Has anyone else noticed the decline in the quality of Lithonia fluoroescent lights? I had to put in 10 last night at my night job and they were junk. The KO's in the ends would not punch out without terribly mangling the plates. I would have been ashamed to have my trademark on them. They were made in Mexico, no quality.

Yes, the "quality" of a lot of things is going down the bowl.

We try to stay away from "offshore" items, as much as possible, but it's getting harder.

The amount of frustration, and wasted labor time does not balance with the "lower" pricing.

John

Unfortunately it seems like more and more you don't have an option because everything is made overseas and the warranty is over as soon as you open the box.

The distributor (can't really call them manufacturers anymore) don't have any spare parts to send to you either - you have to return the entire device and get a new one, if you're lucky.

I had that happen with a store-branded window fan I bought from K-Mart years ago. One of the two fan motors failed. I was able to find out who the original manufacturer was and called them to see if I can get a new motor.

The response was "no, we don't have any fan motors or parts to send out. You have to send the entire fan in." Luckily the thing was still under warranty (I had bought it two years before and lost the sales slip) the lady said and to just wrap it up and mail it in.

At least I got a whole new fan...but it still seemed like such a waste of plastic and metal resources. A $5 motor would have gotten the entire thing running again. I'm sure the one I sent in ended up in the dump.

By the way, just because something is made in the U.S. of A. doesn't mean it's good quality. Remember when all the wall sockets that used to be sold here were made here?

Those things used to crack and break even if you looked at them the wrong way.

The sockets coming in from Mexico seem to be made better -- even the housings on the cheap 50-cent Home Depot ones don't crack like they used to...

They all seem about the same to me. I've seen Made in the USA stuff that was worse than some Made in Mexico stuff. I had a Dodge truck that was made in Mexico and never had to have anything other than oil and tires.

We've started using Lithonia recessed cans in some houses because they're cheap. They actually install easier than most I just wish they made a quality looking trim.

Lithonia, like many manufacturers, will make several differant levels of quality. A customer of mine bought some Lithonia surface mounted wrap arounds at one of the "Big Box" stores because they were so much cheaper than what I would have sold him. I got to replace all the ballasts within one year.

I use mostly Lithonia fixtures & really haven't had much trouble with them. Of course, I just might be lucky.

Tom

Just like to voice my opinion on the Lithonia lights. I installed two outside wallpacks quiet a while back with the built in photo cells. The lights stay on continously, even though they are in the open and should be going off. When I wired the lights, there was a Lithonia already on the building that was staying on all the time, but didn't know that the ones I wire was going to do the same thing. By the way the ones I wired are separate from the ones that were already there. When I wired them they were working alright, but I pass by the place of business quiet often, and they're burning every time I go by. The owners have never called me back, and don't seem to mind,because I had asked them to check the existing one, and they weren't interested. Has anyone else had problems with the Lithonia wall packs with the built in photo cells?

No, these light were from an electrical supply house. I might have understood it had they been a homeowner grade. We have used some Williams lights. They were built fairly well and are made about 200 mi south of here in Carthage,MO. Yes, it si getting hard to find electrical equipment made in the US.

I have had similar problems with fluorescent strips and 'sensor' lights from different companies as well as Lithonia.
I think the 'die' that stamps the KO gets dull and is not changed or sharpened often enough, or the machine pressure is to low or it running too fast.
I can usually tell if a KO is going to cause me grief or not. If it does look so. I try and back it with a bit of wood and punch the furthest edge from the 'hinge' with a good screwdriver. This can be difficult at times, because they are stamped from the outside, and to follow the same direction you need the wood on the inside of the fixture. Sometimes it takes two people and a small hunk of wood.

If the 'sensor' lights are hooked up to a light switch there is a sequence to switch them to 'daytime mode' to calibrate the distance and 'turn on' time. Usually it is a quick on and off. Most come with instructions on a sticker that goes on the light. Once the 'secret code' is figured out, you can put them back to 'dark only' operation.

Oh ya,
Had the misfortune of dealing with some 4' strips from Lithonia, which had reluctant to K.O. type K.O.s

After bashing the heck out of two ends, resorted to Unibit drilling (talk about a time consumer!).

The Machine which was pressing out those K.O.s must have been hung over that day (or week / month... etc. )

Lithonia is not immune from reluctant K.O.s and resulting tweeked fixtures (or bleeding fingers, thrown fixtures, numerous curse words directed towards fixture and maker, etc...).
Had a whole bunch of Zumtobel Fluorescent Downlights which suffered from the same affliction - reluctant to K.O...K.O.s!
These even had the "Pry-Out" slice in the K.O.s, for easier removal.

Man, those things sucked!

Scott35