240v Chinese Light on 277v circuit?

[Aaron91378]

Hi all. Forgive my lack of electrical lingo, but I have a question regarding a light fixture that is rate for 85-265v. I sell commercial LED lighting in the US market. This specific application is for an exterior install in a commercial building. Existing fixtures are 400w HID and typically are installed on a 277/480v panel. For my standard 120-277v rated LED fixtures, the electricians typically change at the panel down to 277v and they are good to go. My customer wanting to save some $ and thinking that I wasn't giving them the best deal I could, decided to go direct to China. The fixtures they have purchased have a sticker on them that says they are rated for 85-265v. Will they be able to operate them out of a 277/480v panel without blowing them up? Any input would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,

Aaron

 

[hurk27]

Hi all. Forgive my lack of electrical lingo, but I have a question regarding a light fixture that is rate for 85-265v. I sell commercial LED lighting in the US market. This specific application is for an exterior install in a commercial building. Existing fixtures are 400w HID and typically are installed on a 277/480v panel. For my standard 120-277v rated LED fixtures, the electricians typically change at the panel down to 277v and they are good to go. My customer wanting to save some $ and thinking that I wasn't giving them the best deal I could, decided to go direct to China. The fixtures they have purchased have a sticker on them that says they are rated for 85-265v. Will they be able to operate them out of a 277/480v panel without blowing them up? Any input would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks,

Aaron

We have been testing some of these high bay LED lights for use on our DC overhead cranes, while I also notice that the label on the fixture stated 85-265 VAC, I noted in the small literature packet boxed with the fixture that the fixture was actually rated for 90 to 355 VDC/VAC which means they have a switched mode power supply with a wide input range, we have tried them on 120vac, 208, 277 and the 250vdc that they were intended to run on, these are a large round disk (about 14-16" diameter) looking fixture which are very thin top to bottom with a 1" set of NPT for a nipple to mount it to, it has many LED elements that all point down, we have left one running on 277 for a few days just to see if it would handle it and it did just fine, we wanted to make sure it would handle the Re-gen from the hoist of the cranes when they are in the lowering mode which we can get as high as 325 VDC of Re-gen voltage when lowering a heavy load, now we have had several of these fixtures in operation on our cranes for several months without any problems even with the Re-gen hitting over 300 VDC, they provide the light when the bridge blocks the overhead high bays, and yes they are all made in China.

Sorry for your loss of a costumer but this is what we are facing here, many company's are trying to cut cost and buying direct is one way they are doing it.

 

[PetrosA]

Honestly, I don't see why you would even care to get involved with finding an answer to that question. If the customer is procuring outside of the official distribution chain, they're on their own as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Besoeker]

Honestly, I don't see why you would even care to get involved with finding an answer to that question. If the customer is procuring outside of the official distribution chain, they're on their own as far as I'm concerned.

To get the business back by by sowing the the seeds of doubt on the quality of the alternative supplier's product?

 

[kwired]

Did he go direct to China or did he go to some supplier that has less middle men taking their markups?

There are some such suppliers out there, that more less have direct link to manufacturing then the contractor leaving out a middle man or two in the markup pricing. There are even a few more well known brands that will now sell directly to contractors instead of having to go through the supply chain, and you are seeing more of this through internet sales of many products.

Many supply houses like to give you better price when selling you a complete lighting package for a larger project, but if you are buying just one or two fixtures they hammer you hard on the price of the same units.

 

[PetrosA]

To get the business back by by sowing the the seeds of doubt on the quality of the alternative supplier's product?

But the customer has already bought and is in possession of the other lights. I think you would be right if this situation had taken place before internet shopping were possible, but nowadays there are customers for whom price is the only deciding factor. In my experience, once a customer takes that step of going around official channels to purchase gray market products there is very little you can do to win them back to paying full price for goods unless an inspector or other official can force them into doing so or if the product they purchased fails completely. In the latter case, they will likely come back on their own without you getting involved in researching foreign products of questionable origin and specifications.