Whether you own a commercial building, office space or a home, having quality emergency lighting is essential. These lights are important for maintaining safety and reducing any possible hazards. 

In an emergency, people can easily and quickly evacuate with the help of emergency lights. When choosing the suitable luminaire, there are two options: maintained and non-maintained. 

Non-maintained emergency lights are an ideal choice as they are energy efficient. These lights ensure security without consuming too much power. If you want to install these helpful fixtures, learn more about non maintained emergency lights. 

What Is Emergency Lighting?

Before we look at the different types of emergency lighting, let’s take a look at what these fixtures are. This will allow you to use them to their full potential. 

Emergency light fittings are an essential part of fire safety provision in any building. Because of this, you should install them wherever you can. 

Emergency light fittings act as a backup light source for your building's lights. These fittings are essential equipment during power cuts. Emergency light fittings act as a power source during power cuts or allow your light fittings to keep operating in emergencies. 

If there is a need for evacuation, emergency luminaries will light up a safe pathway for occupants. 

You might see these lights in public buildings, but they can be an essential fixture for homes as well. In case of any emergency, these luminaries will ensure you and your family remain safe. 

Home emergency fixtures with light-up exit pathways in case of a power cut and emergency lights for homes will help you make quicker evacuations in the event of a fire. Because of this function, emergency lights are a crucial part of your home lighting design. 

For any public building, you need to adhere to safety regulations and codes. The best way to know if you are meeting these codes is by regularly maintaining the lights. Make sure that they work at full capacity when needed. 

If you’re in the UK, the Industry Committee for Emergency Lighting or ICEL is your go-to for information regarding these fixtures. 

Make sure to follow the ICEL guidelines when installing and maintaining your lights because this will ensure your peace of mind. Finding the right emergency lighting can often be nerve-wracking. 

If you want high-quality fixtures, visit Meteor Electrical. At Meteor, we only carry the best luminaries that are supposed by our industry expertise. 

Whether you want non maintained emergency lights or something else, Meteor has you covered on all bases. You can also explore our LED emergency lighting for better energy savings. 

What Are Non Maintained Emergency Lights?

When it comes to choosing the right kind of emergency light, you will have two main options to pick from. Maintained and non maintained emergency lights. So, what is the difference between maintained and non maintained emergency lights? Unlike maintained emergency lights, non maintained emergency lights only switch on during a power cut or any other related emergency. These lights turn on immediately, so you don’t have to worry about any wait times during an emergency. 

However, we recommend non maintained lighting as they provide all the benefits of a regular emergency light plus much more. But before we discuss that, let’s take a look at what non maintained lights are and how they work. 

Think of these luminaries as a backup light that switches on when your origin luminaries fail. In public buildings, non maintained lighting can be used as a way to illuminate pathways for a safe exit. In a home, you can use these lights for visibility in case of a power cut. 

Apart from this, you can use them in various emergency settings. The best example of a non maintained emergency light is an exit sign. 

If you’ve seen this sign, you can see that they are not illuminated in normal conditions. But when the power fails, these signs emit a bright illumination that is helpful for evacuating. 

Non maintained lights are typically found in offices or warehouses, but you can also add them to your home. 

Some non maintained lights have a subtle design, so they don’t look jarring in your home. These types of luminaries often look like a regular light which means it seamlessly blends in with other fixtures. 

Most electricians wire the non maintained light to the standard lighting circuit so that these lights respond accurately to power failures.

For excellent non maintained lighting, explore our Meteor’s Kosninc range of emergency fixtures. 

With Kosnic’s innovative LED technology, you can cut down your energy consumption while ensuring your safety. 

What Are Other Types Of Emergency Lighting?

As we’ve mentioned before, there are multiple types of emergency lighting. Apart from non maintained lighting, here are some other options you can choose from. 

Maintained Emergency Lighting

Another popular option for emergency lighting is maintained emergency fixtures. These luminaries remain operational at all times. 

In regular situations, maintained lights use the main power source to stay on. When an emergency happens, they switch to a backup battery without any interruptions to their illumination. 

Since they remain on, maintained lights are a great way to guide large groups of people towards emergency evacuation areas, which is why you can commonly see them in public spaces or office buildings. 

Maintained lighting is not a great option for households as they might seem out of place. If you are worried about the light consuming too much energy, there are LED options available as well. 

Apart from maintained and non maintained emergency lighting, there are a few other options available as well. Let’s take a look at some of these other emergency lighting models. 

Combined Emergency Lights

Combined emergency lights are designed with two or more lights. One of these bulbs is powered through the emergency lighting supply. The other bulb uses your normal main power to stay operational. 

