Have you ever read one of those articles where names are changed to protect the innocent? Well this is one of those articles. It's a story that at first may generate a chuckle or two. But beyond the superficial comedy, it is a perfect example of how the quality of the Nightscaping® brand and the function of the systems we manufacture depend on the expertise of professional designers and installers. Also, it may shed some light (forgive the pun) on why it is important for the residential consumer to selectively choose a designer and/or installer with experience in the craft of outdoor lighting.

To preface the trials and tribulations of Contractor X in this troubleshooting comedy of errors, it is important to note that many Nightscaping® distributors order and stock our brand of fixtures without lamps. The lamps we provide standard in our fixtures are all the finest quality available. Now the finest quality lamp is not always the cheapest lamp on the shelf. Therefore, when distributors stock fixtures without lamps it is to give their contractors options.

That's fine. We know the lamps we provide standard are top of the line. We are confident with their quality, durability and longevity. But, at some point we have to allow our users to make their own decisions based on their individual situation. That's what happened in this particular case.

Contractor X was relatively new to the lighting trade - everybody has to start somewhere. He sold a rather large job and went to his local distributor to buy the Nightscaping® brand products necessary to complete the installation.

Contractor X was off to a great start. He'd made the effort to sell a large job and chose to use quality Nightscaping® brand products. He got his materials, performed the necessary calculations and the installation went off without a hitch until it was time to turn the lights on.

They didn't come on.

He rechecked his wiring, made sure the power supply was sending juice to the system, tested the transformer, and so on. He went through all the troubleshooting steps he could think of. Nothing worked. So he called his distributor. They went through the same troubleshooting routine. Still nothing. Everything seemed to be right. But for some reason the system wouldn't turn on. And in the mind of Contractor X, his troubles had to be the result of a faulty product. Boy, was he wrong.

In a last ditch effort to save the system the distributor asked Contractor X to check the lamps he used. Perhaps he'd purchased the wrong product or got a bad batch or something. So, that's what the contractor did. To his dismay he found that he had installed the entire system and overlooked the small detail of lamping his fixtures. No wonder the lights wouldn't turn on. There weren't any lamps.

Perhaps now Contractor X will understand the value of using Nightscaping® brand fixtures with the lamps we provide. If not, I can only hope that he learned a valuable lesson from his tale in troubleshooting. That being, if you're going to point fingers make sure those actions are justified and secondly, as a minor side note, it's pretty close to impossible to produce light without first using a lamp