Emergency Lighting

Hi, I recently took over the maintenance of an accommodation building and have found 3 maintained bulkhead emergency lights on which they operate as normal lights, the green LED is on, but when I do a test they don't light up. Help/advice would be appreciated.

I own a building with 4 studio flats on the ground floor and four flats on the first floor. The building has a communal hallway on the GF with an external door at each end and a communal landing on the first floor. Do I need to have FD30 doors on each studio or will conventional UPVC front door styles be ok ?

Hello I am in the process of opening a bed and breakfast, converting a single storey cottage, into two separate rooms. Both rooms are completely open plan, measuring apx 300 square foot each, with just one entrance and exit - with the beds located less than 1.3 meters from the entrance (patios doors) which exit into my large drive way. The property has been completely renovated with interlinked smoke alarms etc. We have been told by building regs that we needed emergency lighting as people would be 'unfamiliar' with the room, and the electrician has installed a bright green LED light in both the rooms, which stays green and turns white if the power fails. …

hi, is there a maximum time that a emergency light will stay on during a power out? how long do the batteries last before they go out? are they industry standard set to 3 hours or more like 12 hours? thanks adam

Does anyone know if self-testing emergency escape lighting still needs a 3-hour discharge test each year?? We're looking at BS5266-1 and BS EN 50172 and we cant see where it mentions self-testing systems? Any help / guidance much appreciated.

HI, I'm the caretaker of a school and we just had our annual fire and emergency light service carried out by a new company. They have failed all our external bulkhead lights as they didn't hold charge for the 3 hrs. I'm not sure the external lights have formed part of the test before. Can someone confirm if this is a statuary part of the test or show me a link that confirms this. Thanks in anticipation. Stuart

Good afternoon, I am just doing some research into emergency lighting testing. Please could you advise if the person who carries out the monthly testing needs to be qualified to do this? Regards, Emily

We live in a block of flats totalling 30nr across five floors. The fire strategy is 'stay put' however we have installed emergency bulkhead lights to both stairwells. The electrician who installed the luminaries handed over a testing log and showed us the fish key isolation switch for carrying out monthly flick switch tests and annual 3 hour testing. The tests are straight forward, the isolation is easy to achieve and there are green charging indicators on each luminaire. We are not qualified electricians but are comfortable undertaking the tests, ensuring the luminaries remain on after three hours, checking that the green charging light glow…

I have a property where the emergency lighting in a staircase does not work in emergency. I tried to replace them with like for like and when fitted work fine but when I put it in emergency the lighting will only last a few minutes before switching off. Any ideas before I call out an electrician.

Hello, this emergency light does not come on when power is cut. There is a red light on when house has power, indicating power to the unit. The bulb works fine. I thought the battery may need changed. It has not been changed for a long time. How ever I can't see where the battery is. Is it located under the white board held on with 3 screws? Thanks, Gordon

Questions reference borrowed lighting; 1) if the 'street lighting' is on the same phase as the 'premise lighting' and there is a power failure to the street lighting and/or area, then the premise has no emergency escape lighting. Is this acceptable when considering designing emergency lighting systems 2) there are different lux levels, required at the points of emphasis within a premise i.e. centre line of an escape route and say, a manual call point. How is the photometric data gathered and designed around borrowed lighting, when most certainly shadows will form in areas not covered by windows. Thanks.

Hi Guys I really do hope you can help me out on this one. I am the maintenance manager of a residential home and responsible for the emergency lighting within the building. I delegate a competent operative on a monthly basis to complete a flicker test on our system and annually our fire alarm service contractor does a full test (3hr) and service and certifies. The reason it is done this way is that 5 years ago we had a visit from the local council on an inspection and they stated that we required the system to be serviced yearly and by a qualified engineer as previously we did it in house. obviously this comes at a cost to the home. We have just had another vis…

