Reading instructions when bored!

[ericmark]

Fitted an outside lamp, then bored so started to read the instructions. Learnt nothing I did not know, but it was the lengths they go to trying to make them idiot proof, and in that attempt make them worse.

"latest IEE Wiring Regulations BS 7671" how long has it been IET?
"this product is also subject to Part P" does not this depend on where you live? and it would likely also be subject to Part L as well!
"ln case of doubt seek advice from a qualified electrician." and you really think if you ring a qualified electrician he will guide you through the work?
"TURN OFF POWER TO THE LIGHTING CIRCUIT AT THE CONSUMER UNIT BEFORE INSTALLATION." but it's simply plugged in!
"The halogen floodlight must be mounted on a stable outer wall made of a non-flammable material and must not be used indoors." tell the builders that!
"The halogen floodlight must not be used with a dimmer." good advice at last.
"CAUTION! Use only HO5RN-F,3G,1.0mm² cable or better." Now what DIY guy will understand that, ask of heat resistant, or round cable yes but that load of letters will only mean anything to electricians. Oh I suppose this is where you ask the electrician?
"Tools required: Hammer drill, Phillips screwdriver, screws and rawlplugs appropriate to the mounting location." and you will tighten up the terminals with what? You may get away without the hammer drill or rawlplugs, but you will need a terminal screwdriver and likely something to strip the cable with.
"BROWN is for LIVE" how long has it been called line for?

A lot of the instructions were good, warning about not touching the tube, the amount of heat it generates etc. But in their attempt not to miss anything it means anything missed becomes more important and there are just too many options to try and include it all.
"Turn off power" is all that was required, "TURN OFF POWER TO THE LIGHTING CIRCUIT AT THE CONSUMER UNIT BEFORE INSTALLATION." has assumed you connecting to lighting circuit which may not be the case.

8. Not suitable for use in extreme conditions. While the floodlight offers basic protection against mechanical aggression and splashed water it should not be exposed to extreme weather conditions such as hail showers. (Yes and your really going to run outside and bring it in when the weather turns bad?)

How can any outside lamp be not exposed to extreme weather conditions such as hail showers? To say not suitable for an exposed location like on top of a pole on the Yorkshire moors OK. But it says not suitable for indoors, not suitable for hail showers, and subject to Part P so clearly for the UK.

So the question is all instructions too comprehensive and should manufacturers provide more basic instructions and expect the person using the equipment has some prior knowledge?

 

[securespark]

What IP rating was it? The usual 44?

 

[ericmark]

Yes IP 44 Class I So no hole larger then >1 mm and protected against water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect and an earth was required.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

"ln case of doubt seek advice from a qualified electrician." and you really think if you ring a qualified electrician he will guide you through the work?

Why not? As long as you pay him a fee for his time.

"The halogen floodlight must be mounted on a stable outer wall made of a non-flammable material and must not be used indoors."

They make special ones for stables? How do they differ from ones you'd fix to a house or garage wall? Yes, I know...

And why can't it be used inside, say, a large stone-built church?

"CAUTION! Use only HO5RN-F,3G,1.0mm² cable or better." Now what DIY guy will understand that

One who is competent to install it.

ask of heat resistant

A term which is not precise enough. Specifying the insulation and sheathing required is much better.

or round cable yes but that load of letters will only mean anything to electricians.

And to anybody competent to install the light.

Oh I suppose this is where you ask the electrician?

Or Mr. Google.

"Tools required: Hammer drill, Phillips screwdriver, screws and rawlplugs appropriate to the mounting location."

Would you please tell me what light this is, so that I don't buy one? It would be no use to me as I have only got screws with Pozidriv® heads, and Fischer wall plugs.

and you will tighten up the terminals with what?

As you've fitted it I assume that the terminal screws don't have Phillips heads?

You may get away without the hammer drill or rawlplugs,

Although maybe steer clear of the second of those....

8. Not suitable for use in extreme conditions. While the floodlight offers basic protection against mechanical aggression and splashed water it should not be exposed to extreme weather conditions such as hail showers. (Yes and your really going to run outside and bring it in when the weather turns bad?)

Actually, this is very bad. IMO an external light sold in this country which cannot withstand hail is not of merchantable quality.

So the question is all instructions too comprehensive and should manufacturers provide more basic instructions and expect the person using the equipment has some prior knowledge?

They are an example of "unknown unknowns". Whoever wrote them only wrote down the things he happened to think of, missed out things which he didn't realise he hadn't thought of, and didn't understand what he did write. He was not competent to write them, and should not have done it. Was he Chinese, by any chance?

 

[ericmark]

The lamp was sold on the opening of a new Aldi, it seems with new stores they get all the returns from special offers with other stores and sell them off at a much reduced price we ended up with a pile of stuff from hedge cutter, outside lamp, cassette converter, camera, DVD maker and film and photo scanner the last one I bought.

So the lamp was less than £5 the cassette converter and DVD maker were really a waste but only because we already had them. My wife used them as Christmas presents for me.

I was really peeved about the light as it cost me more for the cable than the lamp cost and it lasted 3 days before the bulb failed although likely my fault only used one screw as I expected to take it down again. However it did make emptying the bins easier so I ordered a LED replacement tube and with that in it does a reasonable job.

