ᐅ Question about Exterior Lighting / Water Protection

Hello!

I hope someone here can help me.

We looked for outdoor lights in an electrical wholesale catalog. We found what we needed and ordered the outdoor lights accordingly. When they arrived, we hired our electrical company, which also handled everything for our new build, to install these fixtures.

However, since yesterday the lights stopped working and the residual current device (RCD) keeps tripping. I called the company and informed them about this issue. The electrician immediately asked about the IP rating of the lights. I checked and it is IP44.

He then said that these lights cannot be used because our outdoor lights are unprotected and these are the wrong fixtures!

Now I’m wondering why this same company installed these lamps in the first place and didn’t warn us that there could be problems! We specifically looked under "outdoor lights" in the electrical catalog. As laypersons, we had no idea there would be such differences.

How should we handle this now? We paid around 400 euros for the installation, and now the lights are unusable :-(.

I specifically hired a professional company for installation so that nothing like this would happen...

Thank you very much for your help in advance!

PS: Of course, exchanging the lights is no longer possible, and appropriate holes for the outdoor lights have been drilled everywhere into the brickwork :-(

IP44 does not primarily mean that your RCD will trip. Most outdoor lights have this protection rating. It means protection against water splashes from all directions, making it sufficient for most outdoor applications.

It depends on how the wiring is done or how your electrician connected it.

P.S. I have been using dozens of IP44 outdoor lights for many years without having a single problem so far.

Hello,
we have installed these types of lamps ourselves and sealed them to the exterior wall with silicone. We left a small gap at the bottom to allow any water that might get inside to drain out. It has been working like this for 6 years...

Some rainwater must have entered the connection chamber of one of the lamps. That’s why the residual current device (RCD) is tripping. You need to open all the lamps and check them. Then, a small hole should be made on the underside of the chambers to allow water to drain out in the future. It’s not rocket science. Of course, you can do this yourself if the electrician continues to be uncooperative...

Your electrician probably didn’t do an optimal job, to put it mildly. An IP44 rating is completely sufficient for outdoor lights, meaning protection against splashing water from all directions. As long as you don’t spray them directly with a garden hose, this shouldn’t cause any issues!

However, it’s not always that easy to install various outdoor lights properly to avoid water problems.

Still, I would seriously discuss a free-of-charge correction with the electrician!