Judged by a panel of electrical contractors and magazine contributors, submissions to the new NECA Show Showstoppers Showcasing (replacing the former New and Featured Product Room) were evaluated on the Show’s opening day, Oct. 3. ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR’s annual Showstoppers feature recognizes the most innovative products and systems featured in this year’s exhibition among many new products submitted.

“We’re thrilled to honor these innovations selected by electrical contractors around the country,” said magazine publisher John Maisel. “They represent the best in emerging technologies for our industry and add excitement throughout the show.”

Displayed at the front of the show hall with blue ribbons, this year’s Showstoppers offered diverse products, equipment and systems from a range of manufacturers and systems developers.

Siemens Industry, Inc., won for the first 600V DC enclosed solar/photovoltaic disconnect switch UL listed for use with three, separate 600V DC circuits.

“We are pleased and excited that those viewing our display recognized that our new Solar Switches represent a significant design innovation to service the emerging solar energy market,” said Dennis Krizan, product manager, safety switches, Siemens Industry, Inc.

GE Energy won for its electrical vehicle charging station, showing both residential and commercial chargers. “The key to ours is the design,” said Chris Bowler, general manager of marketing, who demonstrated the charger’s retractable cord for ease of use.

“Nobody has ever addressed the transmission/distribution contractors,” said Todd McCormick, president, McCormick Systems, Inc., whose company won with transmission and distribution estimating software.

Schneider Electric also won for its electric vehicle charging station due to become available in two to three months. Its features include a delay function for charging at specific times of the day for better energy management.

“The biggest thing is that the bending and cutting are brought into the product along with a full range of factory fittings that results in a safe, low-cost installation,” said Gregory Cambrun, RCCD, national sales manager, Wiremaid Products Vision, for its Pro-10 series cable tray.

The 2010 Showstoppers winners include:

• Accubid: Enterprise Estimating
• L.H. Dottie: Ceiling Solutions Pole
• ElectricSmarts/NetPricer: Smart e-CAT
• Extech: EX540 Wireless Datalogging Multimeter
• GE Energy: WattStation
• Klipsch: Klipsch Light Speaker
• McCormick Systems, Inc.: Transmission and Distribution Estimating System
• Milwaukee: Test Meters
• Russound: Collage Powerline and Media System
• Schneider Electric: Electric Vehicle Charging Station
• Siemens Industry, Inc.:Solar Safety Switch for Three 600V DC
• Thomas & Betts: Sta-Kon® Comfort Crimp® Compression Tool
• Vision InfoSoft Corporation: Electrical Bid Manager Enterprise
• Werner: Lock-in Accessory System
• Wiremaid USA: Wiremaid Cable Mgr PRO-10, The One-Tool System

I’m really looking forward to the upcoming convention in Boston! It sounds like NECA has some great activities planned, and I intend to participate in as many as I can.  September 15, 2010, marks the one-year anniversary since Federated was chosen as an Official Partner of NECA. We’re very proud of our relationship with such a respected organization.

One thing I especially like about NECA 2010 Boston is the “Connecting the World” tagline that was chosen for this year. The electrical contracting industry is constantly evolving to keep up with the latest technology and regulations.

At Federated, we recently introduced Federated’s Shield Network, an online resource which is designed to help our clients connect to the latest in a wide range of risk management tools and services. Stop by our booth #1101, whether you’re currently insured with Federated or just looking for more information on our programs or Federated’s Shield Network. We want to connect with you!

The Construction Zone will be the prime location for catching your breath and taking in all that’s available on the NECA Show floor. This central networking lounge will be decked out in the familiar signs of a working jobsite, but the Construction Zone will actually be the best place at NECA 2010 Boston to take a break.

“We’re very excited that Rexel is making the Construction Zone a reality for NECA Show-goers this year,” said Beth Ellis, NECA executive director, convention/exposition. “It’s going to be great for people to have a place to catch up on business or just relax and catch up on the Sunday game scores.”

The Construction Zone will be the perfect spot to grab something cool to drink at the cash bar, check email with free wi-fi, have a quiet conversation, catch up on the scores from Sunday’s NFL games, or tweet about your favorite NECA Show booth. During exhibit hours on Monday, Oct. 4 and Tuesday, Oct. 5, the Construction Zone will display product DVD’s, demos  and other excellent features.

Rexel is making a splash with their sponsorship of the Construction Zone at the 2010 NECA Show, returning as an exhibitor after several years and requests from Show-goers to share their latest services. Rexel will also have a full display at NECA Show booth #141.

“NECA contractors are extremely important to Rexel, and the Construction Zone is a great way to demonstrate our company’s commitment to the work they’re doing,” said Doris Chumley, marketing projects manager for Rexel. “Rexel is focused on providing innovative electrical solutions and equipment to improve comfort, performance, and energy efficiency, and our customers are professionals who understand their clients’ demands for excellent electrical construction. We’re looking forward to making new connections and renewing old contacts at the 2010 NECA Show.”

>>Learn more about Rexel at the 2010 NECA Show

Here is a helpful step-by-step guide on Social Media, how to get started and what to do – download it now!

For more information on NECA in Social Media, visit our website.

Couldn’t make it to Seattle? Check out over 100 products in the virtual New and Featured Product Room online. Ginger Wilson is also tweeting some of the exhibitors that catch her eye on twitter.com/NECAConvention. Subscribe to her tweets today — she gets the first scope on cool prize giveaways at the booths, but you need to be on Twitter first!

First, I’d just like to say that I’m not an electrician, nor do I play one on TV. But as a graphic designer, I’m attracted to all things bright and shiny. And when I heard that Philips Color Kinetics was presenting a hands-on pre-convention workshop on LEDs, I had to take a look.

Their room was set up with four boards with working samples of LED installations. After the Philips staff talked about the products, we got to see how things work up close. Eden and Scott, the workshop leaders from Philips, were nice enough to walk me through one of the boards, and I’m happy to say that bright and shiny can also be practical and energy-efficient…and really, really cool.

The first half of the board was set up with white lights. The eW Profile Powercore and Cove Powercore have white LEDs at the temperature you select. The lights come right on with no warmup time when you flip the switch, and there’s no annoying flicker. They can be strung together to light large areas or installed one-by-one to provide task lighting. That’s fun, but a white light is a white light.

So we moved on to the iW Cove Powercore. With this fixture, you can mix the cool and warm white lights to create the color temperature you want. It’s dimmable, too. Even better, when it’s attached to the iW Scene Controller, you can save different settings and then bring them back by just touching a button. You don’t realize how much of a difference choosing the right white temperature makes until the “shades” are right in front of you.

On the other side of the table were the lights that had attracted me in the first place: the ColorBlast Powercore. Big, bright RGB LEDs that can light interiors and exteriors and when hooked up to the ColorDial Pro, are programmable so you can save several light shows and play them again later by touching a button.

Finally, the ColorGraze Powercore uses the same RGB colors but in 12-inch sections so you can put them together to color wash a wall. They had a couple of sections hooked up to an iPlayer 3, which allows you to create light shows. Eden told me that Philips is working on lighting a bridge using the ColorGraze Powercore and the iPlayer 3. Stringing the lights together and programming the iPlayer, she said that Philips is going to “make the bridge dance.”

Now that you know how much I love the bright and shiny, you can understand how the notion that itty bitty light bulbs can make a bridge look like it’s dancing fills me with joy.

The boards used in the workshop are on display at Philips booth at the NECA Show. Come see the bright and shiny for yourself!

Check it out! Go to the NECA 2009 Seattle website, NECAConvention.org, and click on the Press Release tab to view.