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Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

simonberens.com

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Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#331

Post by moribvndvs »

ggm wrote: post #132

This is the second article about hardware supply from China I've read and it reads very much the same, albiet in a different niche (the other one was about SBC construction) -Anything you don't specify will be done least cost, and there is no amount of "least" which cannot be chased in manufacture. The other one noted if you don't specify the density of plastic for bags, or paper for bags and packing, you get clingfi…

This is generally true, volume and low cost situations exacerbate it, but it’s not limited to Chinese manufacturing. You see it everywhere. As a completely unrelated example: home remodeling. The guy I contracted did wonderful work and charged a completely fair price, but there were many parts that I hand waved at “he knows best” “he’ll pick the most sensible approach that matches the quality of the rest of project”. Wrong. Cheapest, fastest thing, using materials on hand if possible every time. The economics are obvious and it doesn’t matter to him insofar as I acquiesce or don’t notice. Why should it be any different for low cost mass manufacturing?

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#332

Post by throwup238 »

michaelanckaert wrote: post #301
throwup238 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are these small shops/fronts that are constantly coming/going like Amazon sellers, or do they have reputations? Depends on the shop. The one I use for prototyping has been around for at least 15 years with a good reputation.

Do you mind sharing your contact / shop? Email in profile if you don't want to share publicly.

https://sunpe.com/

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#334

Post by camtarn »

SPICLK2 wrote: post #322
antonok wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

fwiw, LEDs with higher CRI will generally be less power efficient, so the premium category has a 3-way tradeoff between brightness, power, and color quality. It's common for high efficiency LED lightbulbs to be much worse at illuminating red objects.

True enough, although CREE's XT-E offers 140 lm/w at a CRI of 80 and a colour temp of 3000k. I assume this product has not met any regulatory requirements, because selling a ~600W hot plate suspended at eye level cannot be legal. These LEDs are just the ones found on imported LED strips. Adjustable colour temperature is a novelty that is not compatible with LED efficiency or lifetime.

CRI of 80 is not great. From my reading, you want CRI 90 if you want light that's pleasant to exist in.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#335

Post by sandworm101 »

A really bright lamp? I want one. I have to get up at 3am for work many mornings. This would be great for helping me to wake up.

Checking store ... 1300 ... um ... no.

I can buy a professional LED lighting rig, the stuff used to film movies, for cheaper.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#336

Post by SPICLK2 »

camtarn wrote: post #334
SPICLK2 wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True enough, although CREE's XT-E offers 140 lm/w at a CRI of 80 and a colour temp of 3000k. I assume this product has not met any regulatory requirements, because selling a ~600W hot plate suspended at eye level cannot be legal. These LEDs are just the ones found on imported LED strips. Adjustable colour temperature is a novelty that is not compatible with LED efficiency or lifetime.

CRI of 80 is not great. From my reading, you want CRI 90 if you want light that's pleasant to exist in.

Fair point. Given that this product has adjustable colour temperature, I really doubt all of the lumen, CRI and watt values. It sounds like the designer also got stung when the chosen LEDs didn't give the expected power output.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#337

Post by hvs »

detourdog wrote: post #306
jasonkester wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the thing that drives me nuts about buying stuff manufactured in China. They'll make this amazing Remote Control Car, with good suspension, a battery that lasts half an hour, plenty of power, and just all around amazing. But then it'll break after a day because somebody saved 1/20th of a penny by speccing this impossibly thin wire the thickness of a human hair to hook that powerful battery to the powerful moto…

I felt the same thing with GE home appliances. They would last forever if someone didn’t choose to make some little plastic thing so cheap.

* ANY consumer-grade home appliances.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#338

Post by fxtentacle »

rxt_ian wrote: post #289
XRG wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first guess was that they used an external brick for the power supply with a relatively low output voltage--that would eliminate a lot of the CE test load. However, a cursory glance at the product photos suggests the power supply sits within the base of the lamp. Maybe the product developer can shed some more light on this. ;-)

That would certainly make certification easier, but as I suspect you understand, wouldnt achieve it alone. Even if every component was CE qualified, the combination would have to pass its own testing, plus there are a lot more to the standards than just not electrocuting you immediately upon contact. I can't see any of the energy efficiency labelling that would be required in the UK or EU for example...

1. there's no official mention of any CE / FCC certification

2. I asked shortly after the author offered to answer questions, but there was no response

I'm starting to wonder if this project maybe just shipped without CE / FCC certification because they didn't know it would be required.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#339

Post by JoshTriplett »

mattmaroon wrote: post #313
jasonkester wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the thing that drives me nuts about buying stuff manufactured in China. They'll make this amazing Remote Control Car, with good suspension, a battery that lasts half an hour, plenty of power, and just all around amazing. But then it'll break after a day because somebody saved 1/20th of a penny by speccing this impossibly thin wire the thickness of a human hair to hook that powerful battery to the powerful moto…

It makes a lot of sense if you agreed on a price per unit before everything was locked in. If their profit is a flat price minus expenses, lower expenses is more profit. I ordered cups and did specify the thickness (based on a reference) of the plastic but didn’t specify how thick the boxes they shipped in should be. Guess what happened!

> It makes a lot of sense if you agreed on a price per unit before everything was locked in. If their profit is a flat price minus expenses, lower expenses is more profit.

That's the thing that makes no sense to me. Wouldn't it work better for everyone involved, including the manufacturer, if they come back with a "here's exactly how we interpreted your spec and what materials we're using, including cases where we picked something you left unconstrained", and a corresponding price for using those materials, with the understanding that if you want different materials you get a different price, before they do any manufacturing whatsoever?

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