However I had not read the instructions, I was always taught if all else fails read the instructions! But I tend to digitise instructions and store on hard drive so I can find them so had a quick read to see if anything was worth keeping. Lidi have all instructions on the internet anyway in PDF but it seems Aldi does not or it was too old. Maybe that is why it said IEE instead of IET?

But it seems to me no one proof reads the instructions. Well may be for spelling errors but not technical content. However I remember my children at school being told to write instructions for a robot to make tea. Trying not to miss anything out. It is very hard to write a program missing out nothing, latter I wrote PLC programs and it was quite normal to add something latter as I had not considered something like the machine being started before air pressure had built up.

Telling a human is so much easier put bag in cup pour on boiling water remove bag and add sugar and milk to taste. No need to say ensure cup in under kettle spout or even say use a kettle to boil water. When one gets a 10 page booklet to explain how to use an LED torch it is getting a bit silly.

Adjusting range, sensor, illumination period and daylight sensitivity is required that is not always apparent, as is don't touch bulb with greasy fingers but giving a list of tools required is rather pointless specially since they missed some, I required snips and terminal screwdriver, it also required screws they were not included and since the sensor stopped one accessing screw holes with screw driver it needed the bracket removing to install and the nuts were not captive so ended up robbing kids Meccano to get replacements, French stuff my old Liverpool stuff used British treads and square nuts.

Although looking at Aldi instructions to be fair most instruction sets are rather lacking. Hence only reading when all else fails. And there was nothing to say do not use asbestos wall plugs, there was no little note on the stuff I bought it was just in a packet with a piece of steel bar bent 90° with a point on one end to make a start for the screw, One would spit on it and role with fingers then push it into the whole. Worked great. Not seen for sale for long time but still got some in stock, however not disturbed it for ages.

 

[SimonH2]

Fitted an outside lamp, then bored so started to read the instructions.

Yes I know that - perhaps read the instructions afterwards just to see if there's anything actually important in them

Learnt nothing I did not know, but it was the lengths they go to trying to make them idiot proof, and in that attempt make them worse.

Make them idiot proof, or make them watertight ? A lot of these seem to be "sorry you've no grounds for complaint, our instructions say yuou should/shoudn't have done ..." That's something I notice a lot of - not suitable for X, Y, and Z where they are clearly done as "get out" clauses.

"CAUTION! Use only HO5RN-F,3G,1.0mm² cable or better." Now what DIY guy will understand that, ask of heat resistant, or round cable yes but that load of letters will only mean anything to electricians.

I think this is one of those. They've specified a cable they believe is suitable - so if you use anything else then not their problem. If they say things like "heat resistant" then that's more subjective (like "non-combustible" CUs ).

"BROWN is for LIVE" how long has it been called line for?

To your average non-electrician it's still called live.

8. Not suitable for use in extreme conditions. While the floodlight offers basic protection against mechanical aggression and splashed water it should not be exposed to extreme weather conditions such as hail showers.

I'm with BAS - if it says that then it's not fit for purpose.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The lamp was sold on the opening of a new Aldi, it seems with new stores they get all the returns from special offers with other stores and sell them off at a much reduced price we ended up with a pile of stuff from hedge cutter, outside lamp, cassette converter, camera, DVD maker and film and photo scanner the last one I bought.

Ah - the aisle of mad decisions...

 

[mattylad]

Eric, you should be ashamed of yourself - most unprofessional.
I'm sure there is a government list you should be placed on for doing that.

Reading instructions indeed.....

 

[ericmark]

It is when you read instructions that you realise why we get so many questions.

 

[JohnW2]

It is when you read instructions that you realise why we get so many questions.

Indeed. I have to confess that I'm one of those (perhaps 'naughty'!) people who only read instructions as a last resort!

Kind Regards, John

 

[kai]

The worst instructions are Chinglish ones, where far eastern translations come out as gibberish when translated into English!

 

[ericmark]

8. Not suitable for use in extreme conditions. While the floodlight offers basic protection against mechanical aggression and splashed water it should not be exposed to extreme weather conditions such as hail showers. (Yes and your really going to run outside and bring it in when the weather turns bad?)

Actually, this is very bad. IMO an external light sold in this country which cannot withstand hail is not of merchantable quality.

I am sure some one will say I told you so however after around one month of use it was found the light was stuck on. Closer inspection showed that there was water ⅓ of the way up the sensors window, power was removed, the sensors two cross head screws were removed the position of the electronics noted, water tipped out and reassembled. Then a very small hole was drilled at the lowest point to allow the unit to breath, without sucking in water. This problem was to be expected when using a very hot quartz halogen tube, but I had not expected it with a LED tube replacement, as the unit does not get that hot. I hope, now that there is a very small hole, the expanding and contracting of the air inside the unit, will no longer suck in moisture.

 

[stillp]

Is there an echo in here?

 

[securespark]

I thought he was going to say he had emptied it once and provided a drain hole only to find it filling up again!!

 

[ericmark]

Still giving it time to dry our before trying to power up again. If the PIR has failed not sure if really worth replacing? At 5W and not sure what the PIR takes it would need to be on for a very long time to equal the cost of a PIR. Thought about simple plug in timer but again how much power does the timer use? If on all the time it should not suck in water as it switches off and cools. Sorry had not noticed duplicate now removed.