What to do if your Power Supply hasn't got an RCM Mark

Every day electrical items are imported into Australia, complete with a power supply that does not have an Australian electrical safety certificate.

There are a number of reasons why this happens. The main one being is that the importer of the equipment doesn’t realise that they are legally obliged to ensure that any power supply they bring into the country has Australian approvals. Even if it is included in the box with another piece of equipment.

We recently heard of a well-known retailer selling printers with non-approved power supplies. Fortunately, a customer noticed the power supply didn’t have the required RCM mark and reported the matter to the electrical safety regulator in their state.

The electrical safety laws do not just apply to retailers, but to all importers. This means that you may have brought in a specific piece of equipment from overseas to find the power supply has no RCM mark.

So what do you do when this happens?

The first thing to do is to check the ERAC website. This is a public database of all electrical products that have Australian Electrical Safety approvals.

If your power supply is listed there, contact the entity that holds the approvals to find out why your particular power supply doesn’t have an RCM mark on it. It could be that a specific version of the power supply is required in order to meet the Australian regulations. This is certainly the case with some MEAN WELL power supplies.

If the item is not listed, then you should contact the supplier and ask them to exchange it for an approved power supply.

Power Supplies Australia can help identify a suitable MEAN WELL power supply with Australian electrical safety certification. In many cases MEAN WELL will have an alternative to the power supply that you have.

Below is a picture that we were sent from a customer recently.

The power supply has a CE mark on it. However this is not recognised in Australia. CE is the European Union’s approval marking scheme.

In order to comply with Australian electrical safety regulations this power supply needs to be tested by an approved test laboratory and then issued with an Australian electrical safety certificate.

This approval should then be listed on the ERAC website and the power supply marked with an RCM mark.

In this instance Power Supplies Australia was able to supply an alternative power supply from MEAN WELL.

Power Supplies Australia is Australia’s premier stockist of MEAN WELL power supplies. We hold the largest range of Australian approved MEAN WELL power supplies in Australia.

If you find you need to replace a non-approved power supply then call Power Supplies Australia on 1800 632 693, or if you prefer send us an E-mail, using the ‘CONTACT’ link above.