Horticultural Lighting EquipmentHorticultural lighting is one of the fastest growing segments in the lighting market. UL can help you bring your horticultural lighting equipment to the market while ensuring the highest levels of safety and performance.UL SafetyBusinesses, consumers and regulatory authorities around the world recognize the trusted rigor and technical excellence of UL certifications. Backed by more than a century of proven safety science expertise, UL certifies your products and writes the Standard the industry has come to trust. Horticultural lighting equipment is evaluated to the requirements in UL 8800, the Outline of Investigation for Horticultural Lighting Equipment. Photobiological SafetyPlants require different wavelengths of light than those required for general illumination. Light sources for the grow environment commonly produce light in the ultraviolet (UV), deep blue and infrared (IR) wavelength regions. While these wavelengths of light are important for plant growth, they can potentially be harmful to people. Skin exposure is considered, but the larger concern is the effects of these wavelengths on the human eye. Due to this concern, a photobiological safety assessment may be conducted across the full wavelength range in accordance with the requirements in IEC 62471, Photobiological Safety of Lamps and Lamp Systems.Performance TestingHaving the right spectrum and quantity of light at the right point in the plant lifecycle can make a significant difference in the quality of the end product (i.e. can influence plant growth characteristics). UL now also offers measurement of horticultural lighting equipment by leveraging our custom industry specific test report to provide an objective measure of performance. This report includes the following key metrics a grower needs to select the best light source for their product:A 350-800nm spectral distribution, acknowledging chlorophyll is not the only photoreactive chemical in plants, to illustrate a better picture of what light output a product is providingPhotosynthetic photon flux (PPF) binned into 10 nm ranges to better illustrate the spectrumPPF output and efficacyOptional photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) distribution informationIngress Protection Test (IP)As horticultural lighting is often used in high humidity / high moisture locations, damage from ingress can affect product performance. UL Ingress Protection (IP) testing can help you earn customer trust by classifying and rating the degree of protection provided against the intrusion of dust and water. IP ratings are defined as IPXX, where the first X indicates the degree of protection against solid objects (ranging from 0-6) and the second X indicates the degrees of protection against water (ranging from 0-8) as described in IEC 60529, Degrees of Protection Provided by Enclosures.For more information on IP testing, please click HERE
