Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
I've just bought a generic 3.0Kw spindle and VFD off Amazon and the first thing I noticed when unpacking it is that there is no CE mark on either the VFD or in the documentation, I though all electronic devices sold within the EU had to carry the CE mark to show compliance with EU safety standards?
Secondly, and more worrying is that the "Earth" terminal in the VFD is only connected to the backplane of the PCB it's mounted on, there is no protective earth connection to the large exposed aluminium heatsink on the back of the unit, meaning that this could potentially carry 240v if there was a fault in the unit, without tripping the breaker.
I'm intending to take this up with the seller, but I don't suppose I'll get much of a response. I will also to notify Amazon that they are carrying non compliant and potentially lethal electrical goods and hopefully they will delist them, question is are all Chinese VFD's like this?
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
Link.
Price.
Brand.
Without the above it's impossible to know if we should be surprised or not.
- Nick
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
Jeff
I would say yes , its the norm
Going by the photos in various Chinese 6040 router threads
earthing is an after thought at best as they work without an earth , don't they !!!
it would appear the routers normally have the mains earth to the control box fastened to a painted metal surface !!!
the 220V 3 phase VFD output wired to a chassis mounting plug !!! not a socket
with no earth wire connected to the water cooled spindle motor
so I will expect there will be enough leakage current to the spindle motor and the rest of the machine to be felt when touched
I guess the lack of any earth wiring to the rest of the machine avoids earth loops in the signal wiring to and from the breakout board
I have a 4 ft LED light that I added an earth to the metal case
the upside is the 36W LED is brighter than the 2 x 36W florescent light it replaced
I have also rewired the mini-lathe I have as the push on connectors used was made from brass that was too thin to maintain good contact pressure
John
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
If you click the sellers name on the line
"Dispatched from and sold by moretrade."
You get this -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/sp?_encodin...b=&vasStoreID=
Confirming that the items are sold and shipped from Shanghai.
Unless an item states "Fulfilled by Amazon" Amazon is merely the marketplace and you are dealing with the seller, you have clearly chosen to buy a Chinese product shipped from China and now you want to get it "de-listed" because it isn't CE marked and made to EU electrical safety standards?
Wire it up with the appropriate safe mounting, earthing and connections and see if it works, if not you have a legitimate gripe.
- Nick
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
My understanding is that because you are buying directly from China, then it can be imported without a CE mark, but if i were to import it and then sell it from within the EU, i would be breaking the law.
So if you buy it and put it in a CNC router and sell it, and the person who bought it got electrocuted, then you would most likely be prosecuted if it were found that items on the machine were not safe and had no CE.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jeff
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
A long time ago, i was buying stepper drivers from IMS in the USA and they had no CE.
Parker, complained and we had a letter requesting further information.
Luckily they were under the low voltage threshold of the LVD and the case was dropped, but if it was not we would most likely have had a large fine and told to stop importing these drivers.
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
The item was actually shipped from Germany, so yes it should be CE compliant. I've notified the seller of this and pointed out that if the unit isn't correctly bonded when it's installed it could be potentially fatal. I have every right to expect that electrical products, no matter where they are manufactured at least meet basic safety standards.
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jeff
The item was actually shipped from Germany.
It's just a 3rd party warehousing service used by a Chinese company from Shanghai.
On the bright side you should only have to send it back to the warehouse for a refund, then you can buy something with a CE mark ;-)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jeff
I've notified the seller of this and pointed out that if the unit isn't correctly bonded when it's installed it could be potentially fatal.
But your qualified electrical engineer would have spotted all that and either wired it correctly or condemned it :D
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
Quote:
It's just a 3rd party warehousing service used by a Chinese company from Shanghai. On the bright side you should only have to send it back to the warehouse for a refund, then you can buy something with a CE mark ;-)
If it was sent from Germany, it would have been invoiced from Germany, so imported into the EU and resold, so if it is not CE, this is illegal.
Quote:
But your qualified electrical engineer would have spotted all that and either wired it correctly or condemned it :D
Not the point. If it is dangerous it should not be sold regardless of where.
Also just because it has CE stamped on the device does not make it CE, you should ask for a copy of the certificate and this will give the details of the company who put it through CE and the number that you can check up on.
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gary
If it was sent from Germany, it would have been invoiced from Germany, so imported into the EU and resold, so if it is not CE, this is illegal.
I thought the way these things worked was the items are held in a bonded warehouse, so not technically imported until they are sold. At which point they officially get imported to the EU (or forwarded to another country for import), and any import tax paid?
So as Nick says, it's still technically sold direct from China, just delivered via third party bonded storage.
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
Quote:
Originally Posted by
m_c
I thought the way these things worked was the items are held in a bonded warehouse, so not technically imported until they are sold. At which point they officially get imported to the EU (or forwarded to another country for import), and any import tax paid?
So as Nick says, it's still technically sold direct from China, just delivered via third-party bonded storage.
I maybe wrong on this, but my understanding is that if it is in a bonded warehouse the vat and duty is not paid and is paid before its released.
so who pays the VAT? all the adverts are showing as no VAT or duty to add, so the VAT and Duty is paid in the EU and this means that they woudl be invoied in the EU?
Again, i may be wrong on this, becase i dont get involved with this form of importing.
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gary
I maybe wrong on this, but my understanding is that if it is in a bonded warehouse the vat and duty is not paid and is paid before its released.
so who pays the VAT? all the adverts are showing as no VAT or duty to add, so the VAT and Duty is paid in the EU and this means that they woudl be invoied in the EU?
Again, i may be wrong on this, becase i dont get involved with this form of importing.
You're correct about VAT/duty not being paid if it's in a bonded warehouse.
I'd guess the seller pays any duty when the item is released, and it's just built into the price.
I'd probably also hazard a guess that's there's some manipulation of prices to minimise duty/VAT costs.
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
It's all covered in 3rd, 4th and 5th Party Warehousing contracts :D
Re: Generic Chinese VFD, no CE and no earth connection to exposed metal heatsink
A quick update. I wired in the VFD (including bonding the heatsink to my star earth point), and it's a dud. Everything powers up fine but when attempting to run the spindle it just trips into current overload. Whilst proudly bearing the HY badge and looking near identical to a genuine HuanYang inverter on the outside, the internals bear no resemblance and there are only about 30 editable parameters, none of which relate to motor current.
To give credit to the vendor they have refunded me in full and told me I can keep the spindle, but looking at the prices for a decent 4HP inverter I've decided to run with a Kress 1050 for the time being.
Buying Chinese stuff really is a crapshoot.
