Charging Emergency Lights

[Jack Peterson]

 We have installed these emergency Lights around the House that come on Automatically when we have a brown out then go off when Electricity is restored and then charge. Strangely enough since we installed 2/3 months ago we have had few Brownouts and then only for s short time, They work well. So you guys that know about Electrickery and these things. We have an All day Brown out on Sunday 2nd Sept (7am to 5pm,) Having read that they are better charging on Flat batteries should I leave the Lights on [ cos you can turn them off when in operation] So that the Batteries drain and then Charge when we get Electric Back?  

[bastonjock]

Im off to test emg lighting in 5 hospitals in a few minutes ,i am sick to my teeth of testing emg lighting 

I have come across 10 year old emg lights that still hold a three hour charge ,i woukd look inside your lights and find out the battrry type and then google it for the type of battery 

Have you wired them up with both a switch line and a permanent live 

Now off to test hundreds of them 

[Jack Peterson]

27 minutes ago, bastonjock said:

Have you wired them up with both a switch line and a permanent live 

They just plug into an outlet above my doors throughout the house and on the Terrace;

 

[bastonjock]

26 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

They just plug into an outlet above my doors throughout the house and on the Terrace;

 

There are relatively new  lights on the market ,that use solar to keep them charged , they havea pir sensor that works when at night and when someone aproaches the house ,the lights will work during a brown out and act as a security light 

If you can its best to get led lighting ,the type that you have in the photo ,i use fir exterior light ,i assume its IP65 rated

For internal lighting, there are now a multitude of emg lights ,i intend to fit the solar charged pir sensor lighting and internal lighting in my phils house

[Jack Peterson]

1 minute ago, bastonjock said:

If you can its best to get led lighting

They are both LED the larger ones on the terrace are Omni, the Bedrooms have Firefly, Damn Good investment

 Sala and Terrace

 Bedrooms and Kitchen Area

 

[bastonjock]

The UK rule book in emg lights has them being tested every month  ,at 6 months you carry out a one hour test at 12 months a 3 hour test

Emg lights have to stay on fir a minimum of 3 hours in the event of a power  failure, i have to either replace the batteries or components  wgen they fail test ,its usually cheaper just to buy a new light

I had a quick look to compare pricing differences between the UK and the phils ,the emg lights that i checked, tge ones with the solar charger ,were 60% cheapee in the phils 

[Mike J]

Flashlight beside the bed and candles in the cabinet.  Works for me. 

[Huggybearman]

In answer to Jacks original query about running the batteries flat before re-charging.

 I think you will find that those emergency lamps have sealed lead acid batteries. They don't like being discharged to below around 70% of their capacity, certainly on a regular basis, otherwise it will shorten their life. To add to the longevity issue, those units in all probability have cheaply constructed batteries and simple (ie cheap) built in chargers which don't optimise the charging regime to give the best lifespan.

We have several of the Omni LED ones as shown in post 5. I just keep them plugged in 24/7 but have one lamp switched off as a default setting which halves the discharge rate. That generally provides more than enough background illumination and we turn on the second lamp if required. If there is a brown out during daylight hours then I turn them all off. That serves two purposes, firstly it prolongs the general lifespan of the battery and second it ensures there is enough battery charge should the brownout continue beyond nightfall. It may seem a bit of an effort, but whats the point of having them if you have run them flat during daylight hours. 

They have so far lasted us well for over four years now and still have good battery life.

Ken

[JDDavao II]

On 8/31/2018 at 5:15 PM, bastonjock said:

The UK rule book in emg lights has them being tested every month  ,at 6 months you carry out a one hour test at 12 months a 3 hour test

4

Oh, the building maintenance man in me is swooning over testing emg lighting. God, I hated to have to put up with that - and fire systems/extinguishers. But I kind of miss it now.

[bastonjock]

5 hours ago, JDDavao said:

Oh, the building maintenance man in me is swooning over testing emg lighting. God, I hated to have to put up with that - and fire systems/extinguishers. But I kind of miss it now.

We even have to take the temperature of the water these days , cold should be below 20c and hot over 50c , this is for legionella prevention , I know exactly where you are coming from @JDDavao I effing hate it , it's almost as boring as pat testing