This document presents the revised Lighting Global Quality Standards for pico-solar products that will take effect on December 1, 2018. The revised standards, which now include requirements for ports and circuit protection, are available to help manufacturers prepare for compliance. Additional minor changes may be included in the final version issued in December. All products that … Read More
This document presents a list of all the changes made to the Quality Standards over time. Table 1 describes the changes made to the standards for pico-PV products (products with a peak PV power of 10 W or less). Table 2 describes the changes made to the standards for solar home system (SHS) kits (products … Read More
The Lighting Global Quality Assurance team is seeking feedback on a revised design of the Standardized Specification Sheets (Spec Sheets) for Lighting Global quality-verified products. With the transition to using the new version of the test methods (IEC/TS 62257-9-5:2018, ed. 4), the Spec Sheets can now report additional information about product performance and capabilities. The … Read More
This document describes the Quality Standards for Solar Home System Kits, which set a baseline level of quality, durability, and truth in advertising to protect consumers. Kits covered by these Standards must have a peak power of 350 W or less and a DC voltage of 24 V or less. [Note, products 10 W and smaller are … Read More
This document outlines the treatment of products that do not fully meet the Lighting Global Quality Standards due to an easy-to-fix issue that can be addressed without retesting. In cases where a product does not fully meet the Quality Standards due to one of these issues, we typically use the term “conditional pass” to describe … Read More
This document explains how manufacturers can obtain valid test results for use by Lighting Global from a qualified test lab, as well as how a test laboratory can become approved to produce test results that will be accepted by the Lighting Global Quality Assurance (QA) program. Product Testing Process 1) Random Sampling (Quality Test Method … Read More
IEC/TS 62257-9-5 is the official test methods document for Lighting Global. Now that the Lighting Global test methods are published as an international technical specification, test laboratories that are not currently part of the Lighting Global network can apply to provide product-testing services to off-grid lighting manufacturers according to the Lighting Global test methods. However, … Read More
In 2017, Lighting Global tested 17 top-selling, non-quality verified solar products from retail stores in Ethiopia, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Tanzania. All 17 products failed to meet Lighting Global Quality Assurance (QA) standards for pico-PV products, which test for energy efficiency, product durability, and other factors important to off-grid consumer experience. Results indicate that non-quality … Read More
Market Check Testing verifies that the quality and performance of products sold in the market match the levels measured during Lighting Global program entry testing (using the Quality Test Method (QTM) and reported on Standardized Specification Sheets). The goal is to ensure the quality and performance of products in the market is consistent and matches … Read More
In June 2018 the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) published a new edition of the test methods used for testing solar products, IEC 62257-9-5:2018 (also written as IEC 62257-9-5 ed. 4). It will take our program and the associated test labs some time to phase in use of this new document. This memo describes the associated … Read More