Using emergency light switch...for darkness.

[dishman]

There is a room in a multi occupancy office building. It is often used by different groups for meeting, events etc.

One such event may require the lights to be turned off, just for a short time.

However...for some reason (compliance? energy savings?) all the lights in the room are PIR controlled and permanently powered. There is no actual switch to override the lighting.

There are however a bank of the emergency light test switches that use a fish key.

While it is not exactly ideal, assuming the emergency switches disable the main lights in favour of emergency lighting, could I use them to temporarily disable the main lights. There are unlikely to trigger any type of temporary alarm are they?

Any reference I can find to them online says not, but I thought I’d check what people's experience with them was.

 

[morqthana]

Are there no emergency lights in this room?

 

[dishman]

Yes there will be, I have not tried to see where they are. They probably are part of the existing light fitting, I don't know how dim or bright they are until I use the test switch.

 

[morqthana]

Hopefully they're bright enough for people to be able to see to gather up belongings and safely leave the room in the event of loss of power.

One such event may require the lights to be turned off, just for a short time.

Can't be done.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

While it is not exactly ideal, assuming the emergency switches disable the main lights in favour of emergency lighting, could I use them to temporarily disable the main lights. There are unlikely to trigger any type of temporary alarm are they?

It should not set off any alarms, but it will add extra wear and tear on the batteries. If the green lights, are located within the fittings, then likely the emergency light, is part of the main fittings. Usually they will light up just one, of the set of lamps in the fitting. There is no way to completely disable the emergency lighting, it should run on battery, for around 3 hours.

If you have a fish key, best to just try it, and see.