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CE certification

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 1:00 pm
by juniorhifikit
Hi all,

I'm looking to sell something I've designed and have started manufacturing, and in looking at CE certification for European distribution, I'm not finding any specific information on exactly what to test for. I've looked at all of the directives that apply, and I understand that I can "self-certify" by making a declaration of conformity, but nowhere on the European Commission website do they list the actual numbers one needs to hit. Specifically, I'm looking at EMC, LV (low voltage), and RoHS compliance.

I simply can not afford to go to a lab and pay upwards of $10K for the above testing and certification. I was hoping that if I could see the actual data of what they're measuring, I could measure myself and make my declaration. Does anyone know where I can get these spec's? What do other small pro audio manufacturers (Like Roger's FCS) do to conform?

Thanks,

Scott Greiner

Re: CE certification

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:41 pm
by jlm
Download an owner'smanual from any reputable manufacturer. There ought to be a page with all the certs, so you'll know what you should look for. Then you'll have to purchase the relevant documents from your local standard institute or whatever you call it.
The hard thing is the EMC compliance. If you have a switching PSU, or a certain amount of high-speed logic or an RF transmitter or a high power amp, you're in trouble. But if you have a reasonably designed piece of analog gear with a linear PSU, it should be easy.

Re: CE certification

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:28 pm
by juniorhifikit
jlm wrote:The hard thing is the EMC compliance. If you have a switching PSU, or a certain amount of high-speed logic ... you're in trouble.
Yes to both :(

I'm not sure what a "local standard institute" is here in the U.S. I don't understand why they don't make the information readily available on the European Commission website.

Re: CE certification

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 5:13 am
by jlm
juniorhifikit wrote: I'm not sure what a "local standard institute" is here in the U.S.
I can't answer that, but I'm sure UL will tell you. In France, it's AFNOR, in Germany DIN, in the UK BSI, all are members of the ISO.
I don't understand why they don't make the information readily available on the European Commission website.
They make money selling these documents.

Re: CE certification

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:07 am
by JR.
I believe the FCC is the local authority on RF emissions for the US. While the CE regulation is not just for interference generated, but behavior in the presence of interference, without much clear definition of how much and what kind...

Enjoy...

FWIW you can get a sense for how much of a EMI source you are with a high bandwidth scope and crude antenna. You could even rent a big dog spectrum analyzer if you knew what the targets are to meet.



JR

Re: CE certification

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:14 am
by juniorhifikit
JR. wrote: if you knew what the targets are to meet.
JR
Therein lies the problem. I'm going (with cash in hand) in search of the actual spec'... I'll report back with my findings.

Re: CE certification

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:43 am
by mediatechnology
It's been awhile since I reasearched it but there are a number of compliance labs here in Texas for EMC. I'm sure they're just about everywhere.

Seems like a good lab could help you with obtaining the standards and meeting them.