Question about building electrical cabinets in the us

[markus.dnd]

Hey all,

I have been thoroughly swamped in trying to figure out how to get our product to us market as i am myself in the EU

So, the system it self is outdoor furniture with some electrical components. We have a device that operates (low voltage 24V) and this is powered by electrical cabinet which gets the power from building-s infrastructure.

Now a standard method would be to have pre-built NRTL certified electrical cabinet that an electrician can connect to the general AC from the building and everything is done.

Sadly getting that is out of our time scale right now because client obviously wants everything right now instead of waiting of 3 months until we could get the pre-built certification done.

Now, i know that in the US just like in the EU usually building-s electrical cabinets are built on site by electricians. so my question is that would this also be an option?

we are thinking about providing UL rated electrical components and the system itself is just few secondary fuses, ground fault fuse, electricity meter and 24V power supply. Obviously all of them are UL rated for US use.

Am i missing something or should it really be so, that i can get our system set up by using local electrician to assemble and sign it off on?

Are we talking about thousands of dollars for it, tens of thousands per assembly?

Thank you all for any help!

[jonpaul]

Bonjour cher Monsieur !

SELV regs govern safety of LV electric, peak voltage 42.2 V

Each locality in USA has electrical codes and inspections which generally follow the US NEA National Electric Code for safety, ampacity, volt

A UL, or ETL certifation is indeed long and complex.

Just sell a 24 VAC device and leave it to the customer or installer to provide a 24v transformer, that is of correct VA and approved.

Most lawn irrigation controllers, LV outdoor lights, etc. do this.

Alternative your firm provides the transformer.

For best advice on electrical safety and compliance, see Mike Holt electric forum,

https://www.mikeholt.com/

Also ask on electricians forum's.

Bon chance

Jon

[EPAIII]

One work-around that many manufacturers of low Voltage equipment use is the wall wart. Just purchase an approved, 24V wall wart power supply that can power your equipment and use it's low Voltage (24V) wiring from there. Often the cables from the wall wart to the device aren't even as good as standard lamp cord (zip cord). And I could be wrong, but I don't think they need any inspection or certification as that was done by the OEM of the wall wart. Also the wall wart should limit the current to a safe value, all designed and approved by the wall wart OEM. Then the wiring inside your 24V or lower Voltage devices are not inspected or in need of approval. From what I have seen, almost anything goes inside them. But I would recommend a fuse or breaker.

Wall warts can be purchased for just a few dollars and come in both filtered and regulated versions that can supply a number of Amps.

[tom66]

Just make sure you buy decent wall warts!  Plenty of crap out there.  In the UK, Stontronics seem to be reasonable enough.  They're modestly expensive but I've taken a few apart in my time and usually built reasonably well for the price.

[jonpaul]

Hard to comprehend the problem as outdoor furniture and electrical cabinet are rather vague.

Lawn lighting? Gas grill? outdoor kitchen?
Can the OP reveal a bit more, eg the existing products I Eu, à photo or block ?


So far this entire project seems  an impractical business model.
to design, build, ship from UK, EU a large heavy product to USA.

Cost of freight, paperwork,  taxes, local regulatory compliance, would seem a huge expensive undertaking.

j

[tszaboo]

I have been thoroughly swamped in trying to figure out how to get our product to us market as i am myself in the EU

You should contact a NoBo in that can help you identify all the legal requirements that are necessary to place a product on the US market. Maybe a consultant that can help and guide you in the process. It's going to take time and effort, so be prepared, and perhaps do a cost benefit analysis, if it's even worth to launch the product there, after you have understanding how much the certification and paperwork costs. And I haven't even talked about that you might likely need a local distributor, taxes, legal and other protections.

[markus.dnd]

Yep, I started of with an official certification providing consultant as well. Obviously they want to see the device and that is what we are working.
Lucky that we have a local distributors ready, so they will handle the local taxing. Sadly they are metal manufacturers so they had 0 answers for my questions.

[markus.dnd]

It is more like IOT device that has hard metal around it. For parking purposes.

Piloting needs our own hardware and later we get metalwork and assembly from locals.

[markus.dnd]

Thank you for the guiding link. I will look in to this!

I myself also found that if at all possible, using walladapter is better option, sadly we have cases where we need to distribute AC as well, and that creates a classical electrical cabinet, GFP etc etc.

[EPAIII]

Perhaps you should look for a US company which has experience with making electrical products with enclosures and whom you can partner with. Some more details may be useful in getting suggestions. Approximate sizes. Power consumption. Controls and displays. Etc. General things like that which do not disclose the actual nature of the product but would help nail down the requirements.