at Hi-Line Lighting have always prided ourselves on the quality of products we supply. For the most part, our customers come and go away very happy and the smoothest jobs are the ones carried out by experienced professionals. We have always stated that we are designers and manufacturers first and foremost and while we can supply the right products based on what the user requires - should they call or email for assistance - we are generally hands-off when it comes to installations. This is why we always stress the importance of having your own qualified installer with LED lighting experience to carry out any task, no matter how big or small, just in the event of something going wrong.

Occasionally, we receive messages from electricians and/or engineers who often profess that they know exactly what they are doing and fail to understand why a product fails during or after an install. The reality is that failure rates for our drivers/strips/controllers are extremely rare and if something literally burns out or trips it's usually because of incorrect calculations, whether it be for amperage or core gauge, or a failure to read our product descriptions carefully before checking out with an order. 

We are always transparent with our advice and we are happy to take a look at any unit which is suspected as faulty, promising to replace anything if we determine it to be a true manufacturing error, but we are not in the habit of replacing items when a user demands it of us, simply because we cannot trust similar failures won't repeat themselves. For this we have troubleshooting in place so that we can move on to additional steps once we've shared some back and forth emails with the customer, which then places us in a more comfortable position to decide if sending a replacement will remedy the situation.

For example, a recent experience of ours involved a customer who approached us to ask why their 12-24v DC dimmer switch almost caught fire. From the photos provided, it became immediately apparent that it was burnt out due to user error and when asked about what products were used, we learned it was being fed to several low current (constant current) downlights, despite the fact that we list our dimmer switch as being compatible only with Constant Voltage products and requiring non-dimmable power supplies to function. Had we sent a replacement, like we were asked, it would have guaranteed total failure again. 

We receive similar cases to this on an almost monthly basis. Thankfully, most of our direct customers understand what they are purchasing and these tend to be electricians who order through the site and don't need to email us for advice.  If you are an electrician or engineer and are perhaps only just learning about LED lighting, we cannot stress enough just how important it is to do the homework and understand the ins and outs of the industry. LED lighting is becoming commonplace these days and if you are not prepared to carry out extensive research then you are placing homes at serious risk. The above case could have been much worse, so please take care when putting together your kit and if in doubt, email us first and ALWAYS test before installing.