As mentioned
earlier, for indoor LED lighting, it is quite sufficient to adopt basic
over-voltage, overload, short-circuit, and high-temperature power-off/load-off
designs under a relatively simple use environment and relatively stable supply
voltage/current. On the contrary, LED street lights, landscaping lights, garden
lights, etc. installed outdoors, only the above-mentioned basic drive power
safety protection is still insufficient. The biggest power challenge for
outdoor lamps is still the unstable power supply and the rain and thunder
weather. The unstable supply voltage will make the driving circuit easy to
cause component aging. This part of the problem can be improved by advanced
components with high environmental tolerance to improve the life of the driving
power supply. , And the problem of thunder falling must be improved and
resolved in a targeted manner.
For areas prone
to thunderstorms and rainy days, outdoor lamps should be designed with
lightning surge protection (SPD). The so-called lightning surge protection is
used when lightning strikes street lamps or landscaping lamps (more open
areas). High lamp holders usually form the best lightning path for lightning
strikes). The SPD protection design can introduce instantaneous high surge
waves into the lamp housing or into the power line to produce corresponding
protection. SPD components can not only prevent lightning strikes. In addition
to the protective effect of wave phenomena, Electrostatic Discharge; ESD can
also achieve protective effects.
The cost of
setting up lamps is high. If the lightning surge protection design is not used
to save costs, it is actually quite unwise. When the lighting facilities are
affected by lightning surges and cause drive circuit failures, only the street
lamps cannot be used if the lighting facilities are small. Influencing the
safety of surrounding people and vehicles, the harm caused is not as simple as
equipment damage. In addition, the increase in street lamp damage rate will
also increase the maintenance cost after the installation is completed. In
order to avoid electrical hazards such as lightning strikes and power circuit
surges in the later period, outdoor LED lighting should be higher than relevant
regulations and safety standards to enhance the safety of the drive circuit
design.