Lighting the way for digital testing

At its facility at Witham, Essex, Nu-Era Lighting has been using four HAL 104 multifunction tester’s from Clare on its two production lines to test upwards of 1,500 units manufactured each week before distribution to electrical wholesalers around the UK.

The company designs and supplies fluorescent and discharge lighting systems for public sector buildings, including vandal resistant, IP65 rated weatherproof, EXIT signs and emergency luminaires. At the site, the instruments perform safety tests during production, including earth bonding at 10A, DC insulation resistance at 500VDC and checking for power leakage, to ensure compliance with EN 60598 and guarantee product quality, performance and reliability.

Function testing is also undertaken as part of the test programme to check that each unit switches on/off and lights correctly at the required power consumption levels and that any ancillary equipment works in accordance with technical specifications.

This ensures Nu-Era products are safe to use after leaving the factory gate and that an accurate test record is maintained for all the units produced in the advent of any later damage during distribution or to track and trace any product returns – in line with the company’s quality assurance programme.

The digital HAL 104s, which replaced manually operated test equipment, are fast, high performance automatic instruments which record test results and ensure accurate testing is carried out in line with relevant product standards at all times.

Olly Mansell, technical manager, said: “The HAL 104 is a brilliant piece of kit, providing fast, accurate and extremely reliable testing.

“It provides us with the confidence and peace-of-mind knowing that every unit leaving the factory for the customer is 100% safe-to-use and works properly.”

The instrument meets the end of line electrical safety compliance tests required by the majority of national and international product safety standards, including EN 60335, EN 60745 and EN 60598 and others.

As well as load and power functional tests, the new tester incorporates AC/DC Hipot (flash / dielectric strength), insulation, ground/earth bond testing to programmable up to 40A, load switching to 26A with measurement to 20 milliamps and leakage to 100 microAmps.