1. Ingress Protection Rating
IP65: Minimum project threshold, dust‑tight and protected against water jet spray; standard for the vast majority of landscape lights. IP66: Protected against high‑pressure water jets; IP67: Suitable for temporary water immersion; IP68: Continuous underwater submersion (for water‑feature lights).
❗ In‑ground lights and water‑feature lights must not use IP65 only. In‑ground lights additionally require IK10 impact resistance to prevent breakage from vehicle rolling loads.
2. Light Source & Optics
LED Chips: Mainstream SMD2835 / 3035 / 5050; high‑power COB. Domestic brands: San‑An, Epistar. Low‑grade products adopt no‑name chips with obvious luminous decay within 1‑2 years.
Color Temperature: ‑ Cultural tourism / ancient buildings: 2700‑3000K warm yellow ‑ Parks & residential compounds: 3000‑4000K neutral warm white ‑ RGB / RGBW: dynamic color effects, DMX512 controlled
CRI (Color Rendering Index) Ra: Municipal projects generally ≥70; cultural‑tourism and ancient‑building projects prioritize Ra ≥80.
Luminous Efficacy: Qualified project‑grade products ≥90‑110 lm/W; low‑cost products only reach 60‑70 lm/W.
3. Driver Power Supply (Most failure‑prone component; 70 % of lamp failures originate from drivers)
Two types: Constant‑current driver (standard for LED landscape lights); Constant‑voltage driver (for light strips and some pixel point lights).
Power Supply Options: ‑ AC220V: Mains‑powered engineering solution, simple wiring; lightning protection must be implemented. ‑ DC24V: Safe low‑voltage, widely used for wall washers and pixel lights. Voltage drop calculation is required for long‑distance cabling; overly long wiring runs should be avoided.
Common pitfall: Many low‑cost lamps use non‑isolated drivers, which are vulnerable to mass burnout during lightning strikes. Formal engineering projects adopt isolated drivers together with surge‑protection tubes.
4. Control Modes
‑ DMX512: Industry mainstream for projects. Supports individual‑lamp color adjustment and animation effects, applied to wall washers, pixel lights and digital guardrail tubes. Drawback: complicated wiring; signal lines are susceptible to interference. ‑ DALI: Smart municipal system, dimming function, compatible with building management systems. ‑ Bluetooth Mesh / LoRa: Wireless smart control; remote on‑off and dimming via mobile phone or platform; increasingly widely adopted in 2026. ‑ Photocontrol + time control: For simple garden lamps and solar lights, automatic on‑off by time.
5. Housing Materials
‑ Die‑cast aluminum ADC12: First choice for engineering projects, excellent heat dissipation and corrosion resistance. ‑ 6063 aluminum alloy: For lamp poles and extruded profiles. ‑ 304 stainless steel: For in‑ground lights and water‑feature lights. 201 stainless steel will rust within 1‑2 years in coastal salt‑spray environments. ‑ ABS plastic: Used for civilian lawn lights; vulnerable to UV degradation, will turn yellow and become brittle after 2‑3 years outdoors.
