What is the difference between maintained and non maintained emergency lighting.
Difference between maintained and sustained emergency lights.
This is a luminaire in which the emergency lamps are lit all the time.
Sustained emergency lighting.
A common question from customers buying emergency lighting is.
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.
What is the difference between maintained non maintained.
However even non maintained lights do require a constant trickle charge from the mains power to maintain the backup battery.
Luckily the answer is really quite simple.
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.
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.
A non maintained emergency light will only illuminate when there is a power cut.
The lights are typically dimmed when the premises are occupied and the emergency escape lighting prevents total darkness.
This will be a dedicated emergency light and cannot be used for normal room lighting.
Non maintained lighting is preferred in these instances because it is not wasting power in normal situations.
Maintained lights are always on and as such naturally use more power.
Maintained mode is generally employed in places of assembly such as theatres cinemas clubs etc.
What about sustained combined lights.
The x dsa is a mini non maintained emergency light that will only come on in a mains failure.
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.
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.