Nightowl Stage Lighting

STAGE LIGHTING PRO SHOP

Nightowl Product Testing and Certifications

Product Certifications

Nightowl Stage Lighting fixtures are certified by:


RoHS: Any RoHS compliant component is tested for the presence of Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Hexavalent chromium (Hex-Cr), Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). For Cadmium and Hexavalent chromium, there must be less than 0.01% of the substance by weight at raw homogeneous materials level. For Lead, PBB, and PBDE, there must be no more than 0.1% of the material, when calculated by weight at raw homogeneous materials. Any RoHS compliant component must have 100 ppm or less of mercury and the mercury must not have been intentionally added to the component.


FCC: The FCC Declaration of Conformity or the FCC label or the FCC mark is a certification mark employed on electronic products manufactured or sold in the United States which certifies that the electromagnetic interference from the device is under limits approved by the Federal Communications Commission.


CE: The European Commission describes the CE mark as a "passport" that allows manufacturers to circulate industrial products freely within the internal market of the EU. The CE mark certifies that the products have met EU health, safety and environmental requirements that ensure consumer and workplace safety. All manufacturers in the EU and abroad must affix the CE mark to those products covered by the "New Approach" directives in order to market their products in Europe. Once a product receives the CE mark, it can be marketed throughout the EU without undergoing further product modification.

 

Nightowl Stage Lighting fixtures are NOT certified by:


UL: If a product carries this mark, Underwriters Laboratories found that samples of this product met UL's safety requirements. At the current time NIghtowl products are not UL certified for the following reasons:


  1. Our products are manufactured in China, their standard is CE. This allows Nightowl to be certified in all the European countries, Australia, Canada, and many other countries with one certification. 
  2. Most stage lighting companies that manufacture in China carry the CE label and not the UL label. When they do it is for a specific reason, usually contract related.
  3. Our factory does test to UL standards in the quality control and R&D departments as do most of our competitors. Even ETC, one of the biggest stage lighting manufacturers, and one that manufactures in the US, states: “Tested to UL/cUL153 standard and listed with a 3rd-party laboratory”.  This means they don’t submit their products to the UL laboratories, they use faster ones more specialized for lighting. The reason for this is simple, worldwide sales issues combined with the rate of change in design specs makes UL testing logistically difficult as it impairs the ability to get new technology to market.
  4. UL, being private, is not a government agency. This is an issue with some countries. Constantly retesting with UL will drive prices up. This can be seen when you compare UL and CE product pricing. To remain competitive in a VERY competitive industry, we are forced to do what our competitors do.


When and if UL testing becomes feasible, based on market conditions, we will reconsider our position.

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Product Testing

Quality Assurance Testing:


10 Point Inspection of Every Fixture:


  1. Multi-point assembly line QC Checks
  2. Light Function - Stand Alone
  3. Light Function - DMX
  4. Light Function - DMX Master/Slave
  5. Lock-Tight use verification on all internal fasteners and key connections
  6. Earth/ground continuity check
  7. Torque test on all external fasteners
  8. Cosmetic inspection
  9. Box/Flight Case inspection (Includes Product Insert, DMX cable, etc. and proper packing materials)
  10. Final box/fight case visual inspection before shipping


Design and Random Sample Testing: (Varies by model)


  1. Vibration test
  2. Fatigue Test for all buttons or adjustable parts
  3. 3M Tape check on silk-screen/painting/electroplate
  4. Rub check on rating label
  5. Power consumption 
  6. High and low working temperature test
  7. Color temperature check
  8. LED Life test
  9. Carton drop test
  10. Flight Case drop test
  11. Lumens test 
  12. Power cord strain relief test for European Market
  13. Power cord pull test for US Market
  14. Hi-Pot test on electrical insulation
  15. Heu comparison check against baseline LED's
  16. Polarity test for US market


IP65 Testing:

  

Liquid Ingress Protection:  A fixture with an IP rating of 65 is protected against multi-directional, low-pressure water jets. In order to pass testing and achieve an IP65 rating, fixtures must be able to withstand water projected by a 0.25-inch nozzle. To achieve satisfactory results, this test must be run for a minimum of fifteen minutes, with the water source placed three yards from the fixture. Additionally, the water pressure must be 30 kPa with a water volume of 3.3 gallons per minute.


Solid Particle Protection: A fixture with an IP rating of 65 is protected against all dust particulate sizes. In order to pass testing and achieve an IP65 rating, fixtures must be able to prevent any ingress of dust sufficient to cause damage to the fixture.


An enclosure that can meet the preceding two requirements is IP65 Testing compliant.

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