Surge Protection for Small Commercial Office

Small Office Interior Surge Protection
Commercial Office Lighting

Today's increased reliance on very sensitive electronics makes surge protection an important topic for LED Lighting in Commerical Offices. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety study found that $26 billion dollars was lost due to non-lightning power surges. In addition, there are about 25 million lightning strikes in the US each year that cause between $650M to $1B in losses according to the Insurance Information Institute, State Farm©.

This page discusses how to best protect your LED Lighting used in Small Commercial Office applications.

The latest release of ANSI C136.2-2018 provides surge protection requirements for luminaires and control devices. Based on performance requirements and transient immunity testing, these devices can be classified into three categories:

Exposure LevelSurge Rating
Typical6kV/3kA
Enhanced10kV/5kA
Extreme20kV/10kA

To maintain the expected ROI, end users should select lights that are designed, and fully tested to comply with ANSI C136.2-2018.

Interior LED Lighting
Interior Office Lighting

This table shows the recommended C136.2-2018 transient immunity levels for common outdoor lighting applications:

Lighting Application Electrical Transient Immunity
6kV/3kA10kV/5kA20kV/10kA
Building entrance, building exteriorX
Parking garage, parking lot, tunnel X
Street roadway, stadium, airport X

Selecting the appropriate SPD

Surge Protective Devices (SPDs) shall be UL1449 Type 4CA or better including Type 1, Type 2, Type 1CA and Type 2CA. Per ANSI C136.2-2018, it should be tested to the appropriate exposure level based on the application or installed location.

The UL1449 Type 4CA Surge Protective Devices (SPD) have undergone more stringent safety testing than UL1449 Type 5 Components including the critical abnormal overvoltage - limited current testing.

The LED luminaire is tested to ANSI C136.2-2018 with the SPD installed. The coordination of the SPD is key in making sure that the luminaire and control devices pass testing and not only the SPD passes by itself. CITEL can provide manufacturers with full C136.2 surge testing for all exposure levels in our surge laboratory in Miramar, FL.

Recommended Surge Protectors for
LED Lighting Systems

120/208Vac | 120/240Vac | 277/480Vac | 347/600Vac | 480Vac |

Recommended Surge Protectors for 120/208Vac Lighting Systems

Exposure LevelEquipmentSystemSurge Protector Model#Link
ExtremeMain Panel120/208Vac MDS750E-120Y MDS750E-480D V.2
ExtremeLighting Control Panel120Vac
Power Input
DS74US-120Y/G DS74US-277Y/G

Power Supply120Vac
Power Input
DS72US-120S/G DS72US-120S/G

24Vdc
Power Output
DS220S-24DC DS220S-24DC

ControllerEthernet Cat 6A MJ8-C6A MJ8-C6A

POE Camera MJ8-POE-A MJ8-C6A

4-20mA DLA-24D3 EX DLA-24D3 v.2

Wireless P8AX09-6G-N/FF P8AX09-6G-N-FF

Recommended Surge Protectors for 120/240Vac Lighting Systems

Exposure LevelEquipmentSystemSurge Protector Model#Link
ExtremeMain Panel120/240Vac MDS750E-120T MDS750E-480D V.2
ExtremeLighting Control Panel120Vac
Power Input
DS73US-120T/G DS74US-277Y/G

Power Supply120Vac
Power Input
DS72US-120S/G DS72US-120S/G

24Vdc
Power Output
DS220S-24DC DS220S-24DC

ControllerEthernet Cat 6A MJ8-C6A MJ8-C6A

POE Camera MJ8-POE-A MJ8-C6A

4-20Ma DLA-24D3 EX DLA-24D3 v.2

Wireless P8AX09-6G-N/FF P8AX09-6G-N-FF

Recommended Surge Protectors for 277/480Vac Lighting Systems

Exposure LevelEquipmentSystemSurge Protector Model#Link
ExtremeMain Panel277/480Vac MDS750E-277Y MDS750E-480D V.2
ExtremeLighting Control Panel277Vac
Power Input
DS74US-277Y/G DS74US-277Y/G

Power Supply120-240Vac
Power Input
DS72US-230S/G DS72US-120S/G

24Vdc
Power Output
DS220S-24DC DS220S-24DC

ControllerEthernet Cat 6A MJ8-C6A MJ8-C6A

POE Camera MJ8-POE-A MJ8-C6A

4-20Ma DLA-24D3 EX DLA-24D3 v.2

Wireless P8AX09-6G-N/FF P8AX09-6G-N-FF

Recommended Surge Protectors for 347/480Vac Lighting Systems

Exposure LevelEquipmentSystemSurge Protector Model#Link
ExtremeMain Panel347/600Vac MDS750E-347Y MDS750E-480D V.2
ExtremeLighting Control Panel347Vac
Power Input
DS74US-347Y DS74US-480D

Power Supply120-240Vac
Power Input
DS72US-230S/G DS72US-120S/G

24Vdc
Power Output
DS220S-24DC DS220S-24DC

ControllerEthernet Cat 6A MJ8-C6A MJ8-C6A

POE Camera MJ8-POE-A MJ8-C6A

4-20Ma DLA-24D3 EX DLA-24D3 v.2

Wireless P8AX09-6G-N/FF P8AX09-6G-N-FF

Recommended Surge Protectors for 480Vac Lighting Systems

Exposure LevelEquipmentSystemSurge Protector Model#Link
ExtremeMain Panel480Vac MDS750E-480D MDS750E-480D V.2
ExtremeLighting Control Panel480Vac
Power Input
DS74US-480D DS74US-480D

Power Supply120-240Vac
Power Input
DS72US-230S/G DS72US-120S/G

24Vdc
Power Output
DS220S-24DC DS220S-24DC

ControllerEthernet Cat 6A MJ8-C6A MJ8-C6A

POE Camera MJ8-POE-A MJ8-C6A

4-20Ma DLA-24D3 EX DLA-24D3 v.2

Wireless P8AX09-6G-N/FF P8AX09-6G-N-FF

References

#Title
1NFPA 70 edition 2020, Article 670 Industrial Machinery, 670.6 Surge Protection
2NFPA 70 edition 2014, “Data Assessment for Electrical Surge Protective Devices”
3NFPA 79 edition 2018
4NFPA 79 edition 2018, Annex C, Examples of Industrial Machines Covered by NFPA 79
5ANSI C62.41, Low-Voltage AC Power Circuits
6ANSI C136.2, Roadway and Area Lighting Equipment - Dielectric Withstand and Electrical Transient
7UL8801, Outline of Investigation for Photovoltaic (PV) Luminaire Systems
8UL1598, Luminaires
9UL924, Emergency Lighting and Power Equipment
10UL1449 5th Edition, Surge Protective Devices
11UL497B, Surge Protectors for Data Lines and Fire-Alarm Circuits
12UL497E, Antenna Lead-in Conductors
13UL508, Industrial Control Equipment
14IEC 61643-11, Low-Voltage Surge Protective Devices - Part 11: Surge Protective Devices Connected To Low-Voltage Power Systems - Requirements And Test Methods
15IEC 61643-21, Low Voltage Surge Protective Devices - Part 21: Surge Protective Devices Connected To Telecommunications And Signalling Networks - Performance Requirements And Testing Methods
16IEC 61000-45, Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) - Part 4-5: Testing And Measurement Techniques - Surge Immunity Test
17CSA 107.1, General Use