No Stone Left Unturned; LD+A Article by Jerry Plank

If you ever where involved in a dispute with a user, component manufacturer, or an NRTL an audit test conducted by our laboratory and reviewed by our engineering staff can proof invaluable in protecting your interest possibly saving your reputation or the expenditure of funds to correct deficiencies not caused by your product. Another reason to conduct referee testing in our laboratory is to refute claims made by a user, electrical contractor, or municipal inspector. Having Wilger Testing prepare an accredited report can substantiate your position and reduce unwarranted field modifications.

Air infiltration can waste energy used to heat and air condition spaces. Wilger Testing is qualified to conduct ASTM E283 on your product range.

Most manufacturer’s are concerned that their new technology,manufacturing process, or product does not create problems in the field or fail prematurely. Wilger Testing has demonstrated experience helping manufacturer’s stay clear of time consuming, profit robbing situations by stressing the components to simulate 5,10, or 20 years of service. Wilger Testing is at your service to develop a custom program for your products to simulate various failure modes.

Wilger Testing has tested and qualified a majority of the track lighting systems used in the US and Canada. Our experience in track lighting is surpassed by no other single laboratory. Need your track system tested? Wilger Testing can perform the entire program in record time and assist you with solutions that may occur with test failures.

More importantly dielectric tests determine if an insulation system fails in mode that does not allow dead metal or exposed parts to be energized creating an electrical shock hazard. We also use dielectric test to determine spacings on printed wiring boards and other terminations. We also conduct dielectric test on lam holders and terminal blocks per the applicable standard. We have in many cases exceeded the dielectric voltage level to provide feedback to clients as to what level of voltage can be applied to an insulation system forcing a breakdown giving our clients that extra piece of mind that their design exceeds that required by the safety specification.

Whether a hardwood floor or other surface is used we know how to conduct this simple but yet complex test. Don’t accept a failure as a failure until we conduct the test in our laboratory under exacting conditions. We have refereed many drop test from other laboratories that upon close inspection the test method caused the failure which was retested by us to be acceptable. Proficiency in drop testing can only be achieved after conducting many test on many different products. Our staff has the experience to conduct the test properly.

Tests are conducted by dropping a metal ball by the required distance or by the pendulum method such that the required force is applied. The test samples may be at room ambient or subjected to oven and/or conditioning. Care is required not to cause a failure by misapplying the force, however, the force should be applied in the direction or orientation most likely to stress the product. Our technicians are highly experienced in conducing impact tests over a 35 year span of testing products. Don’t entrust your design to testing methods that are too extreme or in some cases not extreme enough.

Electrical cord sets and leads all have limits at which they abraid and/or fail. We can test to various safety standards qualifying your construction.

Our sphere is perfect for small luminaires and lamps to ascertain if your product can qualify for LM-79 clauses 9.1 and 12.0. We invite you to rent our laboratory for your R&D programs to conduct initial tests and make modifications on site.

We are qualified in portable lamps, ballast, LED drivers, lampholders, luminaires, low voltage landscape lighting systems, low voltage lighting systems, enclosures for electrical equipment, and all LED products. Please refer to our ANAB accreditation for all electrical tests conducted in our laboratory.

Salt Fog testing to ASTM B117 is conducted in our chamber to ascertain suitability of the painting (wet or powder) or plating system on ferrous metal, suitability of various stainless steel alloys, and suitability of aluminum parts. The parts tested can be formed or cast metal with test specimens up to four feet long. Send us a description of your needs and we will set up the desired tests.

Our staff includes highly trained and experienced electrical and mechanical engineers who assist laboratory technicians to determine whether or not the test set up delivers the required force or load. Mechanical Tests include deflection, swivel joint torsion and tension, lead pull, bending and twisting motions just to name a few. Using the wrong test value could fail to uncover a patent defect that will potentially injure a user.

A Stability Test is a simple test with  major consequences should a freestanding product tip over during normal  use.  Every stability test performed  in our laboratory is conducted in a rigorous manner giving you peace of mind that your product meets  the current safety requirements.

Our staff has over 176 years of combined experience conducting thermal tests. Based on our staff’s unprecedented experience level of conducing thousands and thousands of temperature tests, we know what it takes to record data that is irrefutable. Why is irrefutable data important?

Just imagine that you received passing data from a laboratory that said the data was acceptable only later to find out that the data was recorded under less than perfect conditions and rendered invalid. Now your listing will be withdrawn by the NRTL and your product may potentially create a fire. Thermal data is critical to the life of light sources and components, materials and protects the user from fires. Don’t fall for promises made by laboratories that are not deeply experienced with your product.

Thermal aging of thermoplastic or thermosetting materials is especially critical as any failure of a polymeric part can be catastrophic to our manufacturers. When it comes to oven testing we have helped manufacturers meet the safety specification without causing delays waiting for ovens or test protocols from an NRTL.

Having your product subjected to short and long term oven aging tests is always a tense period, but be assured that our experienced engineers and technicians are pros at helping your product pass. Should a questionable result occur we will provide fast feedback on what material should be used to meet the specification.

Our environmental laboratory is qualified to conduct water spray, rain, sprinkler, and Immersion tests.  The critical element in conducting water exposure testing is to have a protocol used such that we can identify the source of a failure for our manufacturers. Knowing that we can be part of the solution to problem areas is comforting to our customers and ultimately is a bit factor in keeping test problems from derailing a project.

As is the case with  most of the tests we conduct, we have duplicate rain chambers, and duplicate  humidity/oven/freezer chambers, allowing large programs to be truncated where various parts of a program are run simultaneously.  Fast service is a way of life at Wilger Testing and we value your support by having a well equipped laboratory.