on your heads be it, i'd just rather know mine is road legal and i wouldnt lose out on insurance if anything was to happen
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Its cheap at least and does work i siuppose and has a big amount of user and a nice comunity.mega squirt is a feeble setup anyway...................i wouldnt be seen dead running that heap of s**t system
Its a bit lo tech though shame they havn't allowed for bigger maps though.
M
mini-valver
E marking only applies to the MOT test. As far as I knew ECU's were'nt a part of that! It's only the same as having out of date seats IMO.
Well, here we go again. I must first state that I am not unbiased in this as I am the MD of Omex Technology. However, what I have put below is fact and can be easily verified.
In 1998 an EU directive became law that required all OEM electronics used on vehicles sold throughout the EU to meet certain standards of Electromagnetic Compatability. In October 2002 this was extended to aftermarket components. This is known as 'e' marking. 'e' marking is the legally required method of proving that any electrical/electronic product fitted to a vehicle meets certain minimum safety standards. These standards relate to the following points.
Immunity to Interference. The product, be it a head unit or ECU etc must not be affected by specified levels of EMI (Electromagnetic Interference).
Emissions of interference. The product may not emit levels of interference greater than those specified.
Conformity of production. The products must be assembled and tested to approved standards.
The immunity is very important because it affects the operation of the ECU. Clearly if you drive under some electrical pylons or switch on your mobile phone and the engine stops that is unacceptable. The method of testing is two fold, for lower frequencies (up to a few MHz) Bulk Current Injection is used where a current is induced into the Device Under Test (DOT). This simulates for example the windscreen wipers being operated or the ABS pump working. For higher frequencies a transmitting aerial is used to beam energy at the DOT and its operation is monitored.
Emissions are important for the opposite reason. The level of interferance that the DOT is allowed to emit is limited so that it doesn't stop other electronic items working correctly.
Both these tests are carried out in a large test chamber under the most rigid conditions. For 'e' marking it is not legal to self test and it must be done either by a Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) approved test house or with a VCA officer present to witness the tests.They do not take these tests lightly!
As you may imagine these tests are not cheap. A single approval set of tests typically takes a whole day for a product. Without giving exact figures we have spent many tens of thousands of pounds on testing.
The Conformity of Production (COP) is the final stage of the process and is ongoing. We have to prove to the VCA that each and every ECU is the same physically and with the same firmware that was tested. To prove COP without ISO900x is nearly impossible, and is one of the reasons we have our products contract manufactured for us. The Company building the products has to be approved by the VCA. None of this is a straightforward process.
Now as to the law as we understand it. There is no question that all oem and aftermarket devices MUST be e marked. This is nothing to do with ce marking that is a test for non automotive devices and which is not acceptable. CE marking is a much lower grade standard. There is no way a self assembly ECU or one that is produced by the handful in someones back room can meet the standards because of the COP requirement even if they met the emisions and immunity requirements (and I doubt they would, it is a very tough set of tests).
We have spent a lot of money ensuring all Omex products fully meet the required standards. We did not invent the standards but as we have spent so much money meeting them we are starting to ask questions about who does not. After all they have been law for over 5 years now. Also quite a bit of the cost of our ECUs is proper insurance and meeting these standards; it seems unfair to us that Companies that do not can undercut us on price and get away with it.
As regards to the consequences of not meeting them they are quite clear. The person who supplies and/or fits a non-compliant product is responsible. The penalties are severe, ranging from fines to imprisonment in severe circumstances. Up until now the enforcing authorities do not seem to have spent too much energy looking at the aftermarket but they have woken up now. We had the first contact from an investigating Police Officer recently where one of our customers had been involved in an accident. He requested details of our ECU..........
The insurance implications are unknown at the moment, but it is true to say that if the ECU is not e marked it is not legal for road use and hence may invalidate an insurance policy. Would you like to argue the point in court?
^^^^^
what Richard said!!
what Richard said!!
LY 182
Ok, thats all well and good and i understand all the laws etc that mr omex has explained - but who is the enforcer of this law? if its not mot, etc.
would the car fail an sva test with a self build ecu?
fair enough it being the law but if nobody is in place to enforce it its all abit useless?
would the car fail an sva test with a self build ecu?
fair enough it being the law but if nobody is in place to enforce it its all abit useless?
Very much agree with this comment. As it stands it is not very well enforced. However, the authorities are waking up to this very quickly. As far as we are aware it won't be an MOT issue, but it will soon be an SVA (actually the SVA replacement) issue, and it will definitely become an insurance issue. Also, it is already an issue for those selling and/or fitting illegal systems.
