Not OT question about CE Marking

Because its a product that uses a PICAXE.

There has been interest in the Lost Model Locator I did, its small, not too expensive parts wise and has a variety of detection options. If you have access to HAM radio gear the tracking range for the GPS co-ordinates is just silly.

Its a while since I worked in the Electronics industry, 20 years or so, and I am way out of touch with the vagaries of CE marking, and no contacts in an Electronics manufacturer.

I have done some online searching and although there is lots of stuff out there, its not at all clear if an RF device such as this (primarily on 434Mhz) can be self certified or not, or what sort of checks may be required in 'production' to check for emissions etc.

I realise there are approved bodies that will do compliance testing, but that can be very expensive, and more very expensive re-work and testing if the first check fails.

Any pointers or idiot guides to the process ?

No idea if this is relevant, but ......

http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?23667-EMC-Testing&highlight=approval+testing

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I don't know, but have a read of this and this.

It's a start - I'd be wary of unqualified advice.

Its a help but its all a big morass of terms, regulations, directives, harmonised standards etc.

It seems that if a product meets the requirements of the relevant 'harmonised standards' you can self certify assuming you compile a rain Forrest worth of documentation.

And there in lies a problem, which 'harmonized standards' apply ?

And am I right that if you want to see the 'harmonized standards' to check if they apply, you need to hand over large amounts of cash to purchase the standards ?

One interesting exception;

1.3.3
Test equipment (transmitting radio frequencies)
Test equipment used for radio equipment testing is not considered to be radio communications equipment and is thus not covered by
the Directive. However, the use of the test equipment may need a permission from radio frequency authorities.

Coincidence, but I just wrote two programs to allow the modules to be used as test equipment, measuring the radiated field strength for antenna testing and a packet reception test to test the range of packet viable reception with different antennas and modem settings.

And if the power is kept under 10mW (easy) it should be outside the regulations for wireless stuff.

An important step in seeing what regulations might apply is to define the country/countries or zone of interest

Well Europe in principal, but I have sold some PCB only to America also.

I just cant see a way around the process without engaging a 3rd party company to establish which harmonized standards or compliance testing is needed.

You cant tell which standards apply without checking the standards, so without a 3rd party company to advise, you have to part company with a pile of cash to get hold of an expensive standard that may not apply.

There is no compelling requirement for CE certification from my perspective and the sales are to private individuals who typically are just not interested.

Sell 'em a PCB and a parts list. After that, it's not your responsibility, at least as near as I can tell for the USA.

John West said:

Sell 'em a PCB and a parts list. After that, it's not your responsibility, at least as near as I can tell for the USA.

Click to expand...

Thats the approach I have adopted so far.

But times have changed in the DIY field, there seem to be few people prepared to DIY, and those that are prepared to seem shall we just say 'less experienced' and expect a pile of free help.