I've recently taken on the task of making sure my company's electrical equipment. We're dispersed around the country, working in our own home offices around the UK, but meet up every so often in London.
My cunning plan was to try and organise (clearly I won't be doing it myself) for appliances to get inspected and tested during one of the London gatherings, so I'm working down the list of items we have and identifying what class of equipment it is, what should be Visual Inspected and PA tested and by when.
I fear I'm about to ask some very stupid questions as I have very limited electrical knowledge ~ deep breath, here goes!
There's a section in the HSE guidance on intervals for visual inspections and PAT. It says items classified as "Extra low voltage: (less than 50 volts AC)", such as Telephone equipment and low-voltage desk-lights doesn't need visual testing or PAT.
1. We've got a few items, such as routers and Voip phones that are powered by an AC to DC cable with outputs ranging from 5-12v DC. Do these qualify as "extra low voltage", or is this a very specific term that means something more complicated than it sounds?
2. Regardless of the appliance rating, I think this would still mean that the cable needs testing, am I right?
3. I have a specific case of a phone with an output of "DC 5V 2A", the plug is double insulated, but the phone itself has no double insulation sign and when I contacted the manufacturer, they said it was Class 1. This has completely confused me! Does this mean I should have the cable and the phone tested anyway, even though the voltage is so low?
Thanks (and sorry) in advance
My cunning plan was to try and organise (clearly I won't be doing it myself) for appliances to get inspected and tested during one of the London gatherings, so I'm working down the list of items we have and identifying what class of equipment it is, what should be Visual Inspected and PA tested and by when.
I fear I'm about to ask some very stupid questions as I have very limited electrical knowledge ~ deep breath, here goes!
There's a section in the HSE guidance on intervals for visual inspections and PAT. It says items classified as "Extra low voltage: (less than 50 volts AC)", such as Telephone equipment and low-voltage desk-lights doesn't need visual testing or PAT.
1. We've got a few items, such as routers and Voip phones that are powered by an AC to DC cable with outputs ranging from 5-12v DC. Do these qualify as "extra low voltage", or is this a very specific term that means something more complicated than it sounds?
2. Regardless of the appliance rating, I think this would still mean that the cable needs testing, am I right?
3. I have a specific case of a phone with an output of "DC 5V 2A", the plug is double insulated, but the phone itself has no double insulation sign and when I contacted the manufacturer, they said it was Class 1. This has completely confused me! Does this mean I should have the cable and the phone tested anyway, even though the voltage is so low?
Thanks (and sorry) in advance
