[HN Gopher] Lessons Learned Shipping 500 Units of My First Hardw...
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Lessons Learned Shipping 500 Units of My First Hardware Product
Author : sberens
Score : 73 points
Date : 2026-02-01 20:01 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.simonberens.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.simonberens.com)
| sberens wrote:
| Author here, happy to answer any questions about the journey!
| Neywiny wrote:
| So just to confirm, the actual cause for the controls not
| working is still unknown to the reader but the reason the
| measurements didn't make sense was swapped labels?
| sberens wrote:
| The controls weren't working because we had wired them up
| according to the labels which were wrong (which is also why
| the measurements didn't make sense to us).
| Neywiny wrote:
| Ah. A lesson from somebody who's built hardware that I'm
| sure you've now learned: make sure connectors can't plug
| into eachother unless they're supposed to. Even if they're
| different connectors, different keying, whatever, sometimes
| they can still be forced together.
| abdullahkhalids wrote:
| I built a lot of Ikea last month. And I was just
| marveling how cleverly designed everything was so that it
| was quite difficult to put two wrong pieces together.
| Mostly, the only warnings in the manuals were to rotate a
| piece correctly.
| fxtentacle wrote:
| Do you have any recommendations for FCC/CE testing providers?
| ishyfishyy wrote:
| What was your marketing strategy once you had the $10 deposit
| landing page setup?
| technothrasher wrote:
| I definitely feel your pain. I own a company that makes custom
| process controls for industrial and commercial clients, and
| while we work from a large library of hardware and software
| designs from past jobs, every job has a lot of the same "start
| from the beginning" feel as what you went through. Especially,
| the one thing you didn't check is always the thing that is
| somehow screwed up, and the sleepless nights wondering halfway
| into the project if you're in deep trouble.
| dickfickling wrote:
| Got a discount code for the HN family? ;-)
|
| Congrats on shipping. I'm living in the EU working California
| hours (4pm-1am) and will definitely be buying one.
| mircerlancerous wrote:
| Well-written and valuable for insight whether you have similar
| personal experience or not. As someone who does hardware and
| software as well, I relate to the challenges of making something
| you can hold; it's very easy to underestimate the challenge
| difference between the two. Your Murphy's law references are spot
| on; I feel comforted reading I'm not the only one this happens
| to! Misery does love company, and it's important to hang on that
| I think, so that you don't lose hope :)
| sberens wrote:
| Thanks :) It turns out "hardware is hard" isn't an
| exaggeration!
| pseudohadamard wrote:
| When I read the "I had no prior experience in hardware; I was
| counting on being able to pick it up quickly with the help of a
| couple of mechanical/electrical/firmware engineers" I was ready
| to curl up into a foetal position... the fact that the author
| actually got something like this manufactured and shipped is
| nothing short of miraculous, it's not just a board off JLPCB
| and a plastic case, this involves custom manufacturing of metal
| parts and whatnot, and I take my hat off to him for managing
| it.
|
| This is also why so many crowdfunded projects fail, people go
| into it with no idea of how hard it is to get something to
| market and waaaay underestimate the time and cost. Years ago
| for the first project we did we took an absolute worst-case
| estimate, then doubled the time and cost on that. We came in on
| time and under budget, but only just.
| sberens wrote:
| Looking back I agree it was miraculous lol, I don't know if
| I'd do it again...
| dmwood wrote:
| Just a few slots down in my YC feed: the benefits of bright light
|
| https://www.nature.com/articles/s44271-025-00373-9
| atif089 wrote:
| For someone who has no idea about light engineering or
| electronics if I stack two 25k Lm lamps next to each other does
| it make 50k Lm light?
|
| I recently changed my car's headlamps to Chinese LED which claims
| to be about 37kLm and I don't know how much it is probably less
| than that.
|
| Two of those lamps costee me around $24 on Amazon US (pretty sure
| under $10 in China).
|
| What makes this $800+ ?
| atif089 wrote:
| Just to add context those are just dumb lamps and I acknowledge
| that the product here has a lot more features including IoT
| support and the ability to change Hue.
|
| Is it the ability to change Hue that makes this expensive?
| sberens wrote:
| The main cost driver is the sheer size/weight/power.
| Dimmability, adjustable CCT, and smart home controls do add a
| decent chunk though.
| fxtentacle wrote:
| For colours to look natural you need your white light to
| contain lots of different wave lengths. It's usually measured
| as Ra. Artificially looking LEDs are easily 10x cheaper than
| photography grade LEDs. Also, this guy is probably paying taxes
| and handling stuff the proper legal way. If you order from
| Alibaba, chances are you'll not be paying taxes. Plus if they
| offer a 5 year warranty, they probably need to keep some money
| around for repairs.
| sberens wrote:
| Yep lumens are additive (though your eyes perceive them
| logarithmically).
|
| I don't know much about car headlights, but chatgpt says high
| beams are typically 25-45 watts, and assuming a generous
| 200lm/w that gives you 5000-9000 lm.
|
| Roughly speaking, it's expensive because it's 50 lbs & tons of
| electrical components (that are much higher quality than $24
| headlights).
| mint5 wrote:
| Please don't put in extra bright headlights on cars. Stock LED
| headlights being to bright for other drivers is already a
| massively common complaint -- and then we have people
| installing even brighter ones? Please don't.
| nicoburns wrote:
| Oh boy, I want one of these. This would absolutely perfect for
| winter depression (I suspect much better than the "SAD lamps"
| marketed for this purpose which are bright not even close to this
| bright). But PS889 is a lot of money for a lamp!
| egypturnash wrote:
| Find a garden shop, a 2' square full-spectrum light from "The
| Indoor Sun Shop" was very important to my mental health when I
| lived in Seattle and cost a _lot_ less than this. Especially
| after I added a mechanical timer so I could never be too
| depressed to turn it on in the morning.
| atentaten wrote:
| Very interesting. I would like something like this, but not with
| LEDs.
| conormccarter wrote:
| Hydrargyrum medium-src iodide lamps are an alternative
| (artificial sun lights for movie sets), but you'll want a good
| AC unit in your office
| kens wrote:
| I thought hydragyrum was a made-up word, but it's the Latin
| word for mercury, which explains the Hg chemical symbol.
| (Just in case anyone finds this interesting.)
| MostlyStable wrote:
| Very curious why you want to avoid LEDs
| fix4fun wrote:
| 50k lm is quite high. What electric power consumption does it
| have ? I estimate around 500 Watt, am I right ?
| ceroxylon wrote:
| Good estimate, the official website for the lamp says 580W
| thomascountz wrote:
| 580W
|
| https://getbrighter.com/
| sberens wrote:
| It's 60k lumens now, and it draws 580W off the wall
| christkv wrote:
| Whats the expected life for the leds at that power draw
| level?
| OsrsNeedsf2P wrote:
| Super glad you found (and made!) a product that everyone wants.
| Hopefully you have brighter nights than this ..
|
| > That was the worst period of my life; I would go to bed
| literally shaking with stress. In my opinion, Not Cool!
| waerhert wrote:
| Great read, thanks for sharing this. I'm also coming from
| software and have recently started making some hardware for
| personal use in my free time. The idea of selling it as an actual
| product has occurred to me, but the thought of dealing with all
| the logistics quickly makes me reconsider. Congrats on your
| launch!
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(page generated 2026-02-03 23:00 UTC)