Epec's Blog | Electronics Manufacturing Solutions

If you’re a designer of RF or microwave printed circuit boards you’ve probably already selected a laminate material that is appropriate to your project, having based your choice primarily on the electrical requirements of the circuit, such as signal speed, loss rate etc. Be careful, however, not to overlook the fact that the specialty materials used in such designs also possess unusual mechanical characteristics; processing is different from that of normal FR4 boards.

Over the past several years there have been several instances where battery suppliers that manufacture the highest technology batteries have run into financial difficulties (think A123, Boston Power) or change their business model and no longer want to supply small/medium volume applications (Panasonic). This has created several problems for OEMs as they have designed these cells and have passed all of the certification testing for UL, EMI, CE and UN DOT 38.3.

What do I get for my tooling dollar? This question (in one form or another) is one that gets asked frequently. Tooling is always a concern for the customer. It’s an added cost which cannot be converted to sales and ultimately, the bottom line.

This blog post provides a quick overview of what is involved in the battery pack potting process. Battery potting can greatly aid in stability and help to optimize the performance of your finished custom battery pack. Potting materials are used to provide mechanical reinforcement to housed-assemblies and to protect components against exposure to harmful chemicals, moisture, mechanical shock and vibrations, and other hazards.

Some additional benefits of using battery potting include low cost shells, hermetic like seal, and good electrical insulation.

As a full service custom battery pack manufacturer, we prioritize providing our customers with the highest quality battery pack assembly while keeping you under budget. Many of the battery packs manufactured by Epec go into mission critical devices, which require nothing short of the highest quality, rugged and reliable batteries. In this post we will look at three key aspects of Epec's US manufacturing that enable us to meet and exceed our goals.

We sit at the height of the largest e-commerce boom in the last twenty years. The way we approach shipping both personally and professionally is changing. Before the brick-and-mortar stores can even start playing their Christmas music, e-commerce sites are advertising shipping schedules to “guarantee delivery” for free shipping for various holidays. So, what does this have to do with buying electronics? A lot.

This topic is mainly focused on properly shipping lithium-ion batteries due to shipping regulations but could also apply to Ni-MH where appropriate. Let’s start by identifying the different classifications of the batteries as they are managed.

It is important to be aware that certain applications will have battery packs that may be exposed to corrosive elements such as acidic, salt, and on occasion conductive substances and fluids. Over time this type of exposure can slowly corrode the PCBA, components, and solder joints. This type of corrosion can cause premature failure, short circuits, and or dangerous conditions that could lead to fire or even an explosion.

Recently I spent the weekend at a family member’s home and experienced two failures of everyday human-machine interfaces (HMI) devices that truly perplexed me. One was a collapsed dome switch on a spa controller; the other was a graphical display error on a touchscreen coffee maker.

Any supply chain consists of the different activities that transform natural resources, raw materials, and components into a finished product to be delivered to an end customer. In the case of the electronics supply chain, it typically involves the procurement of raw materials and equipment, development of product that is either shipped directly to a customer or to another link in the supply chain to be assembled into the larger product.