"Industrial-rated" is not a certification. Nobody issues one. It is shorthand for a stack of separate published ratings: ingress protection, impact resistance, ambient temperature range, corrosion resistance, and electrical protection. Two fixtures can both be sold as industrial lights and carry completely different numbers behind that word. The difference shows up three years in, when one is still at full output and the other has a fogged lens and a dead driver. This guide covers each rating on the list, the number a real industrial fixture should show, and where to find it on the spec sheet. Every fixture in NemaLED's industrial LED lighting range ships with a spec sheet that prints these figures rather than an adjective.
Ingress protection: the IP number
IP is two digits. The first covers solids, the second covers water. IP65 means dust-tight and protected against low-pressure water jets from any direction. IP66 raises the water half to powerful jets. IP67 adds temporary immersion. For an indoor plant floor with airborne dust, IP65 usually covers it. For a loading dock, an outdoor yard, or anywhere a hose gets used during cleaning, IP66 is the practical floor.
NemaLED's UFO-C high bay is IP65 sealed with a die-cast aluminum body and an anti-UV polycarbonate lens. The STA1/STA2 shoe box is rated IP66/IP67 for outdoor, marine, and heavy-wet exposure. The warning sign is a fixture with no IP number printed anywhere. "Sealed" is a claim. IP66 is a test result.
Impact resistance: the IK number
IK measures impact energy under IEC 62262, from IK01 up to IK10, tested by dropping a defined mass from a defined height. IK08 corresponds to 5 joules and IK10 to 20 joules, so the gap between them is four times the energy, not one step. In a rack aisle where a forklift mast or a swinging load can reach the fixture, that gap decides whether a strike costs you a lens or a fixture.
Read which configuration the number applies to. Some IK ratings are conditional on an accessory: the STA shoe box is IK07/IK08 bare and IK09 with the wire guard fitted, and the guard is an ordering option rather than a default. The EX-R stainless linear is IK10 as supplied, and it also carries a 3G vibration rating, which is the number that matters near presses, compressors, and conveyor structure where the load is constant rather than a single strike.
Ambient temperature: the rating most buyers skip
Every LED fixture has a maximum ambient operating temperature, and it is the spec that gets read last. The driver is the failure point. Run one above its rated ambient and both driver life and lumen maintenance drop well before the printed lifespan, usually with no obvious failure on day one.
Standard industrial fixtures sit in a normal band. The UFO-C high bay is rated -40°C to +50°C, which covers an unheated Canadian warehouse in January and a hot roof deck in July. It does not cover a spot near a furnace, a kiln, or a foundry floor. Once ambient at the mounting point climbs past that band, the standard line stops being the right answer and the high-temperature industrial lighting line takes over, with fixtures rated for 70°C to 80°C ambient depending on the wattage selected. Measure at the fixture location, not in the middle of the room, since the two readings are rarely the same near a heat source.
Corrosion: housing material and salt spray hours
Housing material is the first half of corrosion resistance. Die-cast aluminum handles most plant environments and sheds heat well, which is why it is the default on high bays. Stainless steel is what you specify where chemicals, humidity, or salt air are constant rather than occasional. The EX-R linear ships standard in SUS304 stainless steel with SUS316 available as an option for harsher chemistry.
Salt spray hours is the second half, and it is the checkable number. The EX-R carries a 1200-hour salt spray rating and the STA shoe box carries 1000 hours. Both figures come from a standardized corrosion chamber test, so they compare directly across brands. A fixture quoted as "corrosion resistant" with no salt spray figure has not published that test at all, which is different from failing it but tells you nothing either way.
Electrical protection: voltage, power factor, and surge
Input voltage range decides whether a fixture can go on your plant power in the first place. A large share of Canadian industrial distribution runs at 347 V, and a fixture built only for 120-277 V will not go on that circuit. The UFO-C is available in AC 100-277 V and 120-347 V versions, so one model covers both without a transformer. Power factor is the efficiency half: the UFO-C publishes 0.95, and anything under 0.9 draws more current than the wattage suggests.
Surge protection is the number that predicts early driver failure. Plant power is dirtier than office power, and motor starts, welding, and switching transients all reach the driver eventually. The EX-R linear carries 4 kV surge protection on its spec sheet. If a fixture sheet has no surge figure, the driver is protected only by whatever is upstream in the panel.
