Chester the Cheetah
- Thread starter George Stolz
- Start date
- Status
Re: Chester the Cheetah
Hello, my name is David Clare with Cheetah USA. I was introduced to this forum by an electrician and a building inspector who suggested I jump in and just offer our explanation of many of the concerns being raised. Please know that we appreciated the honest and candid feedback. We have field tested this product for over 2 years and have received more ?honest? feedback than you can imagine
Electricians can be brutal in telling you what they think?thus we have listened and feel very good in what has been the result of some very intense field testing and feedback. I hope this will help and not distract from the forum. As you will tell from the below, we really are not trying to sell you or hide anything?so again I hope this helps?
To start with, please be sure you are hitting our right web site? our official company web site is www.cheetahbox.com and www.cheetahspeed.com. The site some of you have accessed is a distributor web site and we cannot control sometimes how they represent our products. Most of this information I share with you below is on our web site.
UL Concerns?
All of our products have been tested and certified to the UL specification. We elected to use two Nationally Recognized Testing Labs (NTRLs) (UL Lab and Intertek Lab) to help us ensure all of our receptacles, switches, boxes, wallplates, etc. pass the UL specifications (I understand there are 70+ pages just for receptacles and 90+ pages for switches) ? thus some of our devices (dimmers, gfci) have UL listings and others (receptacles, switches, wallplates, boxes) have the ETL listings. Both Labs are required to ensure all products pass and exceed the UL specification and standard.
For detailed information our various certification and listings, please visit our web site at www.cheetahspeed.com and select ?electrician? and then select the left navigation ?UL & ETL??. We are still updating this with our ATM (Authorization to Mark) documents, and will continue to make this a one stop resource for you.
No ground screw on switches?
There has been some discussion on the fact that we do not have a ground screw on our switches. Again we rely upon our UL certification testing labs for passing the specification on this, and here is just some explanation.
1. Cheetah Speed Switches contain no metal straps or electrical conductive materials for electrical shock. NO Ground is necessary with Cheetah Speed Switches due to the dielectric plastic safety strap which is non-flammable, non-conductive, and non-metallic.
2. Cheetah Speed Switches (with the safety strap) can not receive standard screw faceplates. Thus eliminating any way to fasten metal or conductive screw-based Wall Plates to Cheetah Speed Devices. ONLY Cheetah non-metal screw-less wall plates can be fastened to Cheetah Speed switches.
I believe where the ?assembly? discussion comes from is that our system really is an ?integral system? or an assembly approach. While our boxes can be ?backwards compatible? to support screw devices (you insert a speed anchor and it turns our box into a normal screw box), our switches with the patented safety strap is designed to only receive our non-metallic snap and lock wall plates? For receptacles we obviously have a ground screw, but for our switches, because there is no metal involved, no conducting materials and means to fasten a metal wall plate, the Intertek electrical engineers and lab determined there was no need for a ground screw for our switches according to the UL specification. When you get a sample or handle our product you will see that the Cheetah Speed Switches, Wall Plates, and Speed Boxes work as an integral system or assembly. You will also see the quality of our boxes, our devices, and wall plates. We manufacture in China (as do all the others ). We are finding great response from those that use it?especially when they trim out. We have really tried not to exaggerate on the speed. Every electrician is different and uses different techniques, but I have personally seen many electricians wire and push in switches in 5-6 seconds and receptacles (with the grounding wire) in about 8-10 seconds. They used a drill, not a screw driver for the side mounts.
We have been very open with this approach and presented to many building inspectors and electricians. Once they see the product and actually use it, we have had wide acceptance to our innovative approach. Many recognize that the NEC code was written to obviously support the ?normal? metal strapped screw devices, but when they see our screw-less system with no metal straps and that it actually is an integral system or assembly approach, they are great with it and recognize that the current NEC code was based primarily on the current metal strap devices.
Above all we respect and support whatever the building inspectors and electricians feel comfortable in supporting. We are not trying to ram this down anyone?s throat or try to side step any issues with the UL specification or NEC code. We have taken our time to test and refine this product line to be legitimate and proven through years of testing and actual use. The power and performance is self evident and we are so confident in our results thus far we are offering a free cheetah challenge kit. This allows everyone on this forum to get the product for themselves, try it out, beat it up, and give us the feedback so we can make it better?That is what we have been doing for 2 years and are not afraid of always making things better? especially from those that actually know what they are talking about?. So please accept our invitation to give us a call, 801-973-4228? we will send you a free cheetah challenge kit with all the literature, product samples, and boxes to try it out. We would love to hear from you?
Again, I hope this has been helpful and not a distraction from this forum?.
