

Ask HN: Router resale and FCC certification  - jo

Brainstorming some hardware ideas, and maybe someone has experience with this?<p>I'm considering low quantity resale of a wireless router with a slight modification (3 wires soldered on the PCB).
1) Would the manufacturer care (Asus)?  Legal reasons I can't do this?
2) Would this modification require FCC certification?<p>If I sell more than 30 of these, I can justify/finance spinning my own PCB, etc.
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dpifke
Reading this decision, I would say you're likely to run into issues with the
FCC if they were to find out about it:

<http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2008/DA-08-167A1.html>

Relevant quote:

 _If the radio frequency equipment is modified by any party other than the
grantee and that party is not working under the authorization of the grantee
pursuant to Sec. 2.929(b), the party performing the modification is
responsible for compliance of the product with the applicable administrative
and technical provisions in this chapter._

In other words, if it's a certified device (has an FCC ID number on the
label), you would need to obtain a new certification (new FCC ID) after making
your modifications. Doing so would probably eat whatever profits you stand to
make (and then some).

~~~
jo
Thanks for the link and quote, appreciate the help. From my searching it
sounds like the FCC operates off complaints mostly, so maybe low risk if I did
it. But I should be able work around this problem. I'm basically just exposing
a GPIO to a RJ-45 connector, so I can access some custom hardware.

