Introduction

NEMA receptacles are a standardised connection type in the lighting industry. NEMA socket have a removable construction. As a result, this makes installation, maintenance and repair much easier. NEMA receptacles provide a reliable power connection through strong twist-lock contacts.

Many street or car park lights have a blue or black round knob on the top, which is actually a light control(Photocell) that is linked to the light by a NEMA socket ( e.g., ZGSM’s Falcon series street light with NEMA socket )

NEMA sockets can be used for photoelectric switches, 0/1-10V dimming, DALI dimming, and Intelligent communications centralised control. 3, 5 and 7 pin NEMA sockets which conforms to ANSIC 136.41 standards ( Want to know more about ANSIC 136.41 standards? ) have become the consensus among manufacturers and lighting projects in the outdoor lighting industry.

NEMA socket for street light

NEMA sockets are a standardized connection type in the lighting industry. NEMA sockets have a detachable structure. Therefore, this makes installation, maintenance and repair easier. NEMA sockets provide reliable power connections through powerful twist lock contacts.

Many street lights ( Please review case studies of Streetlight LED. ) or parking lot lights have a blue or black round knob on the top, which is actually a photocell sensor switch of the lighting control device, which is linked to the lamp through the NEMA base. NEMA sockets can be used for photocells, 0/1-10V dimming, DALI dimming and intelligent communication centralized control. The 3, 5, and 7-pin NEMA bases that comply with the ANSI C136.41 standard have become a consensus among manufacturers and lighting projects in the outdoor lighting industry.

What is the difference between a 3, 5, and 7 pin NEMA base?

The 3, 5, and 7 pin NEMA sockets have the same structure and all use a 3-pin twist lock system, which is very convenient for replacing control devices. The 3-pin NEMA socket is equipped with a photcell ( 11 Things You Need Know About LED Street Light with Photocell ) to realize the automatic switch of the lamp at dawn and dusk.

The 5 pin NEMA socket is exactly the same as the 3 pin socket, except that there are 2 more contacts on the surface of the socket. These contacts have another 2 wires on the back of the socket, which are usually used to connect the 0-10V dimming leads on the LED driver, but can also be used for other sensors inside the lamp housing where the socket is installed. The 5 pin NEMA socket can be equipped with a photocells or an intelligent controller to achieve 0/1-10V dimming and intelligent centralized control of the lamp.

The 7 pin NEMA socket adds 2 more contacts to the 5 pin socket, which still has the original 3 jacks of a standard 3-pin NEMA socket, but has 4 additional contacts on the surface of the socket, which in turn has 4 wires on the back. It allows connection to 0-10V dimming, Dali dimming function and other sensors, and thanks to the full preset function, the lamps can be connected to intelligent controllers with different communication methods, and customers can choose the type of lamp controller more freely, achieving advanced control of the street lighting system, resulting in significant energy savings.

For example, photoelectric sensors can be used to automatically adjust the brightness of street lights based on ambient light levels, thereby reducing energy consumption and light pollution ( What’s light pollution and how to reduce it ). In road and regional applications, after the pre-wired base of street lights and lamps is installed, an intelligent controller or photocells can be quickly installed during field installation, minimizing the contractor’s work time on site.

If the street light has a NEMA socket, but has not yet decided whether to install only the light switch or give it more functions, you can insert the short circuit cap so that the lamp can still work properly, and in the future when you need to use the smart control system, you can remove the short circuit cap and plug it directly into the smart light controller. For smart control system of street light, please check this.

Why choose a 7pin socket?

Based on the above introduction, street light bidding usually requires a 7 pin NEMA socket for the following reasons:

1. Continuous update and progress of technology: Most outdoor lighting jobs use standard photocells that turn the lights on at night and off in the morning, and times are changing, as are regulations. Dimming controls, monitoring sensors, and more are becoming standard requirements in many regions to meet energy saving and power reduction regulations. Smart controls are becoming more popular and pervasive, and play an important role in helping to reduce electricity consumption. By adding a NEMA socket, access dimming, monitoring sensors, etc. can be managed in real time from the cloud through a network platform, and the controller just needs to be plugged into the top of the lamp like a photocells.

It is no longer necessary to pull the wire from the pole for external wiring. It turns what would otherwise be a heavy wiring job into a simple twist lock to connect the wireless or 4G 5G network to an app on your smartphone or computer. Lighting has been upgraded and the labor required for upgrades has been reduced, higher visibility has been achieved, and energy consumption has been reduced.

2. Standardization: 7-pin NEMA sockets provide ANSIC136.41 compliant interfaces for connecting various intelligent lighting controllers and light switches. This standardization ensures compatibility between different manufacturers and control systems.

3. Enhanced control and functionality: The 7-pin socket allows for more advanced features beyond simple on/off controls. This includes 0/1-10v dimming ( What’s 0-10V dimming ) , Dali dimming, intelligent communication cloud centralized control, etc. This provides a convenient management method for energy saving, timely change of street light system parameters, and monitoring of street light system operation.

4. Looking to the future: The inclusion of 7-pin NEMA sockets in street lamp ( Review case studies of outdoor street lamps.) designs ensures that lamps can be upgraded ( Advantages and disadvantages of different street lighting controls ) , controlled in a different way, or integrated with new technologies. This provides a future-oriented guarantee for the renewal and maintenance of the lighting infrastructure.

5. Communication and data collection: The 7-pin nema socket can be inserted into the street lamp intelligent lamp controller to realize data communication between the street lamp terminal and the cloud management system, remote monitoring, electrical parameters Vrms(V), Irms(I), power factor ( What’s PF? ), frequency (Hz), power (W), over voltage/under voltage, over current/under current fault detection and data collection. This improves maintenance efficiency and reduces labor costs.

6. Smart City Initiative compliance: Many cities are moving towards smart city frameworks that require street lighting to be integrated and compatible with other smart infrastructure. The 7-pin NEMA socket provides controllers and communication devices with more options for control and the necessary connections to support this integration.

Summary

Over all, in this article, we mainly introduces the NEMA base and the advantages of 7PIN socket functions and applications. We can see that it plays a very important role in smart street lighting systems and smart city projects ( View the city street lighting project ). The 7-pin NEMA socket is a versatile and essential component of modern street lighting systems, enabling a wide range of intelligent functions and ensuring that the system is ready for future expansion.