Eldon Modular Enclosures

[ECSI 17]

I'm looking for an alternative to the Rittal line of modular enclosures. The pricing on Eldon seems pretty good but I'm wondering about the quality of them. Has anyone used them before? Any opinions would be appreciated. By the way Hammond and Hoffman are not suitable alternatives so no need to suggest them. Thanks

[waynes 8]

I like the Rittal enclosure as well. I have used Eldon, but was not very impressed. They are ok for a 'cheapish' panel. Have you tried looking at the Legrand range of enclosures? They are also very high quality like the Rittal enclosures!

[BobLfoot 302]

Ok you've peaked my curiousity, is it political or functional criteria which make Hoffman adn Hammond unsuitable?

[ECSI 17]

LOL...I knew someone would ask that. It's political. The local distributors for Hoffman and Hammond either own their own panel shops or are closely affiliated with one. I want to keep them out of the loop on this project. I tell ya, its hard to compete with a distributor that has the buying power plus its own panel shop! waynes, thanks for the suggestion, I'll check out Legrand.

[panic mode 246]

well the way i see it, Hoffman and Hammond did have some issues. at least here, only until recently they used to have noticably longer delivery (still do for many items such as accessories), costed or still cost more, are really heavy (what are those walls, 3/16"?), all welded together which is good for particular locations (wet for example) but I don't need it and I really like to take the sides of panels, put it on machine and cut the openings for connectors, buttons, programming port, fan, HMI, etc. also even though they charge more, on many enclosures they don't give you mounting panel. extra item to be selected and ordered. once a colegue had large two door panel damaged in transport (one side wall had big scratch and dent), customer rejected it of course. instead of buying just a cheap side wall and changing it in two minutes, he spent more than a week moving everything to new enclosure. I don't think he is ever going to buy anything other than Rittal...Hoffman has now modular line as well (ripped from Rittal just like Eldon). however as I've found out they are not compatible, can't mix accessories. Since Hoffman could not deliver additional accessories on time, I was forced to buy it from Rittal, have our shop modify it and fit into Hoffman enclosures. Imho unless one needs just a naked panel or has plenty of time, Rittal is usually still better choice (at least here). From Hammond and Hoffman line of products we rarely buy larger panels. No problem with smaller ones, junction boxes, pendant arms, cable trays etc. Don't like much hammond transformers either. Their enclosed versions run hot even with no load (!). I had couple of them die within months of installation even though load was merely 40% and they ware installed in dry and cool enviroment. just an opinion...

[JRaef 0]

Another good alternative to the "big 3" (Hoff, Ham and Rit) is Saginaw. I have just recently used their enclosures on a project and found the quality to be as good as Hoffman, definately better than Hammond and still geared towards North American standards (compared to Rittal).

[gravitar 3]

I'm dealing with an Eldon enclosure right now.. Although it is certainly functional, it has a REALLY cheap/flimsy feel to it. Kind of the way PC computer enclosures have become over the last 10 years or so :) I've had to be real careful not to cut my hands on it! Have any of you guys used the Hubbell-Wiegman enclosures sold through Automation Direct?