emergency lighting diagram

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Hi All

Can you please take a look at the diagram and advice me on your thoughts , I have had mixed feedback on another forum , I think it is fine as It has been checked by senior electricians in the firm I work for

I apologise for the scribble I have broke my wrist so had to use my left hand#

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ICEL1001 comes to mind
also BS7671 for the installtion of emergency lighting in buildings

we would and do
feed the emergency fittings from the local lighting supply to the area in which the fitttings are to be positioned, not generally from the ceiling rose or joint box, from the distribution board
via a keyswitch marked `emergency light test`

its not `good practice` to feed from a rose or joint box
 
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Personally i would wire the neon to indicate that the emergency lights had been put into 'test' as sometimes its difficlt to tell when they have been turned to emergency.

Apart from that i see no problems in your diagram.

Nick
 
You're trying to reinvent the wheel for a nutty client. I had one once who wanted switches so he could turn off the clocks on time switches.

Emergency fittings are fitted with neons that indicate that the fitting is in working order.

The standard switching arrangement is live to test key switch, and then live to normal switch and to the emergency fitting, and switchlines as normal.

Turn off test key switch normal light goes out and emergency comes on.


This is how we wire emergency lights non maintained , if we have maintained fittings we use a clik box with a A terminal as it requires a Switch live and an Emergency Live

My drawing is designed as so the key switch knocks off All Lighting and the Neon
 
Personally i would wire the neon to indicate that the emergency lights had been put into 'test' as sometimes its difficlt to tell when they have been turned to emergency.

Apart from that i see no problems in your diagram.

Nick

Hi Nick

So my diagram is designed to turn the Neon out to simulate the test , would you wire it vice versa so the Neon only comes on once in test
 
Whether the neon is lit or not lit during testing should be compatible with how other neons on other equipment operate. Then staff do not have to have a list of which neons should be on and which should be off when things are normal.

Some on and some off in normal conditions would be confusing and might mean a fault goes un-noticed when it happens.
 
When working out your own system it is all too easy to introduce a fault in an otherwise good system.

I had a system where for some reason the emergency lights came off a different MCB to main lights. This was of course no good as if the main lights MCB tripped the emergencies did not work.

We had a heated debate over the fact that the emergency lights come on even when the light they are backing up is switched off. And after we agreed that to fit a switch of any kind that can be switched off leaves the problem that it may be part of the failure and so cause the lights not to work when required.

The other question was a delay in the power returning to the re-charge and emergency light trigger loop wire. We did do this and there was a timer fitted with the keyed test switch to delay the power returning so the discharge lights had chance to warm up before the emergencies went off.

This is all down to risk assessment. And we must consider which option is likely to cause the most problems.

The big question is are the lights back-up or emergency? If they are emergency then they are designed to allow egress from the building and in the main are self contained units. However in our switch room we had back-up lights. These were designed to give light when there was no mains power so we could work on the switchgear. The latter we central battery supplied and had switches and could be switches on and off completely manually. There were also emergency lights in same room. But by not being automatic they would still work days latter. But we always carried torches and they were not relied on.

Same with lighting in tunnels we could face instant dismissal for not carrying our head lamps as they were our only way to find our way out in an emergency. Again back to risk assessment.

Yes there are some nutty clients as holmslaw says and one was very famous in Merthyr for not having a clock face that could be seen from the mine.

But there is enough to go wrong with emergency lights without adding more to go wrong.
 
Whether the neon is lit or not lit during testing should be compatible with how other neons on other equipment operate. Then staff do not have to have a list of which neons should be on and which should be off when things are normal.

Some on and some off in normal conditions would be confusing and might mean a fault goes un-noticed when it happens.

We always wire it so the NEON is permanently on - we add a sticker to the switch saying ' if neon is unlit please report to maintainance'
 
We always wire it so the NEON is permanently on - we add a sticker to the switch saying ' if neon is unlit please report to maintainance'

Which is sensible as it is fail safe and (almost) foolproof.

( if the neon is unlit and the room is dark the notice might be un-readable but that is a different story )
 
When working out your own system it is all too easy to introduce a fault in an otherwise good system.

I had a system where for some reason the emergency lights came off a different MCB to main lights. This was of course no good as if the main lights MCB tripped the emergencies did not work.

We had a heated debate over the fact that the emergency lights come on even when the light they are backing up is switched off. And after we agreed that to fit a switch of any kind that can be switched off leaves the problem that it may be part of the failure and so cause the lights not to work when required.

The other question was a delay in the power returning to the re-charge and emergency light trigger loop wire. We did do this and there was a timer fitted with the keyed test switch to delay the power returning so the discharge lights had chance to warm up before the emergencies went off.

This is all down to risk assessment. And we must consider which option is likely to cause the most problems.

The big question is are the lights back-up or emergency? If they are emergency then they are designed to allow egress from the building and in the main are self contained units. However in our switch room we had back-up lights. These were designed to give light when there was no mains power so we could work on the switchgear. The latter we central battery supplied and had switches and could be switches on and off completely manually. There were also emergency lights in same room. But by not being automatic they would still work days latter. But we always carried torches and they were not relied on.

Same with lighting in tunnels we could face instant dismissal for not carrying our head lamps as they were our only way to find our way out in an emergency. Again back to risk assessment.

Yes there are some nutty clients as holmslaw says and one was very famous in Merthyr for not having a clock face that could be seen from the mine.

But there is enough to go wrong with emergency lights without adding more to go wrong.


You mention back up and emergency , do you think this is what they refer to in non maintained and maintained fittings ? My drawing is a lighting circuit which incorporates an emergency bulkhead
 
We always wire it so the NEON is permanently on - we add a sticker to the switch saying ' if neon is unlit please report to maintainance'

Which is sensible as it is fail safe and (almost) foolproof.

( if the neon is unlit and the room is dark the notice might be un-readable but that is a different story )

Do they do illuminous printer tape :idea:
 

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