Emergency lighting help

[Jon West]

Good afternoon,

yesterday we had a power cut in our care home, 2 emergency lights did not kick in. They kick in on the key flick test which i do every month but they do not kick in when i switch off the MCB in the consumer unit. We have just had new batteries put in and they are fully charged. The green led is on when the power is on. We do have a contract for maintenance with Lowe and Oliver but as maintenance manager if i can fix it it will save the call out fee. Any ideas why they would work on a flick test but not a full power cut?

 

[Octopus]

How old are they?

 

[telectrix]

try turning off the MCB again and see if the green mains LED is still on. this would indicate that they were fed from elsewhere.

 

[Jon West]

How old are they?

About 8 years old,when the home was built.

 

[telectrix]

you sure it's Lowe and Oliver, not Stan and Oliver?

 

[Octopus]

try turning off the MCB again and see if the green mains LED is still on. this would indicate that they were fed from elsewhere.

How many lighting circuits does the op have?

 

[Jon West]

try turning off the MCB again and see if the green mains LED is still on. this would indicate that they were fed from elsewhere.

We have 6 EL on the circuit i am turning off, all the led indicators go off and 4 EL kick in but 2 don't, all 6 work on the flick test.

 

[westward10]

Are they maintained fittings because you may have an issue will dual supplies from different circuits, if possible turn all the lighting breakers off.

 

[Jon West]

How many lighting circuits does the op have?

in this consumer unit 20, but only 1 labelled corridor lights, which is the circuit i need. We have just had a full test and inspection so i know the CU is all labelled correctly and i can be 100 percent certain i am on the right mcb for the lights in question.

 

[westward10]

Turn all the lighting breakers off and see what happens.

 

[Jon West]

Are they maintained fittings because you may have an issue will dual supplies from different circuits, if possible turn all the lighting breakers off.

Turn all the lighting breakers off and see what happens.

The power cut done that for me yesterday, thats how i spotted the issue. We had to switch the entire supply off to the home.

 

[Octopus]

Me thinks these 2 rogue units need looking at ....

 

[Jon West]

Are they maintained fittings because you may have an issue will dual supplies from different circuits, if possible turn all the lighting breakers off.

Non maintained, thats how i spotted the issue when the home was plunged into darkness yesterday.

 

[westward10]

I might have got confused here, so they function with the test facility but not when you turn the breaker off.

 

[Jon West]

I might have got confused here, so they function with the test facility but not when you turn the breaker off.

Correct, the lights work well daily, and the light kicks in on EL flick test, but not when the mcb is switched off or like yesterday in the event of a power cut.

 

[westward10]

Do they sustain illumination with the test facility for a period of time say 10 minutes.

 

[Jon West]

Do they sustain illumination with the test facility for a period of time say 10 minutes.

Yes because they have just had new batteries.

 

[westward10]

I am just wondering if you are quickly flicking them on with the test facility to verify operation but when you turn off the breaker there is sufficient time getting to the fittings from the board for them to fail in other words they briefly illuminate and then fail.

 

[Octopus]

Have they ever worked properly

 

[Pete999]

try turning off the MCB again and see if the green mains LED is still on. this would indicate that they were fed from elsewhere.

What Tel said^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^