Rubbish products/materials

[Big n Daft]

Right ho chaps and chapesses,
Its time rat out the rubbish. What have you used recently that has been complete and utter poo.
Lets start with anything that has Proteus on the label, and there is some completely useless swa cable out there as well. You know the stuff, its like a coiled spring sitting on the drum waiting to snare you at first pull.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

i remember at the elex show recently there was a rep standing in front of the protius stand.....felt very sorry for that guy as all i remember was him standing there....all on his own, no customer interest....very quiet, very lonely....

 

[rfears]

One word ........Bladerunner.

£20 down the toilet. Piece of plastic crap.

Would that be this piece of kit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Xz25lmeC0

 

[Strima]

No, this thing:

 

[GLENNSPARK]

its a case of the older methods are the best in most cases....as they`v been honed over time....in this case...junior hacksaw....electricians knife etc for your armoured`s.......

 

[Guitarist]

its a case of the older methods are the best in most cases....as they`v been honed over time....in this case...junior hacksaw....electricians knife etc for your armoured`s.......

Indeed. Had my locking stanley knife for years and love it

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Indeed. Had my locking stanley knife for years and love it

there will always be floods of crap that claim to do the job easier/quicker/better....all that lot.....i think a "try before you buy" mentality should be employed with most of it...as theres a lot of good stuff comes onto the market n all......i think that brittle/frail enclosures needs to stop though....

 

[Geordie Spark]

Newcastle Brown Ale ........ since they stopped brewing it in Newcastle & demolished the brewery.

 

[Christhesparky]

Marshall tuflex plastic conduit, wholesaler delivered a full bundle at 9am this morning, had the rep out at 10am to collect it, wouldnt bend without creasing,

 

[Top Cat]

No, this thing:

View attachment 12117

I bought one of them, what a heap of smelly stuff!

 

[KFH]

I bought one of them, what a heap of smelly stuff!

I have one of them. I found them very useful on smaller sizes SWA when access is restricted or I am balancing on top of a ladder. Mine as even survived a few trips to the floor from top of said ladder. Ratchet stops it from doing any serious work though. Good idea not the best execution.

 

[DNG]

The comment I was replying to did not install into the thread I was reading.

 

[chronyx]

Proteus were the only company I could find who did a 6 way (2 x L1, L2, L3) three-phase board. (For use in a service cabinet at an industrial estate)

It seemed well made and sturdy, the only bizzare thing was that to add or remove breakers you had to remove the bus-bar which means unscrewing every breaker! They are DIN rail mounted so stay in place, but it's a strange idea.

Other than that I can't fault it, sorry!

 

[maudy]

anything made by Ikea - particularly light fittings

 

[ASL]

good thread, just about to buy a Proteck TP&N board, the wholesaler reckons British manufactured, think not now cheers

 

[tony2010]

Tea without sugar..... Or biscuits!

 

[Steve_P]

CEF price juggling between counter and invoice. Oh, sorry, this is cr*p products. CEF own brand then LMAO! Anything with Homebase, Ikea, B&Q or Next on it. Plastic anything that's so fragile it splits when you touch it.

 

[KFH]

Just had one of those days so my list is:

Products that don't have captive screws;
The cross head screws in Chinese imports that do not fit any known screwdriver so you have striped the head getting them out before trying to refit them;
The screws made of grey cheese that strip the head or shear off as soon as you look at them, usually supplied with Chinese imports;
Enclosures without bus bar, neutral lead, lables and any instructions saying what BS standard they are manufactured to but they do have a neutral and earth bar!;
Box sinkers with little Allen bolts that fall out all the time;
Choc box type connectors with a nice ledge inside so that multi core or flex pushes at least one of the strands back, assuming you can get them in in the first place;
Consumer units that can take 25mm tails in the switch but with no room to bend/fit them unless you drill holes to allow them to come straight in;
Flimsily consumer units and RCBs that threaten to break if you try to use 25mm tails;
Accessories that have a shroud in front of the connector too small to allow more than one insulated wire to be pushed in so you have to have bare copper at the entrance to the shroud;
20mm plastic conduit fittings that cannot cover a 20mm hole;
Consumer units with levels that are not level;
MCB, RCDs etc with a very short cable clamp so the cable can fall out very easily, especially 25mm tails!
Light fittings that you have to hold up, they are usually heavy, with one hand while trying to get the connections into the ****** choc box connectors with the other two hands;
Line bus bars without any shrouding;
Plastic accessories with knockouts that are just a little larger than 20mm so you have to use silicon (ugh) to seal them.

Have I missed any accessory/fitting off my list as I seem to have problems with most modern fittings even the more expensive ones. I have not named names as I would be here all night and end up being sued by nearly every supplier in the UK.

I have not had any problems with Wagos, Wago boxes and Ashley MF free junction boxes. There are probably lots of other things that I would like, I just never seem to find them.

Since seeing the posting about fake CE marking I have noticed fake CE marks on a number of products that claim to have BS certification!

 

[saudkhan]

more then like cheep import from china or india

 

[Old School1]

hellerman swa glands, using bw20s glands with 2.5mm 3 core xlpe, back nut would tighten down all the way to gland body, and then armouring would pull out, had to change the lot

 

[wildgoose]

Control Gear CCU's - had one the other day with two separate faults. Rcd cable screw wouldn't tighten up and Mcb would not hold in the 'latched-on' position. Shocking quality control no excuses and it cost me 1.5hrs wasted time getting replacements. Won't be using Control Gear again as this is not the first breaker issues I've had!