Approvals engineering

Generic EMC directive

Automotive EMC directive

ECE Regulation No 65

The full title of Regulation No 65 is Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Special Warning Lamps for Motor Vehicles. In plain English the term “Special Warning Lamps” means beacons and lightbars. This Regulation covers things like labelling, colour and light output. The information here attempts to explain what Regulation No 65 means for lightbars and beacons.

There are a lot of different lightbars available. Many of them are not ECE 65 lightbars because they include things not covered by Regulation No 65, e.g. flashers, red or green lenses. It is perfectly all right to sell them in the UK at present (2006) because this ECE Regulation is not compulsory. But if we say that a particular lightbar is an ECE 65 lightbar, i.e. we stick the appropriate label on, we have to actually comply with Regulation No 65.

ECE 65 lightbars and beacons are type-approved. This means that we are only allowed a limited number of well-defined variants. They are defined by the drawings that we have to submit with the sample lightbars. This includes putting labels in the all the required places, i.e. at either side and the base of the lightbar. ECE 65 lightbars can be either blue or amber and can have halogen or xenon strobe light sources. If they have halogen light sources they can have one rotator or two coupled rotators per side.

EMC

What is EMC?

There are a lot of different abbreviations around, most of them being incomprehensible to ordinary mortals. Probably one of them is EMC. What does it stand for? Why might your company have to bother with it? And how is it put into practice? The information here tries to answer these questions.

What does the abbreviation "EMC" stand for? It is short for electromagnetic compatibility. In other words, it is about good neighbourliness when it comes to electrical or electronics devices. Any electric or electronic device can emit electromagnetic energy. It acts very much like an unintentional transmitter of electromagnetic energy (similar to a radio transmitter). At the same time any electronic device can couple into an electromagnetic wave thus acting as a receiver of electromagnetic energy; very much like a radio receiver. This received energy can cause the electronic device to malfunction.

This leads to what is known as essential EMC requirements for electronic devices. The first requirement is that the electromagnetic emissions of such devices must not cause other equipment to malfunction. The second is that these devices shall be immune to electromagnetic energy.

These requirements are very vague and mean different things to different people. In order to standardise these essential requirements the European Union has issued a number of different directives relating to EMC (e.g. the generic EMC directive or the automotive EMC directive). These directives are directed at the member states, which are required to transpose them into national law, i.e. write them into their law books. In the UK they have been transposed and electronics manufacturers should find out if their products are within the scope of one or another EMC directive.

Common causes of EMC problems

This section is currently under review.

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