---------------------------------- Forwarded ---------------------------------- From: CollinJJ at USABDMFG List-Post: [email protected] Date: 11/10/98 3:05PM To: "MartinJP" <[email protected]> at INTERNET Subject: Re: Emissions testing with support equipment ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe, This a very common problem throughout the EMC community. Your question of how different companies are handling this issue is a good one. However, I think the real question you should be asking is what does the law (standards) require. As I am sure you know, if you are selling this PC with your system, it must be tested and pass as a system. I am not aware of any standard,that allows the mfg. to isolate part of the OEM support equipment, from the test setup that is intended to ship with the host unit. The decision EMC professionals must make falls under risk management: 1. What are the risks of self certifying a system when the OEM (PC) does not meet the EMC requirements ? 2. Can I find an Approved Test Lab to write a report for this test setup? If so, what is the labs liability should there be a problem with the EU/FCC. 3. What liability am I putting on my company by labeling a complete system as being compliant, when I had prior knowledge of the OEM (PC) as being non-compliant? 4. Will the EU/FCC go after the PC manufacturer only or will my company share in the responsibility for the violation? Although I view the risk of being caught and prosecuted for the above scenario as being low, I would not want to be one of the few that get caught. It is my practice to select a PC mfg. that meets the requirements and then manage them very aggressively when there are compliance issues. Ultimately, if they can not deliver what they are advertising, I would select another vendor. I have had good luck with this issue by doing the following: 1. Conversing with fellow EMC professionals about compliant PC's they have used or have heard about. 2. Selecting and evaluating my PC well before I start my project. 3. Selecting several (3-4) PC vendors for my pre-qualification. 4. Not specifying and selling a particular PC with my unit. Regards, Jeff Collins EMC/Product Safety Engineer PE Applied Biosystems [email protected]
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Emissions testing with support equipment Author: "MartinJP" <[email protected]> at INTERNET List-Post: [email protected] Date: 11/10/98 4:05 PM EMC Professionals, Our equipment requires the use of a personal computer to operate. We sell these PC's with our system. We test radiated emissions as a system including the PC. We have recently tested PC's from two very well known PC manufacturers. They have both failed Class B limits. This makes it impossible for our "system" to pass Class B limits. When we isolate the PC from the test chamber, our instrument passes. I am sure that we are not the only company that has this problem. Can you please provide me with your experiences on this issue and what solution you came up with. All responses are appreciated. Regards Joe Martin EMC/Product Safety Engineer P.E. Biosystems [email protected] --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] (the list administrators). --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] (the list administrators).
