what does 'good engineering practice standards' mean?

Comments

• wjcroft Mount Shasta, CA

  July 2020

  The actual quote from the Cyton page, for example, is:

  Evaluation Board/Kit Important Notice: OpenBCI, Inc. provides the enclosed product(s) under the following conditions: This evaluation board/kit is intended for use for ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT, DEMONSTRATION, OR EVALUATION PURPOSES ONLY and is not considered by OpenBCI, Inc. to be a finished end-product fit for general consumer use. Persons handling the product(s) must have electronics training and observe good engineering practice standards. As such, the goods being provided are not intended to be complete in terms of required design-, marketing-, and/or manufacturing-related protective considerations, including product safety and environmental measures typically found in end products that incorporate such semiconductor components or circuit boards. This evaluation board/kit does not fall within the scope of the European Union directives regarding electromagnetic compatibility, restricted substances (RoHS), recycling (WEEE), FCC, CE or UL, and therefore may not meet the technical requirements of these directives or other related directives.

  What that means is that with bare circuit boards, such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and OpenBCI -- you can damage the components and circuit traces unless you use some care. For example by dropping objects on the board or if it comes in contact with sharp edges, metal contact while board is turned on, etc. All common sense.

  Additionally, in cold / dry environments, static discharge to the circuit board can damage the ICs. So in general, hold the board by the edges is better than grabbing by fingers touching top or bottom circuit elements. The electrode wires and edge connectors for channels DO have static protection. But the rest of the board surface does not.