Tag Archives: testing
EU Inverters Mostly Non-Compliant to EMC Emissions Requirements in EN 55011 and EN 61000-6-3
In the first half of 2014, the European Union’s EMC Administrative Cooperation Working Group (EMC ADCO) performed a cross-border EMC market surveillance campaign to assess the compliance of grid-connected solar panel inverters (and optimisers) intended to be used by consumers. Inverters allow electricity generated by solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to be fed into the mains... Read More
ENERGY STAR Certification of Set-Top Boxes Now to Version 4.1
As of August 1, 2014, EPA ENERGY STAR Certification Bodies – including MET Labs – are only certifying set-top boxes (STBs) and cable boxes to the new Version 4.1 specification. No new certifications to Version 3.0 are allowable, although existing Version 3.0 certifications will remain valid for the purposes of ENERGY STAR qualification until December... Read More
No Standard? No Problem. Custom Test Plans Measure Reliability, Accuracy & Efficiency
Most electrical product testing is to a published standard, but not always. MET Labs has a rich history of developing custom test plans that meet manufacturers’ specific needs. One reason for developing a custom test plan is to check equipment performance against marketing claims made by the equipment manufacturer, or to check the performance of... Read More
SAR Testing Exclusion a Function of Proximity to Body, Max Output Power
To determine whether your product needs Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) testing, there are a few items to consider. First, is the device operated within 20cm (7.87”) of the head or body? If no, then SAR does not apply. If yes, then SAR does apply, but testing may be excluded based on the device’s output power.... Read More
U.S. House Calls for HALT Testing of Missile Defense Systems
Last month, a U.S. House of Representatives committee asked the Missile Defense Agency to consider the use of Highly Accelerated Life Testing and Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HALT/HASS) for identifying possible reliability issues in critical ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems and components. The committee also believes HALT testing can help ferret out unreliable counterfeit parts... Read More
Product Safety Certification to UL 913 for Hazardous Locations Can Be to 5th or 7th Edition
Product safety certification to UL 913 Intrinsically Safe Apparatus and Associated Apparatus for Use in Class I, II, and III, Division 1, Hazardous (Classified) Locations is a unique situation. There are currently two active editions of the standard: 5th and 7th. (The 6th Edition was withdrawn in April 2008 in the sense that the standards... Read More
New Medical Equipment Safety of Interoperability Standard AAMI/UL 2800 Being Developed
This week, MET’s Product Safety Lab Director Rick Cooper is attending a meeting of a newly-convened standards committee in Long Beach, CA to discuss the creation of a new medical equipment safety of interoperability standard(s) tentatively known as AAMI/UL 2800. The meeting is well attended by interested parties consisting of certification agencies like MET Labs,... Read More
Early Consideration of EMC & Product Safety Compliance in Product Development Saves Time and Headaches
When developing a new electrical product, early consideration of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and product safety compliance issues will pay major dividends later. If compliance is not engineered in from the start, expect to endure this pain: A major delay as the product is redesigned, jeopardizing time to market and product viability Significant extra costs for... Read More
Top 35 Blogs for Electrical Product Manufacturers
We received so much positive feedback on our blog posts for EMC Compliance Links and Product Safety Compliance Links, that we decided to dedicate a post to spotlight the top blogs for electrical product developers. With a few exceptions, these blogs are from independent sources, like industry associations, publishers or consultants. What are we missing?... Read More
ENERGY STAR Partner Meeting Discusses New Requirements for Lighting & Consumer Electronics
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STAR Partner Meeting was a couple weeks ago in St. Paul, MN and MET Labs was there. Following is a summary of key meeting discussions. New Requirement for Dimmable CFLs and LEDs The meeting agenda began with a roundtable, which was focused on dimmers. EPA has encouraged consumers... Read More
