Fogger Shocker

A serious design flaw with the Lex Lighting F400 fogger allows 240v AC to be present on external metal-work even when powered off.
Lex Lighting have been informed about this problem and they have issued an apology but appear to have done nothing further to protect their customers from the kind of shock that I received from this unit.
Meanwhile, I've crimped the cable-grip as it should have been in the first place.
(As can be seen in the close-ups of the XLR plug in the video which were filmed after I crimped it. I'd begun the fix when I realised that I should record the issue whilst I still could.)
In my opinion, this smoke-machine should have been removed from sale the moment that Lex-Lighting were made aware of the problem. If you've bought one of these units and have suffered an electric shock, please feel free to cite my video as evidence that Lex-Lighting were completely aware of the danger inherent in their design.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Fogger
• Shocker
• Lex
• Lighting
• F400
• fog
• smoke
• machine
• smoke-machine
• fog-machine
• electric
• shock
• danger

[HotblackDesiat042]

I realize this video is a year old, but if you haven’t received a corrective action report from Lex Lighting, you should follow up with them and pressure them for this documentation. If they fail to deliver, I’d advise presenting a report of your incident along with Lex Lighting’s failure to take corrective actions to CE.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

@HotblackDesiat042 - Thanks for taking the time to comment. To the best of my knowledge no corrective action has been taken. The unit was still available for sale the last time I checked. I find their apologies rather empty and worthless considering the seriousness of the issue and their apparent lack of action. I may take your advice. The plus-side to this is that if you type Lex Lighting f400 fogger into Google, my video appears near the top of the list.

[danny999911]

Right, I own one of these... thanks for making me aware of this issue - I haven't had the machine very long so luckily it has not happened.

If I don't want to waste £40, what can I do to make it safe? I'm not an expert, don't know what you mean by crimping.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

@danny999911 - This wasn't a "wear and tear" issue, something that is likely to happen over time. This is how it arrived from the factory. It is an issue caused by a very bad and dangerous design compounded by very shoddy manufacturing and/or quality control. The cable-grip hadn't been crimped (crushed against the cable) so the prongs stood proud and made contact with the metal shield of the XLR plug making it live.

[HotblackDesiat042]

@HotblackDesiat042 IMO, there should be some serious design revisions for the device. Just from what you’ve shown in your video, I’m sure that UL would never approve of 240v being present on the receptacle with it off. Also I’d be willing to bet that they’re using an underrated XLR connector, as all the ones I’ve seen with a crimp style terminal are rated for 50v, whereas the XLRs rated for 125v-250v are always solder terminals.

[HotblackDesiat042]

@RoadRunnerLaser It usually takes a good number of instances such as yours to mandate a recall on a product. I know it may sound callous, but it’s the unfortunate truth, and unless yours is one of several incidents it won’t affect the marketing of the product. I know how feel though. And while I’ve never really dealt with CE, I would have to suspect that they would at least require a corrective action be performed by the manufacturer. Next time look for something UL listed.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

@SGresponse - Considering the potential seriousness of this issue, I consider their apology to be somewhat hollow especially in light of their continuation in selling this unit (and the others in the range) regardless of the potential danger.

They are lucky that it was me that they apologised to and not my widow. Next time, they might not be so lucky. If they are sued and the claimant shows that they were made aware of this issue already, they are likely to face very serious consequences.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

@SGresponse - There are clear warnings that the front of the unit may be hot during use (as one might expect from a fogger) but nothing to suggest that the XLR carries anything which might give someone enough of a bite to make them fall off a ladder if they touched it unexpectedly. I've never known any other application where an XLR is carrying more than 50v.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

@SGresponse - No. I didn't know until one hand was on the case and I grabbed the XLR with the other. Otherwise, there was no indication that the socket was carrying mains voltage. My first thought was that there was a loose wire inside the unit. When I discovered that it had actually been built this way and that the only fault was a simple oversight in crimping the cable-grip which was in contact with the stripped end of the wire / end of the pin, thus making the shroud live, I was horrified.

[SGresponse]

@RoadRunnerLaser Now that is just plain STUPID! I can't imagine how would one put a quality copper cable into an XLR connector. It is clearly not designed for that! Someone's brain must have warped into the twilight zone to figure that is a good idea.

Did you know that before purchase? I wouldn't buy that if my job depended on it.