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Comment by sberens | Hacker News Reader

Author here, happy to answer any questions about the journey!

Do you have any recommendations for FCC/CE testing providers?

I'm really curious how they handled certification of a design that was changing apaprently up to the minute it was delivered...

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.

In the absence of any evidence to the contrary it certainly seems likely.

Pretty concerning for such a high power device.

FWIW I've had good luck with Intertek https://www.intertek.com/ for most testing and certification processes across a variety of products.

I definitely feel your pain. I own a company that makes custom process controls for industrial and commercial clients, and while we work from a large library of hardware and software designs from past jobs, every job has a lot of the same "start from the beginning" feel as what you went through. Especially, the one thing you didn't check is always the thing that is somehow screwed up, and the sleepless nights wondering halfway into the project if you're in deep trouble.

Got a discount code for the HN family? ;-)

Congrats on shipping. I'm living in the EU working California hours (4pm-1am) and will definitely be buying one.

Just made one - use HN100: https://getbrighter.com/discount/HN100 :)

Is this coupon still valid? I don't see any price difference...

It works but only when you put it in the basket ;)

What was your marketing strategy once you had the $10 deposit landing page setup?

Hello, nice write up. I'm curious about your deal with the factory and downstream suppliers.. did all these iterations and fixes cost more every time? Or it was a fixed contract? How does that all work

So just to confirm, the actual cause for the controls not working is still unknown to the reader but the reason the measurements didn't make sense was swapped labels?

The controls weren't working because we had wired them up according to the labels which were wrong (which is also why the measurements didn't make sense to us).

Ah. A lesson from somebody who's built hardware that I'm sure you've now learned: make sure connectors can't plug into eachother unless they're supposed to. Even if they're different connectors, different keying, whatever, sometimes they can still be forced together.

I built a lot of Ikea last month. And I was just marveling how cleverly designed everything was so that it was quite difficult to put two wrong pieces together. Mostly, the only warnings in the manuals were to rotate a piece correctly.

This is good advice for robust design, but I swear, 9 times out of 10, you will be the one who keys it the wrong way during CAD layout.

I've seen datacenter techs successfully force an SFP optic in an RJ45 port. So yeah, the shape needs to be very different.

Being 6'5" myself, I am worried I'd be blinded by the lamp when I stand up: to avoid adding a base under (an already bulky) base, is there a way to separate the lamp itself and have it wall/ceiling mounted (still pointing upwards)?

Because the lamp is 6'3" it's only below eye level for people who are 6'7-8.

We had another 6'5" customer who was worried about the height but they said it was totally fine even with shoes on.

Thanks for confirmation, but anatomies of people, especially at the p5/p95 extremes, can be widely different: maybe I've got a very small head with a short forehead :)

So in a sense, I'd still like an option to mount it differently and more out of the way before splurging €1.2k + ~30% customs/VAT on something like this.

This even prompted me to check out comparable video fill lights on Aliexpress, and they also run around $1k (some at $500 with possibly a few gotchas about actual light output) for comparable luminosity/wattage, so your price is actually not too shabby.

Which NRTL did you end up using for certifications? Can you say more about that process?

Just curious about the frequency of the diodes and do they pulse simultaneously? Quite often I can perceive flicker in moving objects indoors.

We use constant current reduction dimming so there's zero flicker!

That’s great to hear and a big plus, but I’m actually curious about the undimmed full brightness refresh rate of the LEDs.

If it’s constant current the “refresh rate” is infinite, or zero depending how you look at it.

Didn’t realize how they actually function, looks like I need some new lights.

Isn’t that less efficient in power and can have different color?

It has to be an SMPSU in constant current mode, not a linear power supply. I'm sure it does still affect the colour, though.

Have you measured the ripple on the SMPSU output when dimming?

How did you figure out how to price your product?

Did you find your CM through your own network? Tradeshows? Cold calling?

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