Ilan, EN60950 requires both overload and earth fault protection. Pluggable products may rely upon the building protection (mains fuses, breakers) to provide line to earth fault protection. If so, a single internal fuse or breaker can protect against overload. Such construction is allowed and is considerd to be safe even if the mains plug is not polarized. Richard Woods Sensormatic Electronics Tyco International
From: Ilan Cohen [mailto:ico...@itl.co.il] Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 8:57 AM To: 'emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org' Subject: Safety of Schuko CEE7 plug (earthed plug) in Europe? Dear Group I have been looking into the usage of the Continental European Plug also known as Schuko CEE7 plug (earthed plug). It can be inserted into the Wall socket without a way to ensure that line is connected to line and Neutral to Neutral. http://www.interpower.com/scripts/wsisa dll/WService=panel-icl/p80list2.p?w_country=Continental+Europe It presents a technical problem with products, which are protected by one fuse. Typically a fuse is installed in the Line in any product. To be really safe there should be two fusses, one in the line and another in the neutral. Does anyone know the actual regulations in Germany or other countries that started adopting these plugs regarding the number of fusses in the product? There is clearly a safety problem here, which is not being handled properly by safety standards like EN60950 (ITE) or EN60335 (Home appliances). But in the other hand it will be an overkill to request two fusses for products entering the EU (Germany, Italy...) ---------------------------------------------------------- Ilan Cohen Technical Director, Safety & Telecom Divisions I.T.L (PRODUCT TESTING) Ltd. 26 Hacharoshet St, POB 211, Or Yehuda, Israel. Tel 972-3-5339022, Fax 972-3-5339019 ico...@itl.co.il, website: http://www.itl.co.il ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------- I-SPEC: The best place on the internet to learn about safety !! http://www.i-spec.com/ (I-Spec is provided free of charge as a service by ITL to the compliance community) -----------------------------------------------------------------
