ETL VS UL VS TUVus
ETL VS UL VS TUVus
(OP)
Looking at certifying, for the US market, a line of LED Drivers. Is ETL or TUVus accepted as much as UL by most end customers? Want to make sure I take the best route to supplying what the customers are expecting.





RE: ETL VS UL VS TUVus
My experience has been that ETL, MET, CSA, and TUV are growing in acceptance -- particularly in the electrical construction industry. But they're not as universally accepted as UL. You'll have to get some market data on your product's intended customers to see what's necessary.
This is especially true in consumer goods -- while you'll see major retailers selling major appliances (refrigerator for example) with an alternative listing, you won't catch them selling a plug-in desk lamp without UL on it...
That's just my experience, though. Let the others weigh in on this -- I'll be following this thread to learn more myself!
Be sure and post us with your end result...
Good on ya,
Goober Dave
RE: ETL VS UL VS TUVus
I don't know about the other agencies, but UL has an active and continuous process of updating and improving the their testing standards. They have a fleet of engineers and other personnel engaged in the process. They hold meetings in which the primary manufacturers and other parties with a vested interest are invited and contribute to the creation of the standards. They are currently involved in unifying the standards across North America. Obviously this is a significant expense and is likely part of why UL is more expensive.
On a personal note, having been involved in getting equipment listed through UL and other agencies, I think that the UL testing was more thorough. Maybe this has to do with not feeling need to try and gain market share, which can be a conflict of interest. As a result, I am personally more comfortable with a UL listing than another agency.
RE: ETL VS UL VS TUVus
As for who is more excepted in the industry, UL of course but our customers don't care who does our testing as long as we are all testing to the same standards and they all do.
RE: ETL VS UL VS TUVus
The straw that sent us packing was 15 years worth of product evaluations suddenly being considered insufficient and their asking us to pay for retroactively retesting and recertifying of our entire product line to a new test plan that manager/engineers Northbrook who didn't know our application in detail insisted that the engineers in Santa Clara follow. I think they gave us 60 days to repeat $250,000 worth of testing or quit using the UL label altogether. That meant devoting an entire year's budget to recertifying and delaying certification of the new year's products until they were all but meaningless. What an obvious shakedown.
TÜV accepted UL's previous test data and assigned a specific engineer to reassess the conditions of acceptability that we argued made all the previous test plans appropriate. Some changes have been made but they didn't completely disrupt our business cycle.
It's really the market and the customer who calls the shots though. There's one who will accept Intertek and TÜV Rheinland but not TÜV America and the sales guy just rams it through. We lose money but he still gets his commission. It's not his budget. Gotta love creative accounting.
RE: ETL VS UL VS TUVus
RE: ETL VS UL VS TUVus
RE: ETL VS UL VS TUVus
On the flip side: in one of our products at work, there was a manufacturing and purchasing mistake where the wrong MOVs were placed in the product. The MOVs used had an insufficient voltage rating, which resulted in some ... sparks ... when operated on some units, but not all. The product was evaluated and approved by ETL. They did not catch that the MOVs were wrong. From a personal perspective, this scares me, at least with regards to products that I may buy and put in my home.
RE: ETL VS UL VS TUVus
As a compliance engineer, I agree with the different interpretation you'll get from different engineers at UL. However, you see this with other agencies as well, just not as much. If you have a compliance engineer on staff, there's no need to worry about this because he/she will straighten out any mis-interpretations and assumptions (a regulatory compliance engineer is worth his weight in gold!). If you don't have one on staff, assign the certification part of your project to one individual (engineer) and encourage him/her to validate all interpretations and assumptions made by the agency engineers (easier for one person to keep it all organized vs several people). Remember, the agency engineers are experts in the standards and codes, but only YOU are the expert in your product, its design and intended applications. You have to work together with the agencies to prevent waste in the form of unneccessary testing and evaluation (and ultimately cost $$$). I've also found that TUV tends to be very expensive, in some cases more than UL. Good luck.