Interesting points. This provoked me to look again into a standard that I've examined but never used, BS EN 50178:1998, Electronic equipment for use in power installations. It covers safety, EMC, and environmental conditions. It is 99 pages long, it's informative Annex A starts on page 72, so more that 25% of the standard is informative. However, we do use EN 61616-1 almost exclusively and have routinely specified hipot testing, and it does't hurt that we also have the explicit encouragement of a 3rd party approval.
Back to topic. Our manufacturing people view the hipot test as useful for detecting defects, possibly because the hipot tester and control software are linked into a database which makes operating and tracking the results of this test automatic. I wonder if it wasn't for the software/database linkage that the hipot test might not enjoy as much acceptance by manufacturing. If the hipot test is made easy to set and operate, then it might be considered useful rather than some arcane obligation. Eric Lifsey National Instruments John Woodgate <j...@jmwa.demon.co.uk> To: emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org Sent by: cc: owner-emc-pstc@majordom Subject: Re: Manufacturing Hipot Testing o.ieee.org 08/20/2001 08:09 AM Please respond to John Woodgate I read in !emc-pstc that Chris Maxwell <chris.maxw...@nettest.com> wrote (in <83d652574e7af740873674f9fc12dbaa675...@utexh1w2.gnnettest.com>) about 'Manufacturing Hipot Testing', on Mon, 20 Aug 2001: >I believe that it matters. For instance, in EN 61010-1 (Safety of Test >& Measurement Equipment) production line testing is in one of the >"informative" annexes. It isn't in one of the "normative" annexes. >This leads me to believe that, if strictly interpreted, production line >hipot ... isn't required for EN 61010-1. You are correct, if indeed the Annex is Informative. But that is exceedingly surprising. > I'm not sure if this is also >true for other Euro safety standards. No, it is not, for any that I know about anyway. > >I wonder if other people have noticed this difference between >"informative" and "normative" annexes. How is this interpreted? Normative Annexes contain provisions that are equally valid as those of the main text. Informative Annexes do not, or should not, contain provisions, simply recommendations, clarifications or data. In any case, they are *purely* informative. -- Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Eat mink and be dreary! ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Michael Garretson: pstc_ad...@garretson.org Dave Heald davehe...@mediaone.net For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.rcic.com/ click on "Virtual Conference Hall,"