Zhaga has published its second interface specification, as part of its mission to enable the interchangeability of LED light sources. Products carrying the Zhaga logo are already available from various manufacturers.
 
The Zhaga Consortium has published its second interface specification for LED light engines. Zhaga Interface Specification Book 2 can now be downloaded from the organization’s website (http://www.zhagastandard.org/specifications/book-2.html). In addition, Zhaga has created a database of certified products, which are all commercially available. The database will be constantly updated as new certified products reach the market.

Zhaga is an international consortium of companies from throughout the lighting industry. Its main role is to develop interface specifications (known as Books) that enable the interchangeability of LED light engines made by different manufacturers.

“The publication of Book 2 provides full access to this specification for the entire lighting industry, not just Zhaga members, allowing companies to design their products to be interchangeable with other Zhaga-based products,” said Menno Treffers, secretary-general of the Zhaga Consortium.

Zhaga Interface Specification Book 2 describes a cylindrical, socketable LED light engine with integrated electronic control gear (ECG, commonly termed the driver). The light engine has maximum dimensions of 70.2 mm and 45 mm height. The diameter of the circular light-emitting surface is typically 59 mm. The light engine can be locked into a holder in the luminaire by means of a twisting motion.

One use of this type of LED light engine is in downlighting applications. A summary of the technical details of Book 2 can be found on the Zhaga website along with the full specification (http://www.zhagastandard.org/specifications/book-2.html).
Products designed and certified according to Zhaga Interface Specification Book 2 – including LED luminaires, LED modules, holders, and LED light engines – are already commercially available from a range of different suppliers. A database containing all the Zhaga-certified products can be found at http://www.zhagastandard.org/products/certified-products.html.

“The availability of Zhaga-certified products demonstrates that the specifications developed by Zhaga are being utilized by a range of companies in the lighting industry,” said Menno Treffers. “Other products are currently going through the certification process, and we expect to add many more products to the database in the coming months.”
 
Zhaga Specification Development
Each interface specification, or Book, is developed by cooperation between the member companies of Zhaga. Once the certification procedure is in place for a particular Book, and once the first certified products have been sold, then Zhaga’s policy is to publish the full specification.

Only products that have been through the full Zhaga test and certification procedure, which is performed by third-party laboratories, are entitled to use the Zhaga logo. Non-members are able to use the published specifications to design Zhaga-based products, but they cannot have their products certified unless they join Zhaga.

In October 2012, Zhaga published Book 3 (http://www.zhagastandard.org/specifications/book-3.html), which defines the interfaces between a non-socketable LED light engine with separate ECG that has a round light-emitting surface measuring between 9 mm and 23 mm in diameter.

Many commercially-available products have been certified according to Zhaga Book 3, and these are also listed in the certified products database (http://www.zhagastandard.org/products/certified-products.html).

At the same time, Zhaga published Book 1 (http://www.zhagastandard.org/specifications/book-1.html), which includes common definitions and generic information applicable to all the different interface specifications.

Several other specifications (Books 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8) have been approved by Zhaga, but at present these specifications are available to Zhaga members only. Other specifications are also in development.