Q:

Does the RoHS standard apply to variable frequency drives?

I'm having a bit of a disagreement with a customer about whether RoHS applies to variable frequency drives and comparable equipment. This is complicated by my understanding that RoHS is being rolled into CE, so CE marking will also imply RoHS compliance. Are VFDs required to be RoHS compliant?

A:

Generally ROHS is not strictly needed for fixed industrial and medical equipment, but is very dependent on dumbness of buyer. You should advise the buyer that equipment should not disposed of as standard garbage. If the equipment is for general consumer use, then ROHS should be tightly respected to get CE approval. And this shows the stupidity of this law because the lead acid batteries or NiCd or LiPo are never ROHS but anyone has at least one or more of these.

