KNOWLEDGE
Lighting infrastructure — what the specification process often overlooks.
Twenty technical articles from POLAB on lighting, materials, reliability and the interpretation of product data.
ARTICLES
Eight articles worth reading before you specify.
The questions most commonly left unanswered in a luminaire procurement.
MATERIALS & CORROSION · 01
Why luminaire housings corrode.
Explore corrosion mechanisms, exposure, and how material selection and design affect risk.
SERVICE LIFE & RELIABILITY · 02
Why street luminaires fail.
Luminaire performance depends on several components. Read about failure mechanisms and the evidence needed to assess them.
SERVICE LIFE & RELIABILITY · 03
100,000 hours — what it actually means.
Distinguish a calculated projection, a test result and the service life of the complete luminaire.
LIGHTING BASICS & PERCEPTION · 04
What is lumen?
Lumen describes luminous flux. Learn how it differs from lux, candela and luminance in lighting design.
SERVICE LIFE & RELIABILITY · 05
What do L70 and L90 mean?
Understand L70 and L90, and why the declared object, operating conditions and abrupt failures must be identified separately.
SERVICE LIFE & RELIABILITY · 06
Moisture, condensation and failure modes.
Moisture can affect operation. The article distinguishes ingress, condensation and the conditions for effective sealing.
PROCUREMENT & STANDARDS · 07
Purchase price vs lifecycle cost.
Compare purchase, energy, maintenance and replacement costs over the same analysis period using explicit assumptions.
SERVICE LIFE & RELIABILITY · 08
How driver capacitors affect service life.
Temperature and load affect electrolytic capacitors. Assess life using the actual component data and operating conditions.
WHY THIS SECTION EXISTS
Published by POLAB.
POLAB publishes this knowledge library. We distinguish external sources, technical analysis and our own product solutions.
The articles explain lighting, materials and service life. VALDUR appears as an example where relevant; product declarations should be read with their supporting documentation.
HOW THE ARTICLES CONNECT
From one question to a cost — in four steps.
Follow a question from failure mechanisms and supporting evidence to service-life assessment and cost. The further reading below is published and linked.
Root causes
Why luminaire housings corrode.
Explore corrosion mechanisms, exposure, and how material selection and design affect risk.
Moisture, condensation and failure modes.
Moisture can affect operation. The article distinguishes ingress, condensation and the conditions for effective sealing.
How driver capacitors affect service life.
Temperature and load affect electrolytic capacitors. Assess life using the actual component data and operating conditions.
Service life & economics
Further reading
MTBF is not lifespan — the bathtub curve explained
What an MTBF figure means and which assumptions must accompany it.
What do L70 and L90 mean?
The distinction between lumen maintenance and whole-luminaire operation.
EN 13201 — what the standard requires and how the classes work
How road-lighting classes and requirements support project design.
What Don’t We Know?
Questions whose answers depend on location, trade-offs or further evidence.
ARTICLE INDEX
Published articles by topic.
The library contains 20 published articles. Every link below leads to content available now.
Lighting Basics
Light Quality & Perception
Optics & Lighting Calculation
Service Life & Reliability
Materials & Corrosion
- SMC, aluminium and cast iron — luminaire housing materials
- What is galvanic corrosion?
- Why luminaire housings corrode.
- Coating, Powder Coating and Surface Treatment — Why Small Defects Can Become Large Problems
- Class II electrical safety and insulated enclosures
- RF transparency and wireless controls
Controls & Smart Infrastructure
Procurement & Standards
Open Questions
TECHNICAL DATA & DOCUMENTS
SPECIFICATION
Specify for the full service life.
Have a technical question about lighting, materials, or service life that isn't covered here? Get in touch — we are happy to let real questions guide our choice of future articles.