BAD emergency lighting
- Joe Carter, Electrical Engineer
- Apr 28, 2016
- 1 min read
For years emergency lighting was designed by “feel”.
Pretend you’re walking through the building and put some emergency lights or “bug-eyes” near the exits and intermittently across the sales floor to get out of the building should power be lost.
Code officials have cracked down and require proof of proper light levels in the egress path per the Life Safety Code. The 2015 International Building Code, Section 1008.3.5 requirement is 1 foot-candle average and 0.1 foot-candle minimum.
We have found the standard bug-eyes with 5W incandescent or halogen heads are grossly insufficient. When located at 5’ above the floor with both lamps directed straight down, the maximum lighting level is 1.0 foot-candle which is supposed to be the average.
Since bug-eyes have been around for decades, they are inexpensive and often preferred by our clients; sadly they do not provide adequate lighting levels.
One option is to upgrade to LED type bug-eyes. We’ve found 5W LED on 60’ centers do an excellent job in aisles of retail stores, but they are costly.
Another option is to provide an inverter. An inverter is an electrical device that changes DC power into AC power (some people buy inverters for their vehicles). For building design, it is basically a LARGE battery designed to back-up a portion of a circuit. It works just like a bug-eye, checking the building power and switching to battery power should power be lost. Also, there is no need for ugly bug-eyes in the sales area. Simply connect the general light fixtures in strategic places to the inverter circuit, ensuring enough are added to meet the required light levels.
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