IK & IP Testing for Lighting Products

IK & IP Testing for Lighting Products

Ratings that demonstrate the degree of Impact Protection (IK) and Ingress Protection (IP) are critical for street, roadway and other lighting products. IP ratings are required per IEC/EN 60598-2-3 for all roadway and street applications. IK ratings are required in specific applications when high impact glass provides protection for the enclosed lamp.

Standards

IEC 62262 specifies the way enclosures should be tested for IK ratings which are defined as the level of protection the enclosures provided against external mechanical impacts. IEC 60598-1 (IEC 60529) specifies the test method used to classify and rate the degree of protection an enclosure provides against intrusion of various sized solid objects from fingers and hands to fine dust and the protection against water intrusion from falling drops to a high pressure water jet. IEC 60598-2-3 is the International Standard for Luminaires for Road and Street Lighting.

UL offers complete testing and certification services for street and roadway luminaires to IEC 60598-2-3

IK ratings are defined as IKXX, where “XX” is a number from 00 to 10 indicating the degrees of protection provided by electrical enclosures (including luminaires) against external mechanical impacts. The IK rating scale identifies the ability of an enclosure to resist impact energy levels measured in joules (J). IEC 62262 specifies how the enclosure must be mounted for testing, the atmospheric conditions required, the quantity and distribution of the test impacts and the impact hammer to be used for each level of IK rating.

IP ratings are defined as IPXX where the first X indicates the degree of protection against solid objects and the second X indicates the degrees of protection against water. A luminaire or lighting component with a rating of IP66 is dust-tight and protected against powerful water jets as described in IEC 60598-1 (IEC 60529).]