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I am hobbyist and I am trying to build Wi-Fi power outlet. Right now it is personal project but I want to bring it to a mass production if I will succeed. I have never built such things before and I am curious about rules and regulations regarding such devices. I want to ensure that I won't make anything bad, stupid or hurt someone.

For example, I know that in Russia maximum power rating for such devices is 1kW. Is there something like this in the US?

I want to ensure that my device is safe and complaint with common regulations.

zoonman
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Usually you'll want to be certified to be compliant with appropriate UL standards (and FCC) in order to sell in the US. Testing can be done by various labs, not just UL, for example CSA and ETL. Since your device is an "intentional radiator" of RF the FCC compliance may be a bit more involved than if it was a simple MCU-based device.

The standards (as with European standards) are not free, but sometimes you can find them at a library.

Spehro Pefhany
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    As something likely meant to be permanently installed in a building, the local electrical code may also be relevant. That only applies, I believe, to the legality of installing it, rather than the legality of selling it, but one would expect, or at least hope, that any product illegal to install wouldn't sell very well. – Hearth Feb 14 '19 at 16:30
  • Can I start with something to read to ensure that my device could be potentially certified. For example, I design, make prototype, certify that, make mass product? I hope for FCC it should be fine because I am using FCC-certified Wi-Fi module. – zoonman Feb 14 '19 at 16:32
  • @zoonman The component may be FCC approved but not your project, which may create different types of emissions itself. –  Feb 14 '19 at 16:35
  • I understand this, KingDuken. I'd love to learn more about it. – zoonman Feb 14 '19 at 16:38
  • The bottom line is that you should budget a fair bit of money and a reasonable amount of time for this process, as it may require iterations. FCC approved module (and UR listed components ) are good, but do not guarantee that your device will pass. – Spehro Pefhany Feb 14 '19 at 16:41
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    @SpehroPefhany I would say budget an unreasonable amount of time, because this stuff always takes longer than you think. – Hearth Feb 14 '19 at 16:42
  • Can someone give me estimates? Like $20k and 1 year to certify. – zoonman Feb 14 '19 at 16:44
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    @zoonman That sounds in the right ball park, in my experience, however does not include your engineering costs or ( forbid) tooling changes such as molds. – Spehro Pefhany Feb 14 '19 at 16:49
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In selling a product, you don't absolutely have to be compliant with IEC standards, but it is "all but necessary". See this question here:

At what level of complexity should I consider UL listing my widget?

A smart plug would probably be regulated by these standards (I'm not an expert in plug standards so I don't know which ones) and if it has a PCB IEC61010

To give you an idea of how much it would cost it will be measured in the thousands of dollars. It would probably be similar testing at an ETL with FCC and that my products use in the range of 8k$ to 16k$ (hard to say really but FCC testing is a few thousand and anything with AC mains connected to it is a few thousand more)

Voltage Spike
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