Horticultural luminaires, lighting components and grow systems pose unique safety issues that may not be fully addressed by standards developed for general-use luminaires. UL 8800, the Standard for Horticultural Lighting Equipment and Systems, was the first set of standardized requirements specifically designed for horticultural lighting equipment and is a requirement of the DesignLights Consortium® (DLC) for its horticultural Qualified Products List (QPL).
IEC 60598, which contains general requirements and tests for luminaires, has also added a distinction for horticultural luminaires based on the need to evaluate products for use in horticultural environments with distinct photobiological factors in mind.
Our testing and certification services include, but are not limited to, these critical considerations for horticultural equipment and systems:
- Photobiological effects relating to human eye and skin exposure (using IEC 62471, which concerns the photobiological safety of lamps and lamp systems, including LEDs)
- Photometric testing, photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) output and photosynthetic photon efficacy (PPE) according to ANSI/ASABE S640, which concerns electromagnetic radiation for plants
- Environmental considerations, such as damp and/or wet environments
- Ingress protection against dust, moisture and water
- Ultraviolet (UV) exposure of polymeric materials
- Wiring and connection methods for positioning flexibility
- Cybersecurity/Internet of Things (IoT) ratings of your horticultural systems
- UL Marketing Claim Verification