Lifespan claims and what the warranty actually covers
Two numbers get printed and they are not interchangeable. Rated lifespan is an engineering estimate: 50,000 hours on both the UFO-C and the EX-R. What makes that figure worth something is the method behind it. The EX-R states its 50,000-hour rating as derived from IES LM-80 test results and TM-21 calculations, which is the traceable version of the claim. A bare "50,000 hours" with no test method named is a number, not a measurement.
Warranty is the commercial half and it is often split by component. Both fixtures carry a 5-year standard warranty, with emergency battery backup on the EX-R covered for 3 years, because batteries wear on a different curve than LEDs. Read the split before you assume one term covers the whole assembly.
Where industrial-rated stops and certification starts
Industrial-rated and hazardous-location certified are different things, and neither implies the other. IP, IK, ambient, and salt spray describe how a fixture survives its environment. Class I, II, and III certification describes whether the fixture can be energized inside an atmosphere that could ignite. A very well-built IP66 industrial fixture with no hazardous certification is still not code-legal in a classified zone.
If your area classification drawing marks a zone, the fixture has to come from the hazardous location lighting range and match that zone exactly. Some fixtures do carry both sets of ratings: the EX-R linear listed under industrial linear is also certified under UL 844 for Class I, Division 2 and Class II, Division 1 and 2 locations. For what each Class, Division, and Group label means before you order, see the hazardous location classifications guide.
The checklist before you request a quote
Have these five answers ready and a fixture can be matched in one pass:
- Environment at the fixture: indoor dry, indoor dusty, outdoor, hose-down, or corrosive.
- Ambient temperature measured at the mounting point, not the room average.
- Impact exposure: whether forklifts, loads, or vibration reach the fixture.
- Supply voltage, including whether the circuit is 347 V.
- Area classification, if any, per your classification drawing.
Send those five and we will match a fixture and its published ratings. If you also want fixture count and spacing calculated rather than estimated, send your dimensions through the photometric layout request.
Common questions
Is there an official "industrial-rated" certification? No. No standards body issues an industrial rating, which is exactly why the term gets used loosely. What exists is a set of individual published ratings: IP for ingress, IK for impact, an ambient temperature range, salt spray hours for corrosion, surge protection in kV, and a lifespan figure with a test method behind it. Ask for those numbers instead of the label.
What IP rating do I need for a warehouse? IP65 covers most indoor plant and warehouse floors, since the real exposure is airborne dust rather than water. Move up to IP66 for loading docks, outdoor yards, unheated buildings with condensation, and anywhere a hose is used during cleaning. IP67 adds protection against temporary immersion, which matters outdoors and in marine exposure more than on a dry indoor floor.
Does a higher IP rating mean a better fixture? Not by itself. IP describes sealing only, and it says nothing about impact resistance, ambient temperature, corrosion, surge protection, or optical quality. A fixture can be IP67 and still be a poor choice for a hot ceiling or a corrosive room. Read the ratings as a set, because a single high number can hide a missing one.
Can I use a commercial LED fixture in an industrial plant? In an office, a break room, or a clean dry storage area, often yes. On the plant floor the failure modes are different: dust ingress, vibration, forklift impact, wash-down water, corrosive vapour, and ambient heat, and a commercial fixture is generally not tested against those. The usual outcome is not a dramatic failure but early lumen loss and driver replacement well before the rated life.
What does the salt spray rating actually tell me? It is a standardized corrosion chamber test, and the published figure is how many hours the finish and housing withstood the salt fog. Because the test method is fixed, 1200 hours and 1000 hours compare directly across manufacturers. It matters most for coastal sites, wastewater plants, chemical handling areas, and anywhere de-icing salt is tracked indoors.
Do I need a 347 V fixture in Canada? Only if that is what the circuit is. A large share of Canadian industrial and commercial distribution is 347/600 V, and a 120-277 V fixture cannot be installed on a 347 V circuit without a transformer. Confirm the voltage at the panel before ordering, and choose the input range that matches, since some series publish separate 100-277 V and 120-347 V versions of the same model.
Sources: IEC 60529 (IP code definitions), IEC 62262 (IK impact code), IES LM-80 and TM-21 (LED lumen maintenance test and projection methods), and the published spec sheets for the fixtures referenced above.
Need a fixture spec'd to your environment? Send the room dimensions, classification, and ambient, we'll come back same day.
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