California Electrician PrepCertification, exam and code, in one place

Checked against primary sources 2026-09-05

The smallest certification, by headcount

California Nonresidential Lighting Exam: 50 Questions

Nonresidential Lighting Technician is the retrofit and maintenance certification, and it takes the fewest hours of the five. The exam is 50 questions, 2 hours 15 minutes and 70 percent to pass. Half the paper is troubleshooting, replacement and retrofit.

Test yourself: thirty free questions, timed

On this page
  1. What the Nonresidential Lighting certification covers
  2. The numbers: 50 questions, 2 hours 15 minutes, 70 percent
  3. The 2,000 hours
  4. What the 50 questions cover
  5. The books on your screen
  6. The training program the state names
  7. Who runs it and how you book
  8. What it costs
  9. If you don't pass
  10. Questions people ask
  11. What this page cites

What the Nonresidential Lighting certification covers

Nonresidential Lighting Technician is one of the five certifications the Electrician Certification Unit issues, and it is the narrowest. The hours rule describes installing, repairing and maintaining nonresidential lighting while employed by a C-10 electrical contractor.

It is also the smallest by a distance. ECU statistics dated April 12, 2023 counted 225 people holding it, against 29,724 General Electricians.

The numbers: 50 questions, 2 hours 15 minutes, 70 percent

Fifty questions, 2 hours 15 minutes, a minimum of 70 percent, on both the bulletin and the DIR test information page. The older FAQ says 2 hours for the specialty exams and the newer pages agree with each other, so plan against 2 hours 15.

The 2,000 hours

Two thousand hours, the lowest of the five. The ceilings are 150 hours of stockroom and material handling, 1,750 maintenance of lighting fixtures, 1,500 installation of retrofit fixtures and 500 troubleshooting and repairing.

Notice that no single category reaches 2,000, so this one can't be met on one kind of work. Maintenance plus retrofit installation is the pairing the caps are built around.

What the 50 questions cover

Four areas, and one of them is half the paper.

Safety at 16 percent is the highest safety weighting of the five exams. Lighting control at 22 percent is the area most people underestimate, because controls have changed more in the last decade than fixtures have.

The books on your screen

The usual three come with it: the 2023 NEC, NFPA 70E 2024 and the Cal/OSHA Pocket Guide updated 2022. This exam adds the Lighten Up! and Illuminations training textbooks, 4th Edition, as the bulletin names them.

The DIR page for this certification names the same pair slightly differently, as Lighten Up updated June 2005 and Illumination updated December 2005, published by NALMCO. The bulletin's 4th Edition is the newer reference and it's what the testing system carries, so study from that if you can get it.

The training program the state names

For this certification DIR names one on the job training program, the NALMCO Certified Apprentice Lighting Technician program, and points at the two manuals above.

The same page carries a sentence worth reading before you enroll anywhere: users of the manual are not participants in a State of California approved apprenticeship program. So the manual is training material, not registered apprenticeship, and the two aren't interchangeable on your application.

We're not a school and we're not an approved provider of anything. The state approves schools for the trainee route; we're a study site.

Who runs it and how you book

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement runs the certification and CPS HR Consulting delivers the exam through Pearson VUE for exams on or after June 1, 2026. When the Electrician Certification Unit finds you eligible, an Authorization to Test email arrives from PearsonVUEConfirmation@e.pearson.com and you book your own seat.

Scheduling is online at the Pearson VUE ECU page or by phone. The published numbers differ by a digit: the bulletin prints (866) 302-9666 and the DIR test information page prints 866-302-9266. CPS HR answers at ecuexams@cpshr.us or 855-298-4917.

We're an independent study site. We don't run the exam and nothing here is approved by DIR or by the vendor.

What it costs

CCR Title 8 section 292.0 sets a $75 initial application fee and $100 to take or retake the examination. The application instructions print the packaged totals: $175 for one exam, $275 for two, $375 for three, $100 for a re-test and $100 if you fail to appear.

Checks go to the DIR Electrician Certification Fund. Exam payments are neither refundable nor transferable, which the bulletin says in capitals.

If you're sitting two of the specialty exams, the two exam package is cheaper than two single applications. That's the one place the fee schedule rewards planning.

If you don't pass

Sixty days from the day you sat it, then a retest application and another $100. The bulletin, the DIR test information page and the FAQ all say the same thing.

The retakes page covers the form, the money and what to do with the two months.

Questions people ask

How many hours do I need for the Nonresidential Lighting certification?

Two thousand hours installing, repairing and maintaining nonresidential lighting for a C-10 electrical contractor. No single category can carry the whole total, since the largest cap is 1,750 hours of fixture maintenance.

How many questions are on the Nonresidential Lighting exam?

Fifty, with 2 hours 15 minutes of testing time and a minimum of 70 percent to pass. Half of them fall under troubleshooting, replacement and retrofit.

Which books does this exam supply?

The 2023 NEC, NFPA 70E 2024 and the Cal/OSHA Pocket Guide updated 2022, plus the Lighten Up! and Illuminations training textbooks 4th Edition. They're inside the testing system and you may not bring your own.

Is the NALMCO CALT program a registered apprenticeship?

The DIR page that names it says users of the manual are not participants in a State of California approved apprenticeship program. Treat it as training material rather than as registered apprenticeship when you fill in your application.

How many people hold this certification?

ECU statistics dated April 12, 2023 counted 225 Non-Residential Lighting technicians, the smallest of the five groups. General Electrician was 29,724 on the same page.

What does the Nonresidential Lighting exam cost?

The application instructions print $175 for one exam, $275 for two and $375 for three, with a $100 re-test fee. Payments are neither refundable nor transferable.

Put it to the test

Thirty free questions, timed, with the working shown

Every miss comes back with the arithmetic worked out and the code section named, so you learn the trap and not just the answer. No account.

Start the free practice testSee the $79 question bank

All questions here are original. They are not actual exam questions, and no question bank can promise you a pass.

What this page cites

If your book is the other edition

The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.

Built and maintained by Jeff Clerisier, Trojan Digital Marketing.

Every rule here is cited to the section it comes from, and corrections are logged in public with the date. This is study material rather than electrical advice, and it does not replace your own code book or your inspector.

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