22 Jan
2009
22 Jan
'09
2:33 a.m.
Message: 26
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:01:00 +0000 (GMT)
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
Subject: Re: Wall warts; was: hams on classiccmp
To: cctalk at classiccmp.org
Message-ID: <m1LPOef-000J3QC at p850ug1>
Content-Type: text/plain
Tony Duell wrote:
I feel these standard, or at least the 'CE
mark' is part of the
problem,
and here's why....
It would apperar there are either loopholes in the standard, or
plenty of
cheap electrical devices (including wall-warts) that have invalid CE
marks on them, in that I've seem enough devices that I don't consider
safe. The problem is that if the wall-wart carries the CE mark, then
as
you said, the certification for the whole product becomes a lot
easier,
and if there are any problems later, a large part of the defence is
'But
the wall wart met the appropriate CE standards'.
Specifically, what do you consider unsafe about current wall-warts?
I've found all the devices I've been in of late to be well designed
and quite safe - cheap, yes. Perhaps you have been expecting
accessible fuses. For some time the fuses have been located next to
the core under the windings and act both as current and thermal
protection devices. Most of the ones I've opened up have both the
primary and secondary fused. I have yet to find one with the turns
actually fused open. Granted, it's a bit more work to repair one, but
well worth the time it takes to unwind the primary and secondary,
replace the fuses, and rewind same. ;=)
But when manufacturers were entirely responsible for
what their
devices
did, they made darn sure they were safe. Said manufacturers did not
want
to end up paying out large amounts of damages. SO th products really
_were_ safe.
And in so many cases the manufacturer's concept of what was safe was
not that of the court. Consequently, the certification standards.
I offer as an example the PSU brick for the Philips
G7000 video game.
It's a bit like awall-wart, except it has a mains input cable that you
wire to a suitale plug. But inside that brick (which is nicely screwed
together), there are no fewer than 3 protective devices. A mains-side
fuse, a secondary fuse, and a thermal fuse (on the mains side).
And the reason the warts are now sealed is that some bright person,
having no idea of what he/she/it was doing, opened one and (chose one)
1. set it ablaze, 2. caused some sort of laceration on a sharp edge,
or 3. left it open and plugged in and fried fido. We now have a
mentality that disallows Darwinism and hence the large number of
people developing standards to guide and protect the designer/
manufacturer. Again, what you might consider safe might not be what
others consider safe.
CRC