Hello, my name is David Clare with Cheetah USA. I was introduced to this forum by an electrician and a building inspector who suggested I jump in and just offer our explanation of many of the concerns being raised. Please know that we appreciated the honest and candid feedback. We have field tested this product for over 2 years and have received more ?honest? feedback than you can imagine
Electricians can be brutal in telling you what they think?thus we have listened and feel very good in what has been the result of some very intense field testing and feedback. I hope this will help and not distract from the forum. As you will tell from the below, we really are not trying to sell you or hide anything?so again I hope this helps?To start with, please be sure you are hitting our right web site? our official company web site is www.cheetahbox.com and www.cheetahspeed.com. The site some of you have accessed is a distributor web site and we cannot control sometimes how they represent our products. Most of this information I share with you below is on our web site.
UL Concerns?
All of our products have been tested and certified to the UL specification. We elected to use two Nationally Recognized Testing Labs (NTRLs) (UL Lab and Intertek Lab) to help us ensure all of our receptacles, switches, boxes, wallplates, etc. pass the UL specifications (I understand there are 70+ pages just for receptacles and 90+ pages for switches) ? thus some of our devices (dimmers, gfci) have UL listings and others (receptacles, switches, wallplates, boxes) have the ETL listings. Both Labs are required to ensure all products pass and exceed the UL specification and standard.
For detailed information our various certification and listings, please visit our web site at www.cheetahspeed.com and select ?electrician? and then select the left navigation ?UL & ETL??. We are still updating this with our ATM (Authorization to Mark) documents, and will continue to make this a one stop resource for you.
No ground screw on switches?
There has been some discussion on the fact that we do not have a ground screw on our switches. Again we rely upon our UL certification testing labs for passing the specification on this, and here is just some explanation.
1. Cheetah Speed Switches contain no metal straps or electrical conductive materials for electrical shock. NO Ground is necessary with Cheetah Speed Switches due to the dielectric plastic safety strap which is non-flammable, non-conductive, and non-metallic.
2. Cheetah Speed Switches (with the safety strap) can not receive standard screw faceplates. Thus eliminating any way to fasten metal or conductive screw-based Wall Plates to Cheetah Speed Devices. ONLY Cheetah non-metal screw-less wall plates can be fastened to Cheetah Speed switches.
I believe where the ?assembly? discussion comes from is that our system really is an ?integral system? or an assembly approach. While our boxes can be ?backwards compatible? to support screw devices (you insert a speed anchor and it turns our box into a normal screw box), our switches with the patented safety strap is designed to only receive our non-metallic snap and lock wall plates? For receptacles we obviously have a ground screw, but for our switches, because there is no metal involved, no conducting materials and means to fasten a metal wall plate, the Intertek electrical engineers and lab determined there was no need for a ground screw for our switches according to the UL specification. When you get a sample or handle our product you will see that the Cheetah Speed Switches, Wall Plates, and Speed Boxes work as an integral system or assembly. You will also see the quality of our boxes, our devices, and wall plates. We manufacture in China (as do all the others
). We are finding great response from those that use it?especially when they trim out. We have really tried not to exaggerate on the speed. Every electrician is different and uses different techniques, but I have personally seen many electricians wire and push in switches in 5-6 seconds and receptacles (with the grounding wire) in about 8-10 seconds. They used a drill, not a screw driver for the side mounts. We have been very open with this approach and presented to many building inspectors and electricians. Once they see the product and actually use it, we have had wide acceptance to our innovative approach. Many recognize that the NEC code was written to obviously support the ?normal? metal strapped screw devices, but when they see our screw-less system with no metal straps and that it actually is an integral system or assembly approach, they are great with it and recognize that the current NEC code was based primarily on the current metal strap devices.
Above all we respect and support whatever the building inspectors and electricians feel comfortable in supporting. We are not trying to ram this down anyone?s throat or try to side step any issues with the UL specification or NEC code. We have taken our time to test and refine this product line to be legitimate and proven through years of testing and actual use. The power and performance is self evident and we are so confident in our results thus far we are offering a free cheetah challenge kit. This allows everyone on this forum to get the product for themselves, try it out, beat it up, and give us the feedback so we can make it better?That is what we have been doing for 2 years and are not afraid of always making things better? especially from those that actually know what they are talking about?. So please accept our invitation to give us a call, 801-973-4228? we will send you a free cheetah challenge kit with all the literature, product samples, and boxes to try it out. We would love to hear from you?
Again, I hope this has been helpful and not a distraction from this forum?.
allenwayne
Senior Member
Re: Chester the Cheetah
Dave I just ordered one of your kits and will post my opinion when I recieve it and see what the product is like.
Dave I just ordered one of your kits and will post my opinion when I recieve it and see what the product is like.
- Location
- Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
- Occupation
- Hospital Master Electrician
Re: Chester the Cheetah
To know my perspective, I work for a primarily tract-housing electrical contractor employing roughly 40 electricians in the field. If your product can be wholly adopted (as it seems to require wholehearted devotion to use), then I'm sure my company can be had, if the price was right.
