WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Statement

The following is a general sample text to use within a user manual to explain disposal requirements under the WEEE regulations:- Information on Disposal for Users of Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (private households) This symbol on the product(s) and / or accompanying documents means that used electrical and electronic products should not be mixed […]

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Solving Audio Hum Problems

Noise is the bane of audio design! Here are some of our tips to help solve hum problems in a PCB design. Can you provide a connection from audio ground to mains earth?  This can really help reduce hum and get rid of problems of moving your hand near a circuit and introducing mains born […]

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Audio Circuit and PCB Design Tips

Designing audio circuits remains a challenge and aspects of it are still often considered a bit of a black art.  Even the best designers often have to build more than 1 PCB to produce a high quality noise free design.  Below are some tips from our experiences… Power Supplies & Grounds Transformers are great for […]

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Signal Noise Issues With Modern Clocked Devices

Traditional electronic design methods are encountering a new problem when using newer electronic devices that provide a clock based data input or output (for example a MMC or SD memory card via a SPI communication bus). As semiconductor devices have become faster and faster in recent years they have become much more susceptible to issues […]

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Packaging Waste Regulations

The Packaging Waste Regulations work on the principle of Shared Producer Responsibility, encouraging producers to take responsibility for their environmental impact. The Regulations require obligated producers to pay a proportion of the cost of the recovery and recycling of their packaging. defra Packaging & Packaging Waste Information

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REACH (Registration, Evaluation & Authorisation of Chemicals)

The REACH regulations have already come into force and are now in the registration phases. The REACH regulations are a monster even by the EU’s standard and are many hundreds of pages long. They apply directly to manufacturers and users of chemicals who must register by specific target dates from 2011 to 2018 if their […]

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Batteries Directive

The batteries directive came into force in September 2008, but it will be another 18 months before recycling targets come into force and the regulation really bites. Mercury and cadmium usage are being limited, resulting in the banning of NiCd batteries. Producers are to be responsible for financing the collection, treatment and recycling of waste […]

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EuP – Energy Using Products Directive

EuP is a new regulation that will force designers of products to reduce the energy usage of a product over its entire life cycle, from raw material extraction from the ground all the away to disposal / recycling. Of all the environmental regulations EuP is the one that is going to have a massive impact […]

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WEEE – Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations

Any business that manufactures or distributes household or non-household electrical products within the European Union needs to comply with the WEEE regulations. They are one of a series of new ‘producer responsibility’ directives that require producers of new equipment to pay for the recycling and/or safe treatment and disposal of the products they put on […]

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RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances)

The RoHS directive came into force in 2006 and has had a large impact on the electronics industry. Most categories of electronic products are required to meet the requirements of RoHS, with the primary requirement being the use of lead free components, circuit boards and solder. The widely feared reliability issues have not come to […]

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