What's the most badly designed accessory you've had to install?
I present my nomination, the ML Accessories/Knightsbridge RWL5 wall-mounted LED guide light
This nice-looking wall light has a low profile, is IP54 rated, and looks quite neat in "anthracite" colour. It's also about the right shape and size to cover over a hole where a small brick light used to be. I have no issue with any of the other ML/Knightbridge products I've installed - their downlights (integrated and GU10) are usually my go-to products.
This particular product, though, is awful to install.
If this post sounds over-whingy, then apologies. At the end of the day I just got on with it, and got the job done. But gosh.....
Let's start with the rubber grommet. It's tiny. Fine for 0.75mm H05RN-F, 1mm H07RN-F is really, really hard to get through.
So, you have to attach the plastic back plate to the wall, threading the cable through the (non-sealed) hole. So far, so good.
You have to remove the internal back plate using 4 tiny screws that would not be out of place inside a Rolex. Two of them have teeny tiny rubber washers, two don't. You pass your cable through the grommet (if you can). There is no space at all inside what will be the weather-proof internal enclosure for any excess cable - it must go straight into the screw connector, soldered directly to the PCB. Try not to snap this off, as you tighten the terminals with your jewel screwdriver. If you're thinking of using T&E, no can do... you need a tiny bit of flexibility to get the PCB into position into some internal slots, then screw the back on.
The PCB slots into the main part of the outer enclosure... but wait, don't forget the flimsy rubber gasket, which sticks neither to the lid, nor the larger bit it's sealing against. You screw the lid to the enclosure using those 4 tiny screws (you remember which two have the rubber washers on, right?).
So there is no slack whatsoever between the rubber grommet and the PCB-mounted connector, a few mm away. There is no space behind the internal lid and the outer backing plate for any loose cable. So the only possible way of screwing the lid back on, is to have slack in the cable behind the backing plate, sufficient that you can angle the whole unit downwards while you get the lid back on, somehow maintaining the IP rating using the flimsy gasket, and then hope you can feed the spare cable back into the hole you presumably have to make behind the back plate.
Finally, you offer the completed main bit of the enclosure to the back plate, and screw using two more tiny screws, one on each side. Don't over-tighten these... they are tiny, and "I imagine" it would be very easy to strip the plastic thread.
I was fortunate in that (a) there was a large existing void behind the back plate (where the brick lights were), and (b) I was putting in new cables of my choice, so could put sufficient spare in there to allow installation.
Never again.
What's your worst experience with accessories designed without any thought to the poor person installing them?
I present my nomination, the ML Accessories/Knightsbridge RWL5 wall-mounted LED guide light
This nice-looking wall light has a low profile, is IP54 rated, and looks quite neat in "anthracite" colour. It's also about the right shape and size to cover over a hole where a small brick light used to be. I have no issue with any of the other ML/Knightbridge products I've installed - their downlights (integrated and GU10) are usually my go-to products.
This particular product, though, is awful to install.
If this post sounds over-whingy, then apologies. At the end of the day I just got on with it, and got the job done. But gosh.....
Let's start with the rubber grommet. It's tiny. Fine for 0.75mm H05RN-F, 1mm H07RN-F is really, really hard to get through.
So, you have to attach the plastic back plate to the wall, threading the cable through the (non-sealed) hole. So far, so good.
You have to remove the internal back plate using 4 tiny screws that would not be out of place inside a Rolex. Two of them have teeny tiny rubber washers, two don't. You pass your cable through the grommet (if you can). There is no space at all inside what will be the weather-proof internal enclosure for any excess cable - it must go straight into the screw connector, soldered directly to the PCB. Try not to snap this off, as you tighten the terminals with your jewel screwdriver. If you're thinking of using T&E, no can do... you need a tiny bit of flexibility to get the PCB into position into some internal slots, then screw the back on.
The PCB slots into the main part of the outer enclosure... but wait, don't forget the flimsy rubber gasket, which sticks neither to the lid, nor the larger bit it's sealing against. You screw the lid to the enclosure using those 4 tiny screws (you remember which two have the rubber washers on, right?).
So there is no slack whatsoever between the rubber grommet and the PCB-mounted connector, a few mm away. There is no space behind the internal lid and the outer backing plate for any loose cable. So the only possible way of screwing the lid back on, is to have slack in the cable behind the backing plate, sufficient that you can angle the whole unit downwards while you get the lid back on, somehow maintaining the IP rating using the flimsy gasket, and then hope you can feed the spare cable back into the hole you presumably have to make behind the back plate.
Finally, you offer the completed main bit of the enclosure to the back plate, and screw using two more tiny screws, one on each side. Don't over-tighten these... they are tiny, and "I imagine" it would be very easy to strip the plastic thread.
I was fortunate in that (a) there was a large existing void behind the back plate (where the brick lights were), and (b) I was putting in new cables of my choice, so could put sufficient spare in there to allow installation.
Never again.
What's your worst experience with accessories designed without any thought to the poor person installing them?
