[sdiy] CE approval, was MOTM over time

[John L Marshall]

I think VDE is the German UL equivalent but more severe. VDE requires mains
wiring to be an a separated loom from working wiring for example.



----- Original Message -----
From: Jay Schwichtenberg <schwich at qwest.net>
To: Synth-DIY <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2001 9:42 AM
Subject: RE: [sdiy] CE approval, was MOTM over time


> CE is a tighter spec than FCC B (I think it's B for consumer stuff)
testing.
> Usually people in the US get CE certification which will be good enough
and
> say it's FCC certified. I may be wrong but if I remember right CE also
> requires static testing (zap it with 20000 volts, smell the ozone, and
hope
> it still works) and FCC doesn't.
>
> I had to help get cerification on some PC sound cards in the US. Anything
> that has real digital in it can be considerably harder than straight
analog
> (low freq stuff < 10 mHz). Boy put a card in a PC with connectors sticking
> out the back and things get really bad. You can spend thoushands of
dollars
> just getting a PC to pass with nothing in it for your test unit. The thing
> is most of the stuff you get that is CE/FCC certified probably wouldn't
pass
> a test if you tested it. To get certification you have to have 1 unit pass
> the test. In a lot of cases it was probably hand build, tweaked and the
PCB
> in production is different that what was tested.
>
> Another issue is with UL in the US (forget what the Euro equivalent is). A
> lot of products would probably never make it to market if they didn't use
> wall warts or pre-made power supplies. The power supply people do the
> testing and can distribute the cost over hundreds of thoushands of units.
> The guy that is going to make something that sells small quanities
wouldn't
> be able to handle the PS design and cost of testing and then sell the
> product at a profit.
>
> Jay
>
>