Silicon Chip – July 2019

10 Silicon chip Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au

But that was just the start of the

problems that were to ensue. As the

pressure pulsations became progres-

sively worse, it began to emit a me-

tallic graunching noise. The obvious

conclusion was that the brass impeller

had suffered fracture/separation from

the motor shaft and was ‘snatching’ on

the spinning motor shaft, hence the

pressure pulsations.

As if this wasn’t enough, while re-

moving this heap of junk for an inspec-

tion, the pressure switch fell off in my

hand! There were indications of yet

more corrosion. There was something

fundamentally wrong here.

One of the primary factors that con-

vinced me to buy this product was

that it was extensively marked on

both outer packaging and pump cas-

ing with the renowned “CE” (Con-

formite European) standards compli-

ance symbol, recognised as one of the

world’s most demanding set of qual-

ity standards.

How could this be? Surely, a prod-

uct marked with the prestigious “CE”

symbol shouldn’t have this many

problems!

The conclusion became obvious.

The instruction manual contained no

declaration of conformity to any EU

standard, nor any other for that mat-

ter. It became clear to me that all the

applied “CE” markings on the pumps I

had purchased in good faith were fake,

including the markings on the box it

came in, and even the holographic

sticker on the unit!

Investigating further, I learned that

this is an all-too-common scam per-

petrated by numerous Chinese manu-

facturers, who claim that these labels

mean “China Export”, despite them

being virtually identical to the Con-

formite European logo. Thus, the cus-

tomer is deceived!

As far as I am concerned, the im-

portation and marketing of this junk

are unconscionable and unethical. I

believe it is also a legal breach of the

Fair Trading Act. I think the importa-

tion of equipment with fake compli-

ance labelling should be outlawed.

Andre Rousseau,

Auckland South, NZ.

Surround Sound Decoder works well

with SC200 amplifier

In the past I sent you an e-mail

shelf case available that has suitable
dimensions.
We will consider publishing a follow-
up article describing how to make the
radio portable. Our testing included
running it off a USB battery bank with
no changes to any of the electronics
and it worked fine and sounded great,
but we were using external speakers.

Imported products may
have fake CE labels
I am currently in a legal dispute
with a local (New Zealand) supplier
of defective water pumps. I bought
a pump from them in late 2017. It
worked well for almost a year, but in
late October 2018, the water delivery
began pulsating. Over time, this be-
came worse. Clearly, something was
seriously wrong with the pump.
When I took a close look at the
pump, I noticed a suspicious rust-col-
oured drip-line emerging from the bell
housing, which made me think that the
pressure tank had rusted through. A
domestic water pump should give at
least 10 years of service; serious rust
developing in less than a year is in no
way acceptable.

+61 (0) 2 9938 1566

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