New commercial or public buildings have emergency lighting installed as standard but if you are looking to install or renew a system this issue may need clarifying.
Difference between maintained and sustained emergency lights.
Non maintained lighting is preferred in these instances because it is not wasting power in normal situations.
What is the difference between maintained and non maintained emergency lighting.
A short video explaining the difference between maintained non maintained and switchable maintained emergency lighting.
Maintained emergency lighting luminaires are built to be active continuously in every day life and through the event of a power cut.
Maintained mode is generally employed in places of assembly such as theatres cinemas clubs etc.
What is the difference between maintained non maintained.
This will be a dedicated emergency light and cannot be used for normal room lighting.
Over their lifespan non maintained emergency lights will still consume less energy though.
When looking for the emergency lighting fitting you require you are likely to come across the terms maintained and non maintained.
The lights are typically dimmed when the premises are occupied and the emergency escape lighting prevents total darkness.
A normal light with all the other lights in the area from the mains supply however when the power fails the maintained emergency fitting will continue to operate but at a lower light level using the back up rechargeable batteries.
Maintained lights are always on and as such naturally use more power.
The x dsa is a mini non maintained emergency light that will only come on in a mains failure.
Non maintained luminaries should be used in areas where the building is normally lit via another lighting source but relies on a non maintained emergency light in an emergency situation.
Just like a normal luminaire when running ordinarily they will take power from the mains supply but when they switch to emergency mode they take power from a back up battery.
What about sustained combined lights.
This is a luminaire in which the emergency lamps are lit all the time.
A common question from customers buying emergency lighting is.
However even non maintained lights do require a constant trickle charge from the mains power to maintain the backup battery.
These phrases are terminology usually associated with emergency lighting products but what is the difference.