Look for three things beyond the product catalog: third-party test reports from ISO 17025 accredited labs (TÜV, SGS, Intertek — not an in-house "CE certificate"), project references in your region that you can actually contact, and a supplier who asks you questions about your application before quoting a price. The ones who quote within five minutes of your inquiry without asking about ceiling height, lux requirements, or dimming needs are selling whatever's in stock — they're not solving your problem. Also: ask them who holds the CE Technical File. If they can't answer clearly, you're the one on the hook when customs asks. We're based in Xiamen and have been doing this since 2013 — contact us and we'll walk you through our reference list.
For a retrofit where the existing ceiling and walls are staying put, the question is whether you can pull new control wires. If yes, 0-10V is the sweet spot — it's simple, every electrician knows it, and you get per-zone dimming at the lowest cost. If you need per-fixture addressability and are already integrating with a building management system, DALI-2 is the right call — but it adds €5–15 per driver plus commissioning. If pulling new wire is off the table (historic building, tight budget, limited disruption window), Triac dimming works with the existing 2-wire mains wiring and legacy wall dimmers — just verify driver-dimmer compatibility before ordering. We break down the trade-offs per protocol in our dimming guide.
UEFA Level C / EN 12193 Class III: 200 lux average on the field, uniformity (minimum ÷ average) ≥ 0.50, glare rating GR ≤ 55. CRI ≥ 70 is fine — nobody is broadcasting. Four to six poles at 12–18 meters height, depending on how far back from the touchline they sit. This is achievable with standard LED stadium floodlights in the 400–600W range per pole. You do not need the 1,400 lux Level A broadcast setup — that's 7× the cost and for Champions League TV, not a local training ground. We outline the differences across all levels in our sports lighting guide.
This is large enough that you should not guess. Break it into zones: inbound/outbound docks (300 lux, high uniformity because trailers and dock levelers are trip hazards), bulk storage (150–200 lux, motion-sensor dimming in low-traffic aisles), picking and sorting (300–500 lux depending on label size), and packing/QC (500+ lux, CRI ≥ 90 if color coding is used). At this scale, DALI-2 with per-fixture addressability starts making sense — you can re-zone without rewiring as the operation changes. We'd run a DIALux simulation for a project this size before quoting wattage and spacing. Send us the layout and operational zones; the simulation is free.
IP66 minimum. IP65 handles rain; IP66 handles the combination of wind-driven salt spray, heavy rain, and the occasional pressure washer that parking decks get. Coastal also means corrosion — spec marine-grade aluminum alloy (ADC12 or better), stainless steel fasteners (304 grade minimum, 316 if you can see the ocean), silicone gaskets instead of EPDM, and conformal coating on the PCB. The IP rating alone doesn't cover corrosion resistance — you can have an IP66 fixture that passes the water jet test on day one and is rusted solid by year three. And don't skip the IK rating: IK08 minimum, because parking lot poles are magnet for delivery trucks and shopping carts. We wrote more about this in our IP rating guide.
Linear lights, almost always. Assembly lines are long and narrow — you want continuous, uniform illumination along the line without dark gaps. Linear fixtures mounted parallel to the line give you that. High bays are point sources — they create shadows between fixtures unless you overlap them heavily, which wastes energy. For automotive assembly, spec CRI ≥ 90 (workers need to see paint finish and color-coded wiring), UGR < 19, and 500–750 lux on the work plane per EN 12464-1 for medium-precision manufacturing. Mount linear runs perpendicular to the line if workers face the line, or parallel if the line is wide and workers are on both sides.
LED tri-proof lights (vapor-tight linear fixtures) with a cold-rated driver. The LED itself loves the cold — efficacy actually improves at -25°C. The things that fail are the driver (standard electrolytic capacitors don't like extreme cold) and the housing (standard polycarbonate becomes brittle below -20°C). Spec a driver rated for -40°C startup, cold-grade PC housing, IP65 minimum (condensation is the real enemy — every time the door opens, warm moist air hits cold surfaces), and stainless steel clips. 5000K or 6500K color temperature helps — the bluer light counteracts the psychological "warm dim" feeling people get in cold spaces. More detail in our tri-proof light tech spec.
EN 12464-1 recommends 300 lux for the general sales area and 500 lux for checkout counters. But the number that matters more for supermarkets is actually the vertical illuminance on shelving — products need to be lit, not just the floor. Plan for 150–200 lux vertical on the shelf faces. CRI ≥ 90 is standard for food retail (makes fresh produce and meat look like what they are), and UGR < 19 so customers aren't squinting under ceiling lights. Color temperature: 4000K is the default for most supermarkets — clean, neutral, doesn't distort food colors.