15 Research Lab › Verify lane
Bayview, San Francisco
EMC pre-compliance and environmental test.
$400 to $600 per scan
Failing a certified EMC chamber is expensive twice: once for the chamber day and again for the schedule. A pre-scan is the cheap version of that bad news, delivered early enough to act on.
What you get
Radiated emissions pre-compliance scan, $400 to $600. Quantitative, run in a GTEM cell. You find out which harmonic is over and roughly by how much.
Thermal cycling runs, $150 to $300. Cycle assemblies over temperature and see what stops working.
Hipot and dielectric checks for anything carrying mains.
Traceable instrument calibration, $75 to $300 per unit, so the instrument you are trusting has a certificate behind it.
What it replaces
An accredited chamber is the only thing that produces a certificate, and this is not that. It is the screen you run first so the certified day is a formality instead of a gamble.
The failure mode this prevents is discovering a 30 dB margin problem on the day you booked the lab, with a launch date behind it and a board revision in front of it.
It pairs with the assembly lane. Boards assembled here can be scanned here the same week, which shortens the fix-and-rescan loop to something you can actually iterate on.
How it works
Bring the unit and whatever cabling represents its real configuration. You get a scan plot, the frequencies of concern and a written note on likely sources.
The counter is not open yet. Prices are posted in advance and held at opening.
Common questions
Is a pre-compliance scan the same as certified EMC testing?
No, and it is important not to confuse them. A pre-compliance scan is a screen that tells you whether you are likely to pass and where the problem is. Only an accredited laboratory can issue a compliance certificate. The point of a pre-scan is to make that accredited day cheap and boring.
How much does EMC pre-compliance testing cost?
$400 to $600 per scan. That is roughly the cost of finding out early, against a chamber day plus a board respin plus a slipped launch if you find out late.
What else can you test besides emissions?
Thermal cycling at $150 to $300 per run, hipot and dielectric checks, and traceable instrument calibration at $75 to $300 per unit.
Waitlist
The counter opens when funding closes. Prices are posted in advance and held at opening.