Reliable outdoor lighting, smart control and alexa would be useful

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Leigh Winspear

Leigh Winspear

Leigh Winspear
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What does my latest customer need in terms of reliable, modern lighting solution at the rear of his property. He has apparently tried luceco and a few more screwfix products that have all failed within weeks and hes well peeved off having to pay for an electrician to reinstall everytime.
What is a trusted exterior lighting manufacturer whos products will last the supposed 3 year warranty at least?
Smart control would be advantageous too as he likes his alexa control.
I get the feeling he would not shy away from a premium product either so, what is out their and maybe I could become wiser too in terms of smart solutions.

Cheers n stuff

L
 
Install what ever lights he wants/likes/you have, and connect them via a sonoff unit Less than £10 Click Here

It really does work over wi-fi, and alexa or phone app can switch it on or off or set times etc, I must have about 6 of them around the house.
I added a few more as they use less current than a mechanical timer does.

sonoff.jpg
 
Brilliant thanks. I will defo trial the control aspect of a lighting install here at home or in the garden - those look great.
It is the actual reliability factor of the light fitting that this customer needs. I understand leds, even the atex, hazardous area ones we installed, (supposedly maintenance free and super expensive btw) on the petrochemicals plant I used to work at, can have design faults or production issues, but I seek a reliable trusted, domestic manufacturer as refitting a light, within weeks of install, multiple times, just aint right on a number of levels. A 3 year warranty is great as opposed to one year, but it is the trail of effort and organising, trips to the supplier, looking online for reviews and alternatives and the cost of multiple failures of a supposed quality product to the customer that needs to be addressed.
 
Failing within weeks is a bit unusual even for the cheap products, so makes you wonder if there's an underlying issue such as grid spikes?

What sort of lights are you looking to install? Are these downlighters in the soffits or something else?
 
Going to see the customer tomorrow and I am going to listen to his needs first. I know for a fact he will want smart, app alexa type control. Grid spikes, how do we know/tell? Monitoring or just spd type protection.
I suppose I could take a few quick voltage readings at various times during my visits.
 
Leigh Winspear said:
Going to see the customer tomorrow and I am going to listen to his needs first. I know for a fact he will want smart, app alexa type control. Grid spikes, how do we know/tell? Monitoring or just spd type protection.
I suppose I could take a few quick voltage readings at various times during my visits.
Click to expand...
Grid spikes are hard to spot without proper monitoring gear, but installing SPD could be suggested to protect the investment in new gear.
 
binky said:
Grid spikes are hard to spot without proper monitoring gear, but installing SPD could be suggested to protect the investment in new gear.
Click to expand...
Ok cheers Binky. but wouldnt a grid spike have affected more than just his newly installed light though?
On the petrochemicals plant I was on, We had transient voltages from time to time that could instantly wipe out half an MCC board containing multiple motor, transformer, lighting and control boards. Thats what the red faced engineers would tell us happened anyway.....;)
 
Leigh Winspear said:
Ok cheers Binky. but wouldnt a grid spike have affected more than just his newly installed light though?
On the petrochemicals plant I was on, We had transient voltages from time to time that could instantly wipe out half an MCC board containing multiple motor, transformer, lighting and control boards. Thats what the red faced engineers would tell us happened anyway.....;)
Click to expand...
Not necessarily, I've encountered odd things in properties over the years, you can get some houses were things play up for no apparent reason, yet the house next door is fine. Without having proper data monitoring gear it's hard to explain such differences. In your case it may just be cheap gear, but I would double check the circuits and pay attention to the neutral. I've encountered some very odd stuff, and it's always been the supply neutral. Had Western Power digging up the road several times.
 
binky said:
Not necessarily, I've encountered odd things in properties over the years, you can get some houses were things play up for no apparent reason, yet the house next door is fine. Without having proper data monitoring gear it's hard to explain such differences. In your case it may just be cheap gear, but I would double check the circuits and pay attention to the neutral. I've encountered some very odd stuff, and it's always been the supply neutral. Had Western Power digging up the road several times.
Click to expand...
I have tonight actually had a plumber friend of mine in for a job here at home and he mentioned the wiring of the customers house in question is suspect and actually, to be careful. But what do experienced plumbers know hey......;)
I may suggest an EICR be done at some point. I will assess tomorrow....
 
Leigh Winspear said:
I have tonight actually had a plumber friend of mine in for a job here at home and he mentioned the wiring of the customers house in question is suspect and actually, to be careful. But what do experienced plumbers know hey......;)
I may suggest an EICR be done at some point.
Click to expand...
Richard-the-ninth said:
Install what ever lights he wants/likes/you have, and connect them via a sonoff unit Less than £10 Click Here

It really does work over wi-fi, and alexa or phone app can switch it on or off or set times etc, I must have about 6 of them around the house.
I added a few more as they use less current than a mechanical timer does.

View attachment 14590
Click to expand...
Just so you know, on the back of your post There is a youtuber, non spark but enthusiast, who is very familiar with sonoff but he recommends the modern/reliable/improved version of this, is by Shelly............... probrably endorsed as is the way but up for consideration.
Especially as the product is not just an Amazon special - a topic for another post as we know...........
 
Just saying (since you mentioned it) Shelly is NOT sonoff
Each has pros/cons over the other, bear in mind that Shelly switching units are designed to go behind a switch, so become enclosed, so you will always need an enclosure, they cost half as much again, the version which has blue tooth costs almost twice as much. There is also one that can dim (no bluetooth) that one is over 3 times as much.

I don't mind which you get, I will stick to sonoff.
 

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