We have had a contractor fit electronic keypad entry systems to the doors of our office (as we are in a communal building) and need clarification on the wiring of said keypad. When I operate the Key Test Switch to check the Emergency Lighting the keypads power is lost - which in my opinion should not happen as this makes me feel the contractor broke in and powered them up on the key test circuit... so unless I'm mistaken if the keypad goes wrong would this not cause power to go out on emergency light and go into emergency power mode for emergency lighting? This has been done at 3 other doors too. Our main door was like it but then we had another contractor in t…

Hello I live in a block of flats with a communal staircase. On each landing there is a light but one has been displaying a red light ( see attached photo) for over two years. When I initially reported the fault to the management company I was told that it would be dealt with in a quartery inspection. Please can someone tell me if this is a fire safety light and whether the management company are legally required to maintain it? We have a communal notice board which displays info re insurance but there is no fire safety certificate on display. Many thanks.

I am currently testing our works emergency lights, I have some that work as emergency lights when tested, but don't work when being switched onto the mains. Has anyone had this problem and did you find a solution? Any help greatly appreciated :)

Are bulkhead emergency lights suitable for school corridor lighting? Also, although they self test monthly and annually I assume there is still the requirement to have the emergency lighting checked annually by a competent person? Thank you

Our block of flats was recently equipped with emergency lighting. The cabling - not a mineral insulated type - was secured to the ceiling with nailed in cable clips. Straight sections were enclosed in rectangular plastic trunkling, but the bends were left exposed. Naturally, the result looks dreadful. Is it permissible to remove the plastic trunking and paint the cabling to match the ceiling?

I've been asked to check why several emergency lights have not been charging their batteries. The fittings are combined fittings with emergency packs fitted. I haven't take a look yet but could it be as simple as the key switches in each area being in the open position?? Just an idea.

We have just had the emergency lighting at our premises tested in house (small system). Most of the lights were fine, but a couple were not at full brightness at the end of 3 hours. So the lights were functioning, but only at say 25% capacity after the full 3 hours. Is this acceptable, as they were still lit, do they all need to still be at full brightness?

I have a flat in a (detached) four story block (no lift), with two flats on each floor. There are lights in the communal area at night, but are we legally required to have other emergency lighting?

Hi, I am about to replace a number of emergency luminaire batteries that failed annual 3hr test. Once fitted is it a requirement (after allowing time for full charge) to re-test for 3hr or does the battery pack being new negate that requirement.

Hello, Wonder if anyone can give some guidance regarding an issue I have with the standards and codes applicable to EM lighting since I am having trouble selecting suitable luminaires for a small HMO project. I believe BS 5266 states in many places that EM lighting luminaires and various aspects thereof should conform to standard BS-EN-60598-2-22:2014.Even though it uses the word should and not shall, it also appears that a system cannot be declared to be in conformance with BS 5266 unless the luminaires conform to 60598-2-22. I see many luminaires advertised as for emergency lighting that do not explicitly state conformance to BS-EN-60598 even if the prod…

I have just carried out a six monthly three hour test on our EML, we have one room approx. (26x26ft) where two walls are 50% large windows, the two ceiling lights have failed test, one fire escape door has a luminaire above it, there are double doors with viewing panels in another direction that does not have a luminaire above it but leads to other escape routes that could be used. The building is occupied from 8.00am until 5.00pm Monday to Thursday then by a cleaner until 7.00pm and on a Friday from 8.00am until 3.00pm. Is it necessary that the two failed lights are replaced as batteries are no longer available?

Can emergency exit lighting be solar powered on a small block of 5 purpose built flats over 3 floors.

Previously I worked in a building, built in 1997. The emergency 'flick' test sockets were placed at intervals along the corridor walls etc. I methodically went around and flicked each socket and could see what light did not respond in the expected way, noted it and obtained a new battery, fitted it, tested again, recorded as required. I now work in a building, built in 2012, all of the 'flick' test sockets are in blocks housed in the cupboards alongside the light & power trip switches/rcd/rcbo boards. In my case 5 areas in total. Given the size and layout of the building; it requires 2 of us to do the tests using walkie talkies. I am relatively new to my c…