What is JA8 and how does it affect your Space?

July 30, 2021

JA8 is the name given to the 2016 revisions of California’s Title 24 regulations. It went into effect January 2017, these regulations cover indoor and outdoor lighting in new construction, renovations, and any additions to both residential and nonresidential buildings. Along with having the highest population in the U.S., California also has developed the most modern energy policies in the country.  This allows California to gain modern influence over lighting manufacturers and firmly addresses California Energy Commissions (CEC) requirements for these lighting products.

Most of the JA8 revisions apply to residential lighting, which Title 24 defines as:

• A single-family building, including sheds, workshops, and garages
• High rise multifamily residential units or apartments
• Hotel and motel rooms
• Student Dorms and senior housing/retirement homes
• Police stations and fire stations
  
  

JA8 Requirements

JA8 states that all lighting must be “high efficacy”, requiring that many applications be compatible with JA8 certified light sources to satisfy regulations. All JA8 certified bulbs and fixtures must meet specific requirements and pass meticulous testing. Light sources must emit at least 45 Lumens per Watt and reach full brightness in less than 0.5 seconds. Bulbs and fixtures must also meet dimming, life span, and color rendering requirements. Once the light source meets these requirements, it is approved by the state of California and registered with the CEC. If a light source is truly certified, it will have ‘JA8-2016’ or ‘JA8-2019’ printed directly on the bulb or fixture.  If the product is not listed with the CEC and does not have the JA8 date code, it is not JA8 certified.

See below additional requirements that may apply:

• Any screw-based socket fixture must use JA8-compliant bulbs
• Enclosed fixtures or recessed luminaires must use JA8 bulbs labeled ‘JA8-2016-E’ or 'JA8-2019-E'.
• Downlights must be rated for direct contact with insulation (Type IC or IC-rated) and cannot use screw-based sockets
• At least one light in bathrooms, laundry rooms, garages, and utility rooms must be paired with a vacancy sensor
• All outdoor wall mounted lights must be controlled by one of the following combinations: photocell and motion sensor, astronomical time clock, Energy Management Control System (EMCS) with the features of an astronomical time clock, or a photocell and time switch

Candex lighting has a variety of JA8-compliant bulbs available to choose from, please visit our catalog for additional information regarding our JA8 bulbs and hundreds of other bulbs.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact us today!

JA8 LED BULBS

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