Emergency Lighting

Should a fire break out in an occupied building, the main lighting supply is often the first thing that fails. Also, in the event of an electrical power loss a building could be left in darkness. This means that the people inside will require assistance to help guide them safely out of the building. Emergency lighting provides people with a safe means of egress from the building by lighting up the escape routes.

There are basically four types of emergency lighting systems;

Static Inverter Systems

The significant advantage of using a Static Inverter System for emergency lighting is that it allows for the use of a wide range of normal functional or decorative mains luminaires as emergency fittings. The system eliminates the need for a separate low voltage system or self-contained luminaire emergency lighting installation. They are particularly useful where high level light output is required such as that required for high risk task areas. On Mains failure, the system converts DC power from the central battery to AC output.

Central Battery Unit (CBUs) Systems

Central battery, based emergency lighting is ideal for larger projects, the main reason being simplified maintenance. Self-contained emergency luminaires each incorporate individual rechargeable batteries with a normal battery life of around 4 years. At the end of the battery life, each individual battery must be replaced. With a Central battery system, the batteries are housed in a secure cabinet with easy access. The batteries in a central battery system will typically have a 10- year design life, and when replacement is required, they can therefore be easily and quickly replaced. On large systems with hundreds of emergency luminaires, Central battery systems potentially offer massive savings in maintenance cost and disruption.

Self-Contained Systems

These are individual emergency light fittings with all the necessary components integral to the luminaire body e.g. battery, charging circuit, mains ballast etc. These types of systems are ideal for smaller installations.

Addressable Emergency Light Systems

Regular testing and maintenance of emergency lighting systems is essential and is a requirement of British Standards. With an addressable type system, it is possible to carry out automatically testing and monitor the emergency lighting system and then produce accurate reports of the test results and system events thus saving costs on monthly testing.

LED Emergency Lighting

LED type emergency light fittings are available in all four formats. The major advantages of this type of technology are the obvious operational cost savings and the maintenance savings as there no lamps to operate or to replace.

Rex in-depth knowledge of luminaires and related products means we can match the right products needed to illuminate a given area taking account of the local conditions and the sighting of the luminaires. Our expertise in this field and computer-generated designs enables us to optimise the number of luminaires being used in the most cost-effective combination, thereby giving the end user significant cost savings.