So I'm working on this project, its in a nutshell a usb break out board, a dc to dc converter, and a small LED light strip all three of which are bought off of amazon and are UL certified. The end goal in a sense is to take power from a usb connection, and turn on an LED strip. These 3 components are soldered together with the appropriate gauge of wire and soldered correctly and all components are housed in 3d printed container. Now say I sell this "product" on online, and it (very unlikely) catches fire, who would be held responsible? Would I be responsible since I connected the electronics together appropriately and sold them? Or would the original manufacture be responsible?
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2Not a full answer as I'm not overly familiar with US contract law. My first thoughts are that if you sell the product then you have made a contract with the injured party, so they would make a claim against you in the first instance. You in turn, depending on the circumstances, may be able to make a claim against the manufacturer (or who you bought it from).– user35069Commented Dec 17, 2020 at 7:20
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Your are liable.
Your product design has a direct impact on the product safety, much more than the individual components. Just to name the most important ones (there are more):
- Thermal design (the enclosure, convection, how the components are thermally connected)
- PCB layout (Are the wire distances sufficient for electrical insulation? Are the wire copper diameters sufficient in terms of Amps per mm2?)
- Grounding and insulation done properly
Consider the following UL standards which are probably related to your product design, but not to the internal components (probably not the full list):
- UL 50, Enclosures for Electrical Equipment
- UL 796, Printed-Wiring Boards
- UL 1598, Luminaires
