Had to choose between Kone 300p parts vs generic Chinese replacements for a hospital job last month

I had a controller board go out in a Kone 300p at the old county hospital here. The Kone board was 4 weeks out and $2900. The generic was in stock for $800. I went generic and it worked fine until day 10 then started throwing overvoltage faults. Had to pull it and reinstall the old one with a bypass module while we waited. Customer was pissed. Has anyone else had luck with the generic boards on these or was I just unlucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

drewgonzalez11d ago

Yeah, you had a bad board or just bad luck? I've used generic boards in similar lifts before and got a year out of them no problem. But with hospital gear, the downtime cost is way higher than the price difference. You saved two grand upfront but lost it in labor and angry calls when it failed. The Kone stuff is pricey because its been tested to run 24/7 in places where people's lives depend on it. I'd say your call was reasonable, but the risk was real. Now you know for next time... stick with the name brand for critical stuff.

diana_west2711d ago

Funny enough, I was just talking to a buddy who manages a warehouse and he swore off generic parts after a cheap limit switch took down their whole shipping dock for a weekend. Your point about downtime costing more than parts is something he learned the hard way too. It's like my dad always said - buy cheap, buy twice, especially when people are waiting on you.

milacraig10d ago

Oh man, I read somewhere that hospital elevators get cycled like 10x more than regular ones, so that makes total sense why cheap parts just can't hang. You basically paid for a lesson in risk management, hope the admin team didn't give you too hard a time.