Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

simonberens.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 427 posts

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

#381

Post by Rychard »

leoedin wrote: post #257
Rychard wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lights are indeed outdoor, and cover most of my backyard. It's a neighborhood within a major metropolitan area, but the light doesn't bleed beyond my property lines. As for the "why", the answer is security. If someone attempts to hide in my yard, they'll find it quite difficult to remain unseen. Most of my neighbors have floodlights of their own (though mine are easily the brightest), and I've gotten no complain…

My neighbour has a motion activated flood light. It's annoying. Not annoying enough to risk a feud by telling them though. It also completely ruins any natural habitat for nocturnal animals. The whole concept of permanently lighting your garden is crazy! Where do you live that you're so worried about people hiding in your yard? Could you not solve that with cameras and an infra-red floodlight?

I live in a not-so-great area of town. There were two murders in the last 6 months. One in my neighborhood, and the other in an adjacent public park.

The always-on lighting is a deterrent to anyone trying to hide from police.

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

#382

Post by rxt_ian »

diebillionaires wrote: post #350

580 watts is more than my entire server rack. By a good amount too. I run a UPS, firewall appliance, two switches, two APs (over POe), and a NAS with a 36 HHD disk shelf. All of that clocks in at 380 watts steady. Just some food for thought.

Yup this is a very inefficient way of reaching a target illuminance.

Multiple sources spread over an area would be more efficient, as each LED could run at lower current and temperature, which increases their efficacy.

The light would also not have to bounce off ceilings/walls multiple times, while some are nice for diffusion, every reflection is lossy.

I suspect you’d also get better reliability.

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

#383

Post by Y-bar »

genezeta wrote: post #98
michaelt wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I right in thinking you're dissipating that 580W using passive cooling only? Impressive if so - every time I've designed something approaching that power level I've ended up needing forced air cooling.

> Q: Does it get hot/how is it cooled? > A: It's cooled through our large heatsink and ultra quiet Noctua fan. The fan only turns on above 75% brightness. At max power, the heatsink is cool enough to put your hands on it for a couple of seconds.

CENELEC Guide 29, referenced in EU harmonized standards sets burn thresholds:

For brief contact (e.g., 1-3 seconds on adult-accessible parts), temperatures should stay below ~48-55°C depending on material; longer reflexive contact requires even lower limits (e.g., 43°C for extended exposure). A surface hot enough that hands can only tolerate it for "a couple of seconds" implies it's above this (likely 60°C+), risking second-degree burns.

I practice this means this product would not be allowed to be sold in EU. This would have been thoroughly tested to get the CE mark.

> All LED lights sold in Europe must carry the CE mark

https://wwbridge-cert.com/blog/posts/is-ce-marking-for-led-l...

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

#384

Post by Taek »

I'm late to this thread but I've manufactured about a dozen SKUs and I think you could have saved an enormous amount of grief with one simple step:

If you are American, and you are manufacturing 500 units, do it in America. Yes, it's more expensive per-unit, but at 500 units you don't need a tiny per-unit cost.

American manufacturing is more flexible, higher agency, and people tend to adapt to underspecified instructions better. The communication loops are stronger.

That said, America has enormous tradeoffs. If you need 10,000 of a part in 4 hours because something weird happened, China can make it happen. America... might take months. But if your batch size is 500, it's better for an American living in America to cut their teeth on American manufacturing and go to China when you need 10,000+ units per run.

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

#385

Post by mmh0000 »

fanatic2pope wrote: post #378
mmh0000 wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with lights like that is the CRI[1]. Getting just lumens is cheap. Getting a full spectrum of light is where costs increase. This is the reason I chose to go with the specific Cree bulbs (linked in original post) that get a 90+ CRI rating [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index

The Costco lights list a CRI of 90 in the user manual. https://enbrightenme.com/cdn/shop/files/85837_QSG_v4.pdf?v=3...

Oh my... Thank you for finding a thing I need to spend money on now. =D

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

#386

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

moribvndvs wrote: post #331
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”.…

"It's not cheap, it's Builder Grade."

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

#387

Post by adolph »

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…

> I've read some stuff which says the cost of 5 SBC boards with pre-applied SMD is now so low, you might as well order 5 so you get at least 1 which works. That means they will wind up working out your tolerance for failure, and produce goods to meet that: if 1 in 5 is viable, thats what they'll target.

That is very rational. Each 9 in uptime or quality represents expense. The expense of moving to the next level up can't always be "shift left", but instead done at the point in the process where money can be applied.

Lets say you have a process that goes right at a minimum of 20% of the time for cost of 100. The manufacturer can add QA that makes the cost 120. Is it better to trust the manufacturer at the cost of +20? Or is it better to do your own QA for 20 and gain any correct pieces above the 20%?

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

#389

Post by lima »

Taek wrote: post #384

I'm late to this thread but I've manufactured about a dozen SKUs and I think you could have saved an enormous amount of grief with one simple step: If you are American, and you are manufacturing 500 units, do it in America. Yes, it's more expensive per-unit, but at 500 units you don't need a tiny per-unit cost. American manufacturing is more flexible, higher agency, and people tend to adapt to underspecified instruct…

500 was just their first batch.

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

#390

Post by xandrius »

nicoburns wrote: post #17

Oh boy, I want one of these. This would absolutely perfect for winter depression (I suspect much better than the "SAD lamps" marketed for this purpose which are bright not even close to this bright). But £889 is a lot of money for a lamp!

Recipe for winter depression (works almost anywhere except for Antarctica):

- Go for a daily walk outdoors after lunch

- Get some vitamin D supplements

Post reply on HN