Emergency lighting fault

[Luke J]

Hi All,

New to the forum and was seeking some advice.

I have arrived at a site to complete yearly 3 hour emgencey lighting test. Once completed I switched the power back on and half the emergency lamps haven't turned back on. When you turn the power off, the lamp lights up in emergency mode, but it will not turn on when breakers are turned on. I have replaced the ballast but that is as far as my knowledge takes me unfortunately.

They are square fittings with 2x 36w lamps but each lamp is powered by a single ballast, so 2 ballasts in the fitting. The lamps are 36w 2G11 4pin. The ballasts are single A2 , Quicktronic Osram 1x36/230-240. I haven't touched any cables and the lamps worked fine before the test was carried out. The lamp that isn't emergency lights up fine when powered and the green LED is lit too.
I hope I have given enough information please don't hesitate to ask for more information

Any advice would be very welcome thanks.

 

[Octopus]

Did they work before you tested them?

 

[Luke J]

Hi Murdoch, yes they worked before the test. It isn't every emergency light on the floor, but it is the majority .

 

[westward10]

These will be maintained fittings, are they wired correctly for this mode of operation.

 

[Luke J]

Hi Westward,

Yes they are maintained fittings, I assume they are wired correctly as they worked fine before I turned the breaker off. Would shutting the power off and then turning it back on cause it to fault if they are maintained and not wired correctly? I am unsure when they were fitted but the records show the engineer who completed the 1month test had done so every month previously this year. Though they may have falsified the records.

I know this sounds amauter but If you could inform me how they should be wired that would be a massive help if you feel that this could be the issue.

 

[westward10]

Look in one that functions correctly and check with one that doesn't. If they are the same you may need to do some testing to verify the supplies are correct and live.

 

[westward10]

Swap the tubes from a working fitting to a fitting which doesn't and see what happens.

 

[Octopus]

I can't see how turning off the breaker would "break" a number of fittings ...

 

[Luke J]

Westward, I have replaced bulbs with ones that I know work and they light up in emergency mode but not when the power is on. I will try and look at a working fitting to see the wirings but so far the 3 I have checked all have different emergency modules and my knowledge isn't the greatest im afriad.

Murdoch, I do not understand why they have suddenly "broke" either just from flicking the breaker and/or fish key off and then on after 3 hours. The engineer who did the last test is not here anymore so I cannot ask them for information on what he did.

 

[telectrix]

are there any manually operated switches that may have been turned off inadvertently by yourself or another?

first thing to do is check if you have switched L & N at each fitting that does not work. are there links in the fittings that have been missed. ?.

 

[Luke J]

Hi Telectrix,

I'm am not on site anymore as i was only there to do the test and will return next week to complete remedials but had a go trying to fix a few to get a head start next week and to know what to bring back to site. I will check all of these but I believe that there are no manual switches which would cause this to happen.

Each fitting has to lamps and the non emergency lamp is lit up when power is on but they both should be on. The emergency lamp comes on when I turned the power off but not when power is running to unit.

The thing that is most puzzling is the fact the lamps were working prior to me turning the power off.

 

[westward10]

Those fittings can be very deceptive when they are illuminated giving the impression all tubes are lit when they are not.

 

[Stspark]

Apart form the obvious, (breakers on, lamps ok, key switches wired correctly etc). Likely an issue with the ballasts. In your first post you say you've replaced the ballast's, for new? or from a working fitting?
If replacing, I'd recommend reading the ballast manufacture instructions as to the correct initial power up sequence. I've previously had issues with replacement electronic ballasts in cfl fittings failing unless a specific power up sequence is followed. It's amazing whats on those instructions we all throw away!

 

[The Ghost]

Maybe you have not switched back on the fish key switch you mention, or it is broken so when you switched it off it would not make contact when you switched it on. So the green LED on means you have restored the charging supply but the emergencies not switching on mean the switch live is not working so look at fish key switch supply and test.

 

[westward10]

It is a test facility

 

[Luke J]

Westward, unfortunately I am 100% certain that the lamps were working before I started the test.

Stspark, the ballast I replaced was brand new out of the box and was like for like. I changed twice as i have had dud ones brand new previously. I will give the manufacturers instructions a good read to see if there is anything ive missed.

Vorigern, if the fish key switch was damaged would that cause half of the emergency lights to re energise when the power is back on but others not to come back on? The floor is probably 80% emergencies have not come back on and 20% have come back on and they are all supplied from the same DB and fish key switch.

Just want to say thanks everyone for ypur replies so far.

 

[westward10]

You need to follow through what I said in #6 and do a bit of testing it could be a simple lose connection along the run.

 

[Luke J]

Westward, I have swapped tubes and put new ones in, only the non emergency lights up everytime . I have tried putting left one in first then right one and vice versa and same result everytime.

 

[westward10]

If you have so many not functioning you need to verify the supplies are live at the fittings as opposed to assuming they are faulty. One or two not working you may think faulty fitting but with so many I would check the supplies are not at fault.

 

[ashg285]

I go to a lot of communal lights going faulty where I work,a lot of the time it's the photocell that's gone sometimes a nightmare to gain access to as well
Good luck