Huntkey in Europe--violation of EN61000-3-2

[Phaedrus]

A user at TSF recently came to us and asked us to "review" a computer he bought from a local PC shop. He lives in the EU, but did not specify the country. The computer specs are as follows:

Intel DQ35JO Motherboard
HuntKey LW-6500HGP 500W
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz
ASUS EAH4890 1GB DDR5
4GB (2x2GB) Kingston DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM
Windows XP Service Pack 3, Media Center Edition 2005

The Huntkey LW-6500HGP is a Huntkey GreenStar product, which have been established to be pure garbage. Based on the trend of other Huntkey units I expect it can only deliver ~400W before burning. I expect this system to draw ~300W under heavy gaming load. With the cheap components used this PSU will probably derate at about 30-50W a year; thus within a couple of years this user can expect a catastrophic primary-side power supply failure.

What's interesting here though is that the Huntkey PSU lacks PFC, which is in violation of EU standard EN61000-3-2, which requires all switching mode power supplies with an output greater than 75W to have some form of power factor correction.

I've tried googling, but can't get a good answer: what punishment exists for violation of EN61000-3-2 in the European Union? I need to know because this user wishes to force the shop to replace the PSU with a higher quality unit for free or a steep discount, and the more "ammo" he can bring against these incompetent techs, the better.

[Gabriel Torres]

Good question.

As you may be aware, we reviewed all Huntkey power supplies we could get our hands on, and with the exception of the ones from Titan series, all others exploded. Here you go:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/754

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/672

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/668

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/557

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/556

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/527

It is very interesting to note that this power supply you got is probably being sold as a 650 W model in other countries and they relabeled it as 500 W model (its true wattage).

I don't know what the punishement is, but honestly I think people that deceive consumers on purpose should go to jail.

Cheers,
Gabriel.

[Phaedrus]

Just found out; that particular model of PSU, by Huntkey's naming patterns, has passive PFC.

LW-6500HGP
HG means it has a 140mm fan, and the P means passive PFC. So it is legal for sale in Europe. It's still a very low-end PSU and inadequate for the system. I've advised the user to still try to get the shop to replace it for free, and linked him to your Huntkey GreenStar 550W and V-Power 550W reviews to prove that it's a junk unit.


And I agree, what the low-end PSU makers try to pull sometimes is false advertising in all but name. Even some mid-range makers put out shoddy units: a friend recently lost half of his RAID 1+0 array because his BFG 550W was overvolting on the +5V rail. He was putting a heavy load on the +12V rail with his i7 system, and because the BFG uses group voltage regulation that caused the +12V voltage to drop to 11.8V and the +5V to spike to 5.3V--enough to kill the hard drive motors of two of his hard drives. I told him to get a Corsair, but he doesn't listen to me, so now he has a Xion 1100W which I hope isn't the same as the Tagan 1100W.

I think one thing you might want to add to your PSU reviews is voltage balance tests, to see if the voltage is individually regulated, or group regulated. So for one test you overload the +12V rail, and in another test you overload the +5V and +3.3V rail, and watch all voltage levels to see if they drop or spike. Another thing to do is test to make sure SCP is active. Just suggestions.

[Gabriel Torres]

Originally Posted by Phaedrus

I think one thing you might want to add to your PSU reviews is voltage balance tests, to see if the voltage is individually regulated, or group regulated. So for one test you overload the +12V rail, and in another test you overload the +5V and +3.3V rail, and watch all voltage levels to see if they drop or spike. Another thing to do is test to make sure SCP is active. Just suggestions.

Thanks for these ideas!

Cheers,
Gabriel.

[Olle P]

Originally Posted by Phaedrus

what punishment exists for violation of EN61000-3-2 in the European Union?

Now that's an easy one. The punishment is exactly none whatsoever!
Violating a standard is by no means illegal (unless you claim to fulfil that particular standard). However, standards are often designed to harmonise with any applicable laws, so if you do comply with those standards you will automatically comply with the laws.
You can still comply with the laws without adhering to any EN-standards.

Cheers
Olle

[Phaedrus]

That sucks. Go EU.

[Merman]

Originally Posted by Phaedrus

I've tried googling, but can't get a good answer: what punishment exists for violation of EN61000-3-2 in the European Union? I need to know because this user wishes to force the shop to replace the PSU with a higher quality unit for free or a steep discount, and the more "ammo" he can bring against these incompetent techs, the better.

Violation of this standard would not help you with the shop because if true it would take a while to accomplish.

The EU does have legislation with penalties for electrical standards. First there are the standards and then the EMC Directive, which is the legislation with penalties for non-compliance. These sites will help you understand:

http://cp.literature.agilent.com/lit...5964-1917E.pdf

When first introduced, the EMC Directive was seen by many manufacturers as a bit of a nuisance which had been inflicted on them, rather than an essential piece of legislation intended to preserve the radio spectrum. Nowadays EMC has to be considered for aspects of safety to guard against malfunction of equipment, rather than just to preserve an increasingly congested radio spectrum.

We at Kernow EMC Limited believe that EMC is more than just a legislative nuisance. EMC, on the other hand, is a set of environmental parameters similar to the traditional temperature, shock and vibration, which carry the additional legal burden of regulatory compliance.

Failure to comply with the legislation within the EU can result in legal proceedings with serious consequences, as a number of companies will no doubt testify. In the event of a successful prosecution, fines of up to £5000 can be imposed. For serious cases, imprisonment of the responsible person (he who signs the DOC), fines and destruction of the product can be imposed. When a non-compliance is reported, the product must be immediately withdrawn from sale and use within the EU, and the member states notified until compliance has been achieved. A reasonable amount of time is normally given for remedial action and court action is normally only taken if a manufacturer shows no sign of taking such remedial action or takes an unreasonable amount of time to respond.

http://www.kernow-emc.co.uk/legislation.html

Here is a FAQ about product safety in general from a safety lab that may help.
http://www.pseinc.com/faq.htm#UL