Well, looks like I started quite the thread. Thank you all for the input, it is obvious that the first task in hand is to decide on the applicable standard. For those of you following this thread I will say this, of all the off the shelf Inverters I have looked at only two have claimed CE compliance, neither of the two have any documented compliance to a safety related standard though, EMC only.
I have also found Inverters that offer 230V 50Hz operation with a acceptable European AC outlet. At a minimum, if we decide to move forward with using such a device, I would perform dielectric withstand tests between the ELV input and AC outputs, measure temperature rise on the outer surface with full loading conditions, single fault testing with the output shorted, environmental testing, etc... We are going to rely on our third party test house to help qualify or disqualify this type of device to be used as an accessory for our equipment. At this point I have to admit I have serious reservations about using such a device as an accessory for our CE certified equipment. Of all the inverters I have looked at, none of the AC Outlets Ground pins are referenced to anything, they simple are not connected. Once again I thank all you for your inputs, it has been a great help. ---------------------------------------------------- Douglas Best Compliance Technician IFR America's Inc. Design Engineering RF Division Tel : +1 316 529 5327 10200 W. York St. FAX : +1 316 522 3676 Wichita Ks, 67215 e-mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Douglas Best [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 12:48 PM To: [email protected] Subject: A question to the experts: My company is considering using a portable DC to AC inverter as an accessory for one of our products, the product will be CE compliant bench top portable class one piece of equipment. This Inverter will be intended to be connected to the DC terminals of a 12 Volt automotive battery and has two North American 110V Outlets, it has a modified sine wave output, and is spec'ed to provide upto 300Watts of AC power. After looking at available off the shelf designs I found some that have some CE declarations, but after looking closely at these I found no mention of compliance to any Safety regulation but only EMC. My question is this, is it because the inverter has a low voltage input and they do not have to comply to a standard like EN61010 or UL1950, or is this something the manufacturers haven't addressed because no one has ever asked? ---------------------------------------------------- Douglas Best Compliance Technician IFR America's Inc. Design Engineering RF Division Tel : +1 316 529 5327 10200 W. York St. FAX : +1 316 522 3676 Wichita Ks, 67215 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).
