Why are LED lights required to be ICT?
- Thread starter mlnk
- Start date
- Status
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
Not all require an ICT housing. We use some that fit in either a can or standard 4" nailon box.
teufelhounden91
Senior Member
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
Why are LED lights required to be ICT?
410.116 talks about the housing needing to be ic rated, not the type of lamp installed.
Per 410.116(B) any recessed enclosure, ballast, LED driver, etc...must be IC rated if there's insulation around it.
Also if you can get ahold of a 2014 "handbook" there is a blue note at the end of 410.116(B) that states:
"LED luminaries for installation in contact with thermal insulation must be identified as Type IC, which is similar to the requirements for other luminaries"
Any recessed cans that will touch insulation need to be ic rated. What if the customer was to change out the LED trims back to incandescent and put 100w lamps in? (Why, I don't know). This will generate a ton more heat so the housing still needs to be rated for IC.
On another note thermal protection is required to protect lamps, not housings (410.115(C)) unless the lamp is listed and identified as providing equivalent protection. (Exception 2) Some LED lamps come with fins to dissipate and allow for thermal protection.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
410.116 talks about the housing needing to be ic rated, not the type of lamp installed.
Per 410.116(B) any recessed enclosure, ballast, LED driver, etc...must be IC rated if there's insulation around it.
Also if you can get ahold of a 2014 "handbook" there is a blue note at the end of 410.116(B) that states:
"LED luminaries for installation in contact with thermal insulation must be identified as Type IC, which is similar to the requirements for other luminaries"
Any recessed cans that will touch insulation need to be ic rated. What if the customer was to change out the LED trims back to incandescent and put 100w lamps in? (Why, I don't know). This will generate a ton more heat so the housing still needs to be rated for IC.
On another note thermal protection is required to protect lamps, not housings (410.115(C)) unless the lamp is listed and identified as providing equivalent protection. (Exception 2) Some LED lamps come with fins to dissipate and allow for thermal protection.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
teufelhounden91
Senior Member
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
It doesn't matter how much heat they produce, it's code. But when surrounded by insulation the lamp and driver will run hotter than they should. A lot of times they're installed on wood studs or other combustible material, which can cause a fire if the ignition point of that wood is reached.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
edlee
Senior Member
- Location
- Western Massachusetts
I took a couple of 6W PAR16 LED's out of track heads the other day on a job. They had been on for several hours and the bases were hot! So I can imagine that in an air-sealed RC housing covered in thermal insulation the heat buildup could be significant.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
They do not produce as many BTU's of heat overall as an equivalent incandescent or halogen does, but they still produce heat in certain components, and there is a reason they often have a fairly large heatsink compared to how small the LED or cluster of LED's itself is.
- Status