What countries don't need PFC for offline SMPS >75W?

[treez]

Do you know the answer to this?
And at what power level do those countries say PFC is needed...if at all?

Also, my wife's father owns a large Art Gallery....he needs many lights in there...many greater than 100W and offline......he doesnt want to use PFC as it costs more.......his lights are only on when someone comes to look at a particular exhibit, which, since its a "nouveaux art" place and only has a small number of niche customers, isnt for long each day. So since he owns the gallery......can he opt for non-PFC'd SMPS?... and get such non-PFC'd SMPS made by a consultancy which only serves him , and him only, in this regard? (he won't be putting non-PFC'd SMPS into the wider market)

 

[Easy peasy]

NZ, Australia, India, China, USA, most of the South America's, all of Africa, Russia, most of Asia ...

Now that GB is out of the EU - it may be that PFC requirements do not apply ...

 

[treez]

Thanks, Are you sure USA doesn't mandate it?.......the USA make all the PFC controllers.
Surely the USA national grid would buckle under all the reactive current if they didnt have PFC laws?

 

[wwfeldman]

if the lights are incandescent, they should be changed to LEDs
less power, less heat, less current, etc
so less reactive current

 

[treez]

Thanks, they are already LED.

 

[treez]

NZ, Australia, India, China, USA...........

Thanks, though i wonder..because power integrations seem to think that USA does need PFC above 75W.....

Is PFC needed in TOP261 228W design?

I`m student developer who really uses your prod

www.power.com

I could be wrong, but i feel certain that USA and EU use exactly the same electrical regs?

 

[Easy peasy]

Wrong, also LED, CCFL generally have very poor power factor compared to incandescent - which has PF of 1.000

There are very stringent EU ( CE ) lighting standards for power factor on any light - of any power,

as there are for psu's above 75 watt ....

Not so much in ROW.

 

[treez]

Thanks, in post#6, power integrations are saying PFC is needed for USA and EU when above 75w.
Do you believe this is wrong?

 

[FvM]

75W is the limit for class A equipment according to IEC 61000-3-2, surely applicable in EU and US, and still valid in UK, I believe. Don't think that BS EN 61000-3-2 has been withdrawn.

 

[Easy peasy]

there is no federal standard for power factor in the USA, the British standards may well be in force in the UK, or they may not, that point has not been clarified as far as I am aware ....

 

[Velkarn]

Russia

in Russia the copy of IEC 61000-3-2 standart is active

 

[treez]

Thanks, do you know where in the world, PFC for >75W is a legal obligation?
In other words, fines / jail / product banned from sale, if this law is flouted?

 

[treez]

Once a company where i worked emailed every single manufacturer of Guitar amplifiers that gets sold in the UK.......to ask them if any of their products were power factor corrected.....the answers all came back that none of their products have PFC....because as they said, its not needed for guitar amplifiers because they are only above 75W for short intervals.

For example a 500W guitar amp is on an average power, during its use, of 500/8W = 62.5W, and this is less than 75W, so no PFC needed.

I could not find this situation in the PFC regs, but i am sure its true...how can you tell its true?

 

[Easy peasy]

They are to some extent getting away with artistic licence - if it is capable of >75 watts then it is captured by the standard ...

 

[FvM]

The IEC 61000-3-2 equipment categories refer to rated power, not average power. Thus the said guitar amplifier is surely covered by class A.

In case of doubt you'll follow the specific procedure for audio amplifiers (clause C.3) , which performs the test at 1/8 of undistorted output power. With some luck, the harmonic currents of a non-PFC power supply might be low enough to pass class A limits.

 

[treez]

Also, my colleague is doing a job for a shopping centre, who have a huge transparent "display" fish tank. The tank has an oxgenator which keeps the water oxgenated for the fish to survive. When there is a mains power cut, this oxygenator runs on the emergency batterys. When first installed, an offline power supply has to charge up these batteries at 150W for some 4 hours. This 150W power supply then idles, for the next decade or so (until there is a power cut and re-connection of power where it has to recharge the flat batteries).

So since this PSU is only on 150W power draw for 4 hours in more than a decade or so, surely it does not need to be power factor corrected?

When its idling its only on <5W power draw.