Cycle Testing Helps Ensure Docking Drawer Outlet Safety

Cycle Testing Helps Ensure Docking Drawer Outlet Safety

Docking Drawer: Smart. Simple. Safe. We take these words seriously. Not only are Docking Drawer outlets designed with these words in mind, they're also tested well above national and international safety standards. So while we can reassure you our outlets are listed to ETL, CSA, CE and RCM standards, you're probably more curious about how we got there.

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How We Test For Safety

cycletestWe're often asked questions like, "How long will a Docking Drawer last?" and "What is your Product Failure Rate?" This is the part where we break it down for you. A standard cycle test required by the standard committees for our outlets are  25,000 cycles. At Docking Drawer, we cycle test each series of outlets 500,000 times. At this rate, we're basically opening and closing a drawer every fifteen minutes over the span of thirty years. So we cycle test our product more than fifty times longer than the test required by our independent safety laboratory, Intertek.

But wait, our inspections don't stop there. Every 100,000 cycles we stop cycle testing to perform a physical inspection of the mechanical parts of the outlet. We're checking for everything from basic wear and tear to worn or cracked wiring. Following the cycle test, we send our outlet cables to the lab of our manufacturer where they perform an inspection to see if the outlet cables still meet the original specifications after use endured during cycle testing. The results? They 100% do. That's because we use stranded cables for our outlets which allows wiring to flex but not break. On top of that, all of our cables are held in place in our outlets with the help of strain reliefs which provide a transition from a flexible cable to a rigid connector. This relieves the mechanical force applied to the exterior of the cables from being transferred to the electrical terminations which could lead to a failure. Strain reliefs also enhance the flex life performance of the cables in an outlet's cable management arms.

Better Than The Competition

How can we know for sure our outlets are safe to use, though? It's simple. Our tester doesn't perform only one test. In fact, three different tests are used to ensure the conductor, insulation, and connectors of the outlet are all still functioning as designed.

Our 15 year background in the semiconductor equipment industry gives us the experience and knowledge of how to perform extensive life testing. We're not just throwing together electronics, we're creating technology. So you can bet we're committed to safety—from ensuring every part of your outlet works prior to shipping it to offering literature on a safe installation. We work hard to guarantee that safety fits into every cabinet.

The Highest Standards

All of our in-drawer outlets have proof of product compliance based on the electrical certification. Because our outlets comply with building codes, they pass both home and building inspections. In fact, we've never had a single Docking Drawer returned because it didn't pass a professional inspection.

We invite you to look over our UL 962 and CSA 22.2 certifications. We also have CE and RCM reports available on our website.

Docking Drawer provides valuable technology. We always look forward to opportunities to educate those in the field, selling our products. So if you have additional questions that need answers, please don't hesitate to contact us.

 

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