Electrical lighting emergency light

[123bill]

I’m currently installing lights to a garage unit and I want one of them to be an emergency so that it’s on dimmed whilst the lights are off , I’ve only ever wired houses so it’s slightly different. Do I need to take a permanent feed from the switch to the emergency light ? If so is it a case of just live to live and then wiring as normal ? Thanks.

 

[westward10]

Assuming this is maintained it needs a permanent live through a test facility to enable routine testing and a switched live from the normal lighting to turn it on and off with the general lighting. It will not be 'dimmed' when the general lighting is off.

 

[123bill]

Assuming this is maintained it needs a permanent live through a test facility to enable routine testing and a switched live from the normal lighting to turn it on and off with the general lighting. It will not be 'dimmed' when the general lighting is off.

So if I want to turn the lights off at the switch , but keep the emergency light on via battery do I need to wire in a permanent live ? It doesn’t need to be tested it’s literally in my garage.

 

[westward10]

So if I want to turn the lights off at the switch , but keep the emergency light on via battery do I need to wire in a permanent live ? It doesn’t need to be tested it’s literally in my garage.

If you leave it running on the battery it will discharge it every night until the battery eventually becomes U/S. Emergency lights do not function like this the battery is there for power failure.

 

[123bill]

If you leave it running on the battery it will discharge it every night until the battery eventually becomes U/S. Emergency lights do not function like this the battery is there for power failure.

Yes I know that it’s an unorthodox way to do it but with them being Batton lights I don’t mind replacing the battery when it does eventually give out , I just want to know if this will work as il have to wire in a permanent feed for that light

 

[westward10]

If that is what you wish to do but it won't be that dim under battery power and the longer you leave the battery discharged the quicker off will eventually fail. It won't need a permanent live using your method just put a link between the two live terminals.

 

[123bill]

If that is what you wish to do but it won't be that dim under battery power and the longer you leave the battery discharged the quicker off will eventually fail. It won't need a permanent live using your method just put a link between the two live terminals.

So just a link between L1 and Live ?

 

[westward10]

Yes if you want the battery to power it when switched off.

 

[lozarus]

Its certainly an interesting one! Could think of a few other ways but they'd also be unorthodox...

 

[James]

emergency light batteries are only designed for keeping the light on low power for usually 3 to 4 hours.

If it were me, i would add a small bulkhead light fitting or similar and run it from the N/C contact of a 2way switch
therefore it is permanently powered whenever the main lights are off.