I run into the marketing BS data sheet issue quite often. Glad to see I’m not the only one. It becomes clear that whomever is drafting the data sheets does not understand the compliance specifications. They will list standards in a section called Approvals or such for example a UL standard implying that a product is UL approved when often it’s not, possibly approved by another lab, and some of the standards are not lab certified at all. They will ambiguously list NRTL names. Some data sheets will only show the NRTL logos somewhere on the data sheet and nothing more. Some manufacturers produce excellent data sheets with clearly stated approvals and standards. The rest need to be researched to validate their approvals and file numbers on the NRTL web site. I’ve caught several OEMs loosely claiming approvals that in fact did not have them. Some power supply data sheets will list UL/EN 60950-1 as a standard but not indicate the class of supply or whether or not it was approved as SELV outputs which is optional to the standard. Some of the most ambiguous products are those with multiple components such as IT equipment with external wall warts or brick power supplies or line cords where the external items are outsourced. Some of those OEMs will claim an NRTL approval on the core product but when contacted can’t produce the NRTL approvals for their outsourced components supplied with it, sometimes they don’t even have the full electrical ratings. That’s usually when I say goodbye and pick an alternative.
-Dave From: John Allen [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2017 4:48 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Safety critical component part #'s and Agency approvals Datasheets! Mainly marketing “BS”! Never believe them until you have checked in DETAIL with the mfr AND the certification bodies! John E Allen W. London, UK From: IBM Ken [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 21 September 2017 21:44 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Safety critical component part #'s and Agency approvals I have run into this a lot: I don't have any specific example part numbers saved, but often I will be given a datasheet that claims certification with a certain NRTL standard but I can't validate it online. When asked, the manufacturer either says they dropped that certification, or it applied to only one particular part in the series. In my experience, datasheets and marketing materials are often misleading (at best) about component certification. -Ken A On Thu, Sep 21, 2017 at 4:38 PM, Regan Arndt <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Greetings everyone, My experience in regulatory compliance dates back to 1994 where it was a foregone conclusion that most component manufacturers did not identify their agency certification as a unique identifier in their part number. I have seen some good progress over the years, but I also believe that the industry still continues to eliminate redundant certification (due to standards harmonization) or sometimes complete agency certification (for the sake of cost reduction) on components without changing their respective part number. Or even worse, continue to advertise that the component is approved but in reality, it is not. Has anyone experienced anything recently that they wish to share? P.S. I am updating my old safety presentation and need some good examples before I present again to our local IEEE chapter meeting. Thanks for sharing whatever you can. (privately or within this forum) Cheers! Regan - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe)<http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> David Heald <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe)<http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> David Heald <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe)<http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> David Heald <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
