Hello from San Diego:
As a general rule, products powered from a (NEC, CEC) Class 2, (IEC) SELV, or battery power source need not be certified for safety. The general rule (e.g., NEC, LVD, et al) exempts products operating at ELV, e.g., 50 volts or less. (As near as I can tell, the NEC does not specifically exempt Class 2 devices from "listing," but does by implication. The LVD specifically exempts products operating at 50 volts and less.) The NEC Class 2 designation originally included household doorbell circuits. Doorbells are not certified for safety. Back in the days when independent third-party certifiers were near-monopolies, the third-parties were very busy. They would turn down or discourage applications for low-voltage product certifications -- because such certifications were not required under the regulations. Today, third-party certifiers are jumping at every chance to earn money. They are happy to take our money to certify low-voltage products that are technically exempt from certification under the applicable regulations. After all, the customer knows best! So, the answer you get when you ask a third-party certifier will depend on how busy he is at the moment you ask him! But, the answer really comes from the regulations that require certification. In most countries and jurisdictions, low-voltage products are exempt from safety certification. However, IEC 950 and its clones are a different matter. Slowly, TC 74 is adding more and more safety requirements for low-voltage products. It will be interesting to see if the various regulations will pick up on this and begin requiring safety certification for low-voltage products within the scope of IEC 950. Regarding batteries... yes, most batteries exceed the "limited power" criteria in IEC 950. Most batteries should be fused. Best regards, Rich ------------------------------------------------------------- Richard Nute Product Safety Engineer Hewlett-Packard Company Product Regulations Group All-In-One Division Tel : +1 619 655 3329 16399 West Bernardo Drive FAX : +1 619 655 4979 San Diego, California 92127 e-mail: [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).
