No pride, no quality? "Name" companies fail To meet their promises

 

I LOOOKED UP AT THE CEILING LIGHTS and noticed that yet another Obama bulb had burned out, well short of its advertised 10 thousand hour functional life.

There are only a handful of companies putting their label on the Curly Florescent Lights (CFLs) sold in the U.S., not all of which are U.S. companies. (Phillips, for example, is a Dutch company with headquarters in Amsterdam.)

No matter what company’s label is on the box, ALL the CFLs are made in China. I have checked a number of stores and the country of manufacture always is China.

NO QA/QC IN CHINA. Americans should know by now that Chinese products, especially (a) low end products or (b) products that have no competition from U.S. and Canadian companies - such as CFLs - are notoriously shoddy; there is little, if any quality assurance or quality control in Chinese factories.

Back in the day, in the early 50s, Japanese products had a well-deserved reputation as shoddy. Cheap, but shoddy.

Some companies that imported Japanese products that cost more than a few dollars - $100 35mm cameras, for instance - performed their own QA and QC on the products once they arrived on the U.S.' shores.

Honeywell was one such company. If a camera had HONEYWELL stamped on the pentaprism, Honeywell stood behind the camera, knowing it passed its own U.S. based QA/QC inspection. (I owned a Honeywell Pentax H3v that survived my work as a reporter, then was used by a friend who eventually gave the camera to his son-in-law.)

Today, most Americans have confidence in Japanese-made products. They may not be innovative - the Japanese are great at copying other's ideas and then improving upon them - but they, generally, ARE reliable products - Nissan nee Datsun, Honda, Mitsubishi (cars and planes), and Toyota are Japan's flag bearers in the transportation industry. But, while once "cheap" in all meanings of the word, Japanese products now have both QA/QC and higher price tags.

The CFLs imported into the U.S. are SUPPOSED to be checked for compliance to Energy Star compliance.

According to the Saving Electricity web site (http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cfl.html), under the subheding "CFL longevity," we read that

It's no secret: the cheaper CFL's often burn out quickly. Sometimes even a batch of name-brand bulbs can be bad. I strongly recommend you buy only CFLs with the Energy Star seal or that come with a warranty. Energy Star bulbs have to meet strict specs for lifespan, and they have to maintain 80% of the initial light output at 40% of their rated lifetime.

It's a myth that frequent cycling (turning lights and on off) greatly reduces CFL life. When CFLs fail, it's generally because they were cheap and poorly made, not because they were turned on and off too much. In Consumer Reports' rigorous testing, after 3000 hours with frequent on-off cycling, most of their CFL's are still going strong, and the Energy Star bulbs are lasting longer than the non-ES bulbs. And to get the Energy Star label, 5 of 6 test bulbs have to stay alive after being cycled for half the number of stated life-hours. For example, a bulb with a claimed life of 6000 hours is turned on for 5 minutes and off for 5 minutes, a total of 3000 times.

Even the Energy Star requirement of 80% of the initial light output at 40% of their rated lifetime is not encouraging.

The failure rate, at least in the bulbs in my use, seems to be excessive.

I HAVE returned a bulb to a retailer and the retailer DID provide a replacement, but any saving I might have enjoyed by using the Obama bulb was cancelled out by the cost of returning the bulb.

We no longer have a choice of light bulbs - we can buy ones made in China or we can buy ones made in China.

I suppose the old saw "You get what you pay for" holds true for the Chinese no-quality products; still, it would be nice of the companies putting their labels on the product cared enough about THEIR corporate image to take some responsibility for the products that bear their logo.

Honeywell had it right - back in the day.

Opuscula It's a "Sin"

 

According to Merriam-Webster Online
Origin of SINO
French, from Late Latin Sinae, plural, Chinese, from Greek Sinai, probably of Indo-Aryan origin; akin to Sanskrit Cīnā, plural, Chinese

I frequently complain about Chinese-made products. Justifiably. China has sent us shoddy

• Dry wall
• Food
• Tires
• Toys

and other products too numerous to mention.

In return, China has stolen America's secrets and undercut American manufacturers to the point where "Made in China" is absolutely ubiquitous.

Maybe Mr. (Richard M.) Nixon made a mistake in opening up China to American trade.

Our trade deficit with China continues to grow, with June 2014 report from the U.S. government The U.S. trade deficit in goods with China was $30.1 billion in June, the highest monthly deficit so far this year, and $3.4 billion higher than a year ago (see Table 1). The cumulative bilateral deficit through the first six months reached $155.3 billion, an increase of $7 billion over the same point last year. The bilateral trade deficit is on track for a new annual record. See graphic at end of file. Also see 2013 : U.S. trade in goods with China for the 2013 trade year showing a negative Balance of Trade with China of 318,711.3 million.

It seems impossible to escape Chinese products; Americans seem to have caved, given up, surrendered, lowered the flag.

This rant is prompted by the replacement for a failed in-wall timer.

The original timer was, of course, made in China from a Canadian design. The original failed when there apparently was a power surge during a storm. Only the in-wall timer and a plug-in Intermatic Time-All Model TN111 timer that, interestingly (suspiciously??) lacks place of manufacture (want to bet the product came from a Chinese production line) failed?

In any event, I replaced the plug-in unit with a spare so the lamp plugged into the timer comes on and goes off pretty much as expected.

I hied off to the local Home Depot and bought a new in-wall timer that I thought would work to turn two Curly Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) mounted on the garage on and off.

Turns out, the timer is fine for incandescent bulbs - those bulbs banished from store shelves by the incumbent at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC - but NOT for CFLs.

A electrician neighbor installed the first in-wall timer, an aube model he ordered from New York.

When I removed the failed unit I was happy to see the wires were clearly marked: Load, Line, and Neutral. Nice touch. The replacement unit lacked any markings, but the included paper install manual showed the equivalent of Load, Line, and - not "Neutral" - Ground.

I am NOT an electrician (and I don't play one on tv) but I connected the wires as I thought they should be connected. Nothing.

Called on my neighbor. He took one look at the new device and said: "This won't work with the CFLs." The clue: No "Neutral" wire. Still, he tried and succeeded in getting the CFLs flanking my garage door to illuminate. But it didn't last and the timer didn't work (although it did display information).

Why didn't I realize the time was not for use with CFLs?

I carefully read the front and back of the packaging. No mention of "Not for use with CFLs." The first documented reference to "Not for CFLs" came on the THIRD page of the install instructions.

OK. To be fair, there WAS a clue on the front of the package. Not a "standard format" clue such as something inside a circle with a line drawn through it. Rather it had a pictograph of an incandescent bulb. A light bulb tells me it works to control light bulbs NOT that it only works with incandescent bulbs. 'Course I'm a geezer; what do I know.

My electrician neighbor looked at the packaging and "didn't get it." A quick scan of the initial two pages of the install instructions likewise had no mention of CFLs. The first Not for CFL use statement came on Page 3.

I have asked my electrician neighbor to order a replacement timer from his source. It will be made in "sin" (China) but there is no option.

The PRICE of the in-wall timer seems high enough that it could be produced at a profit in the Several States. Certainly the workmanship would be at least as good as we get from China . . . and the packaging might clearly indicate with what type lamps the switch controls.