U.L. alternatives

I've heard that there are alternatives to U.L. when creating control panels.

Just not sure due to the final say so going w/ the inspector.

Anyone else find any acceptable U.L. alternatives (cost wise) that seem to pass inspection?

The go-to place for a list of acceptable NRTLs ( Nationally Recognized Testing Labs) is OSHA.
https://www.osha.gov/dts/otpca/nrtl/nrtllist.html

Other than CSA however, they all use ULs standards. So if you are looking for something easier, don't waste your time. Some of them a quicker and/or cheaper though. Just be prepared to keep explaining it to users who ask for UL listing.

jraef said:

Just be prepared to keep explaining it to users who ask for UL listing.

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If you customer demands UL, then I can't imagine they will accept any substitute.

Are there alternative standards out there? Sure there are. Europe, China, most countries have one. If you have a customer in the US that doesn't demand UL, though, odds are they don't really care if it passes anything. Those customers scare the willies out of me.

Originally posted by mk42:

If you customer demands UL, then I can't imagine they will accept any substitute.

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As jraef said, an NRTL will test to any of a number of standards. They are certainly capable of evaluating to UL508A and their evaluation is just as valid as a comparable UL evaluation. So you will get a binding UL evaluation out of them. But, as jraef also said, be ready for your customer to ask "Who is this TUV guy and why did he inspect my panel?".

I know there are alternatives out there but have never looked into the relative cost or ease of getting a field engineer in for an inspection. I would also be interested in others' experiences.

Keith