How To Test An Emergency Light

An emergency light (EL) is an emergency equipment.

Like all emergency equipment, we do not need it unless we are in a state of emergency.

Picture 1 – An emergency light fixture

It is also a safety equipment, which means that we need it to prevent danger, to reduce the risk of personal injuries, to prevent loss of lives or properties.

There is a problem common to most emergency or safety equipment. It is not used or not in operation most the time. In other words, it is always on standby.

This is how the problems develop.

When an equipment is seldom used or operated, it may not work at the moment it is supposed to work.

Poor workmanship during installation, low quality components, etc may cause failures in parts of the equipment.

These failures are not noticed until an emergency situation arises. Then it would already be too late.

Another example is the standby electric generator. Many buildings rely on the standby generator as part of the fire protection system for the building.

However, because it is seldom used, many times the generator cannot start when there is a fire and the main supply fails.

Of course, we have the emergency lighting to aid us in evacuating the building.

But then again, what if the emergency light also fails at some place in the building?

The occupants in the room can be left in total darkness. Accidents can happen which will make the situation much worse.

This is why the emergency light should be checked regularly and it is easy to do it.

How to test an emergency light

Picture 2 – A close up view of a surface-mounted emergency light



Picture 2 above shows the close up view of the emergency light in Picture 1.

MAINS HEALTHY light

The MAINS HEALTY light is an LED light. Under normal condition, this LED would give out red light. I took this picture while the building is under construction. The mains electricity from the public supply is still not connected. That is why this LED did not light up yet.

If the red LED lights up, that means the building supply is connected to the EL light unit. Therefore, the rechargeable battery inside the unit is charging.

The battery is always charging to keep it at full charge all the time. There is an electronic circuitry inside the fixture that automatically charges the battery to keep it full all the time.

However, even when the battery is fully charged, the LED stays ON. Do not expect the LED to light off when the battery charge is full. This light only says that the electricity supply is available.

In some design, the LED may also be used to say that the internal electronic charging circuit is also working properly. In other words, it summarized the status of the health of the charging part of the EL light fixture.

The TEST pushbutton

This pushbutton switch allows you to check if the lamp would light up when the building electricity supply really fails.

To test it, just press the red pushbutton switch.

The EL lamp will light up.

With the charging circuit healthy and the operation test of the lamp also okay, you now have no worry about your emergency lighting.

With recessed mounted EL lights, the test is also similar. Picture 3 below shows a ceiling-recessed EL light.

Picture 3 – Ceiling-recessed emergency light




You can see more pictures of the emergency lights at this post, Emergency lighting installation pictures.

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Emergency lighting (EL) installation pictures

You will find below a few pictures of emergency lighting installation.

Most countries have statutory provisions that require the installation of emergency lights in all buildings exceeding certain sizes. These lights need to be provided at strategic locations throughout the building to assist in the evacuation of the building occupants during fire situations or other types of emergencies.

Picture 1 – Surface-mounted emergency light (EL light)



Picture 2 – EL light unit close up view



Picture 3 – Ceiling-recessed emergency light



Practically this emergency lighting is useful even without the emergency and during daytime.

Time gap between mains failure and standby generator supply

When the mains power fails, there is a certain time delay before the backup power supply can take over. The standby electric generator, the most usual form of backup emergency power in normal buildings, takes quite a few seconds to warm up before it can provide the electricity supply to essential services inside the building.

Windowless rooms and corridors can be dangerous

Some internal corridors in large buildings can be very dark without electric lighting. Serious accidents can happen if the corridor suddenly becomes dark. Even with a little stray lights from windows somewhere, the eyes take a little bit of time to adjust to the sudden change of light level.

Some internal rooms inside large air-conditioned buildings are totally windowless.

Even with windows, the daylight from outside the building may not reach the rooms.

During power failures, these rooms can be darker than nighttime out in the open air outside. At least outside there you can rely on a little light from the stars or the moon. Again, in this type of darkness, anything can happen.

Locations of the emergency lights

The self-contained emergency light fittings are usually installed at all exit routes and at all places where uninterrupted lighting is required. In the second situation this lights serve the dual functions of a fire related equipment and a normal lighting (with much reduced lighting level).

The emergency light fittings are connected to the essential supply of the building electrical system. This way the rechargeable storage battery is charged even during normal power failure (i.e. when the standby electrical generator is running).

The purpose of emergency lights

The self-contained emergency lights need to be provided at strategic places throughout the building in order to aid the evacuation of the building occupants out of the building in the event of failure of the mains supply.

The need for these emergency lighting is real even during daytime because some internal corridors inside the building are actually too dark without some form of lighting. The emergency lights are meant to provide the minimum brightness needed for a safe and orderly movement of the people.

Who is responsible for the design of the emergency lighting layout?

The exact quantity and the exact locations of these emergency light fittings are usually recommended by the Fire Department. In practice, a licensed architect is required by law to submit the building design plans to the Fire Department for approval before the building construction commences. The architect would need to incorporate these lighting into their fire protection design schemes in order to obtain the Fire Department’s approval.

Static Fire Protection System

This layout is part of what is normally called the “static fire protection”. Those services like the wet risers, etc are called active fire protection and they will need to be submitted by licensed professional mechanical engineers to the Fire Department after the passive fire protection schemes (submitted by the architects) have been approved.

Prior to the submission by the architect, the electrical engineer’s input may be requested by the architect with respect to the quantities and locations of the emergency lights.

However, this task has become so routine that the engineer’s advice on this aspect is rarely necessary.

After the approval has been obtained, the approved layout of the emergency lighting is binding and it has become an input and a minimum design requirement for the electrical engineer. She can add more of the emergency light fittings into the design, but she cannot omit or change what has been approved in the submitted drawings.

That is the principle behind the layout and locations of the emergency lighting fixtures.

General lighting on Essential Supply

In addition to the self contained emergency lights that are required by the fire department, some of the general lighting luminaries are also connected to the essential supply that has been backed by the standby generator.

This is sometimes done to supplement the lighting provided by the self-contained emergency lights. More often, however, this is done to provide some level of general lighting that can allow normal work to continue even in the event of normal power failure. Of course, power failures that are caused by fire conditions demand a different course of actions immediately from all the building occupants.

Self-contained lighted EXIT signs

One more lighting component that is closely related to the self-contained emergency lights is the lighted “EXIT” sign.

The Exit signs are also required by law similar to the emergency lights. They must be provided at all exit doors of all buildings and all floors, and at each location where the fire emergency exit routes change direction.

Similar to the emergency lights, these components of the building fire protection are included in the proposed static fire protection submitted by the architects to the Fire Department. An approved layout of this fire component will become a minimum design requirement to the electrical engineer. She can add more of the lighted Exit signs, but she cannot reduce them or change them.

Like the emergency lights also, the Exit signs are self-contained, battery operated. The difference between the two is that the Exit signs are always on.

The installation

The following pictures show how a ceiling-recessed emergency light is mounted to the ceiling panel.

Picture 4 – Side view of the ceiling-recessed emergency light installation



Picture 5 – Rear view, from above the ceiling panel, to show how it is fixed to the board



Picture 6 – Normal view



An emergency light is a very important standby equipment. Therefore, it should be regularly checked and tested. Fortunately, that is not difficult to do. Read this post, How To Test An Emergency Light, to know more.

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