Now that I have you on the hook ( [/quote]He was being funny, but he raises a valid point: installing a GFI in a single gang box with two 12-2 cables provides a lot of stress to the screws of an old-fashioned system. Three cables gets very difficult. Can I expect to install two or three 12-2's in a cheetah box with a GFI?
[ February 11, 2006, 09:08 AM: Message edited by: georgestolz ]
Please know that we appreciate you coming to the defense of your product. One-sided discussions seldom make it to five pages.
To know my perspective, I work for a primarily tract-housing electrical contractor employing roughly 40 electricians in the field. If your product can be wholly adopted (as it seems to require wholehearted devotion to use), then I'm sure my company can be had, if the price was right.
Now that I have you on the hook (
[/quote]He was being funny, but he raises a valid point: installing a GFI in a single gang box with two 12-2 cables provides a lot of stress to the screws of an old-fashioned system. Three cables gets very difficult. Can I expect to install two or three 12-2's in a cheetah box with a GFI?[ February 11, 2006, 09:08 AM: Message edited by: georgestolz ]
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Re: Chester the Cheetah
Hello, David. Thank you for posting and welcome to the forum.
The Challenge kit is great, but requires purchasing the devices. Now, I'm not complaining; free stuff is always nice, but a test requires the entire "system", so we need to know the costs of devices.
The P&S pigtail-and-plug-in receptacles are fast to trim, too, but $25 per receptacle is ridiculous, and in my opinion, would be too expensive even if they terminated and installed themselves.
How about a sample kit that includes a dozen or so receptacles and a few switches?
Hello, David. Thank you for posting and welcome to the forum.
The Challenge kit is great, but requires purchasing the devices. Now, I'm not complaining; free stuff is always nice, but a test requires the entire "system", so we need to know the costs of devices.
The P&S pigtail-and-plug-in receptacles are fast to trim, too, but $25 per receptacle is ridiculous, and in my opinion, would be too expensive even if they terminated and installed themselves.
How about a sample kit that includes a dozen or so receptacles and a few switches?
- Location
- Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
- Occupation
- Hospital Master Electrician
Re: Chester the Cheetah
Having two brands of devices in the same house would really be asking for trouble.
The problem I have is, since we do several houses for most of our contractors, it's tricky finding a solitary house to experiment on. Somebody is going to complain if one house looks better or worse.
Having two brands of devices in the same house would really be asking for trouble.
allenwayne
Senior Member
Re: Chester the Cheetah
Dave called me last night and they are sending 2 kits it seems that this has been a west coast item and they are moving to the east coast when they arive I`ll post my opinion.
Dave called me last night and they are sending 2 kits it seems that this has been a west coast item and they are moving to the east coast when they arive I`ll post my opinion.
ryan_618
Senior Member
- Location
- Salt Lake City, Utah
Re: Chester the Cheetah
When these first came out they sent me a sample, since they are headquarted in Salt Lake. At that time, the switches they used were just a typical switch with their clips attached to it, and it would permit a metallic faceplate. It sounds like they have remedied that issue.
Regarding the extension ring, I called them about this, and was told that they are in the process of making some for their product, but for right now installers are simply drilling the nonmetallic type to make the typical 6-32 screw holes larger to go over and around these devices.
When these first came out they sent me a sample, since they are headquarted in Salt Lake. At that time, the switches they used were just a typical switch with their clips attached to it, and it would permit a metallic faceplate. It sounds like they have remedied that issue.
Regarding the extension ring, I called them about this, and was told that they are in the process of making some for their product, but for right now installers are simply drilling the nonmetallic type to make the typical 6-32 screw holes larger to go over and around these devices.
Re: Chester the Cheetah
Do not know about the box, but I do remember when "click" or what ever it was called speed box came out 30 yrs. ago it would fail for all the reasons told; sure were fast! hehe.
Plug tails are used for large jobs with MRO in mind as I see it due to price per. ea..
I did a hospital with them, we pig tail any job always; trim out was fast. Probes off wiggy wont fit in the pigtail so no pre test of ckt. unless you run around with a recept. to test.
Wonder about spring tension on clip holding either the cheetah or plugtail over time.
Do not know about the box, but I do remember when "click" or what ever it was called speed box came out 30 yrs. ago it would fail for all the reasons told; sure were fast! hehe.
Plug tails are used for large jobs with MRO in mind as I see it due to price per. ea..
I did a hospital with them, we pig tail any job always; trim out was fast. Probes off wiggy wont fit in the pigtail so no pre test of ckt. unless you run around with a recept. to test.
Wonder about spring tension on clip holding either the cheetah or plugtail over time.
LawnGuyLandSparky
Senior Member
Re: Chester the Cheetah
I would like to order a hat!
I would like to order a hat!
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Re: Chester the Cheetah
- Status