truly dictatorial [RE-wrenches]

[Joel Davidson]

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) http://www.ul.com/about/index.html "is an
independent, not-for-profit product safety testing and certification
organization" with "the undisputed reputation as the leader in U.S. product
safety and certification." This is UL's sales pitch for its fee-based service.
ETL provides a similar service but is #2 like Avis is to Hertz. In fact,
Consumer Reports (CR) is also a fee-based safety service. Perhaps some day CR,
ETL or a new player will challenge UL's market domination like Walmart did to
Kmart.

When I was a kid, I was told that the UL label was like the Good Housekeeping
Seal of Approval and that our house would burn down if we did not use lamps,
irons, toasters, etc. with UL labels. In 1963, when started working in
electronics, I accepted UL as "spec" the way children accept their parent's
religion. It wasn't until in 1987 when I wanted Hoxan modules UL listed that I
began to question UL's monopoly. Hoxan engineers and managers asked why
American companies have to pay a private company for product certification.
They said safety testing in Japan is done by the government and universities as
a public service paid with taxes. The Japanese could not understand why
Americans let a private company monopolize an important public service like
electrical safety certification. In 1994, after Sanyo bought Solec I had to
again explain to Japanese engineers and managers how UL controls the U.S.
market place.

I am not privy to the Xantrex/UL problem, but it looks like the result of poor
communications between the vendor (UL) and the customer (Xantrex). I can't
imagine what Xantrex did to anger or frighten UL into warning the public about
its customer's products. Nevertheless, UL has Xantrex on the defensive. The SW
issue will only be resolved if Xantrex makes UL happy enough to retract its
warning. Come on Xantrex. Give UL what it wants and let's move on.

Late-breaking news. Today one of my customers received the CEC "Notice of
Ineligibility of Inverters" letter dated December 11, 2001 and addressed to
participating retailers, applicants and interested parties regarding SW
inverters.

Drake Chamberlin - Electrical Energy wrote:

> Hello Wrenches,
>
> To me the issue here is UL.

<snip>

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com

==^================================================================
This email was sent to: michael.welch at homepower.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Qcs.bz9JC9
Or send an email to: RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================