Safety Specifications for Incandescent Lamps - Part 1: Tungsten Filament Lamps for Domestic and Similar General Lighting Purposes

This Standard applies to the safety of tungsten filament lamps intended for use in lighting equipment, designed to be installed on branch circuits not exceeding 750 V and used in accordance with the rules of the Canadian Electrical Code (CEC), Part I.

Note: Manufacturers designing products for use in Canada may find a helpful summary of the equipment-related requirements of the CEC, Part I, in CSA Publication SPE-2000. 

International Standard IEC 432-1 specifies the safety and interchangeability requirements of tungsten filament incandescent lamps for general lighting service having: 

• rated wattage up to and including 300 W;
• rated voltage of 50 V to 250 V inclusive;
• bulbs of the A, B, C, G, M, P, PS, PAR or R shapes, or other bulb shapes where the lamps are intended to serve the same purpose as lamps with the foregoing bulb shapes;
• bulbs with all kinds of finishes;
• caps E12, E17, E26/24 single-contact, E26d double-contact, or E26/50x39 skirted medium screwbase. 

See IEC 887 for description of the letter symbols. Associated traditional names are: 

• Pear shape= A, PS
• Mushroom= M
• Candle= B, C (in North America)
• Round bulb= P
• Globular= G
• Reflector= R
• Parabolic reflector= PAR 

Note: In Canada the requirements for E12 and E17 are non-mandatory. 

This Standard specifies the method a manufacturer should use to show that his product conforms to this standard on the basis of whole production appraisal in association with his test records on finished products. This method can also be applied for certification purposes. Details of a batch test procedure which can be used to make limited assessment of batches are also given. 

Requirements for batch testing are included in order to enable the assessment of batches presumed to contain unsafe lamps. As some safety requirements cannot be checked by batch testing and as there may be no previous knowledge of the manufacturer's quality, batch testing cannot be used for certification purposes nor in any way for an approval of the batch. Where a batch is found to be acceptable, a testing agency may only conclude that there is no reason to reject the batch on safety grounds. 

This Standard is concerned with safety criteria only and does not take into account the performance of tungsten filament lamps with respect to luminous flux, life or power consumption characteristics. Readers should refer to IEC 64 for such characteristics with respect to types normally used for general lighting service. See also CSA Standard CAN/CSA-C862 for performance r equirements for incandescent reflector lamps.