With these luminaries, you have a choice between a maintained or non maintained option depending on your needs and power situation. 

Unsure about which options work best for you? Ask a qualified electrician to help you find the light that works well in your space.

Compound Self Contained Emergency Lights

This emergency luminaire works alongside another light source which we will mention later. Compound emergency lights often use an LED bulb for efficiency. You can also find these luminaries in either a maintained or non maintained emergency lighting.

Satellite Emergency Lights

The satellite emergency lighting system works alongside the self contained luminaire to provide you with emergency illumination. 

These lights derive their power from the combined self contained models to work in tandem. As with other models, you can also find them in either maintained or non maintained emergency lighting. 

Which Works Best: Non Maintained Or Maintained Emergency Light?

By now, you know about all the different kinds of emergency lighting. You might have noticed that each luminaire comes in either a maintained or non maintained format. 

If you are not sure which version works best for you, here’s a breakdown of non maintained and maintained emergency lighting.

Which Consumes The Most Power?

The main concern for any consumer is energy consumption. If you are looking for emergency lights, chances are you might think about their energy efficiency. 

Since maintained lights are always on, they consume more energy by design. Even though non maintained lights are not constantly in operation, they still consume a slight trickle of energy from your power source. 

If you're looking at their entire lifespan, non maintained emergency lights consume less energy than maintained models. If you are LED lighting into this mix, you can enjoy even more savings in the long term. 

Which Format Should I Choose?

The right emergency light for you depends on your needs. If energy consumption is your main concern, it’s best to stick to non maintained lights.

However, you must remember that these luminaries are only recommended for areas where people are familiar with their surroundings. 

Which is why you mostly see maintained lights in public settings. If you want non maintained lights in public settings, you can use them alongside the maintained fixtures. 

The main goal of emergency lights is to provide illumination when other lights don’t work, so choose your fixture according to your needs. 

What Are The Important Components In Non Maintained Emergency Lights?

Emergency light fittings are built with several components that ensure your buildings stay illuminated in power cuts. These important components are:

• LED - LED chips are an important component in LED emergency lighting. These LED chips light up when the LED emergency luminaires are powered on.
• Test Button - The test button on emergency light fittings allows electricians to simulate a power failure to test the light’s operational capabilities. 
• Battery - This is the emergency light battery where power is stored for operation during power failures.
• Emergency light module - The emergency light module allows the light to supply power and charge the light fitting. The module is important for the light’s operational abilities.
• Housing - LED emergency lights to have a housing that is made from materials to suit specific environments and applications.
• Charging indicator - emergency light changing indicator has a red LED that indicates when the light fixture is actively being charged.
• Emergency light indicator symbol - this symbol indicates that the light fixture is an emergency light. The symbol is usually comprised of a code. 

What Are LED Non Maintained Emergency Lights?

As we’ve mentioned before, if you want energy efficient emergency lighting, choose the LED option. Many consumers are opting for these highly convenient luminaries as they provide multiple benefits. 

LED emergency light fittings use a light-emitting diode to illuminate pathways during a power cut. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, these emergency fittings are a great solution. 

LED lights consume less energy by design, so they don’t put too much load on a power grid. 

Since LEDs do not contain any harmful gasses in the structure, they are very easy to dispose of. If you add a renewable power source with these lights, they become extremely cost-effective in the long run. 

Apart from these factors, let’s take a look at some other benefits of LED non maintained emergency lights.

Better Efficiency

This factor not only ensures low energy consumption, but your lights generally do their job much better. LED emergency lights use a process called electroluminescence. In this process, electrons are combined with electron holes when the LED is switched on. 

In comparison, traditional incandescent bulbs contain a filament that burns to create illumination. This filament is the reason why traditional lights have become so inefficient. 

The burning of the filament produces heat energy, so most of the power is wasted through this process. Not only are you wasting energy, but also slowly deteriorating your bulb. 

The good thing about LEDs is that they don’t have a filament, so any problems with this component are instantly removed.  

LED emergency lighting is thinner and lighter, and these qualities make LED emergency lighting more economical and cost-efficient. 

Apart from the filament, LED emergency lighting has a low-temperature performance, and it is digitally controlled with robust bulbs. These attributes make LED emergency lighting more efficient than other emergency light fittings. 

LED emergency lighting also produces 30% energy savings compared to other light bulbs. 

Longer Lifespan

LED emergency lights have a 50 times longer lifespan than standard emergency lights. The burning filament inside standard lighting burns out very quickly, and this results in the bulb needing to be replaced.

 LED emergency lights do not have a burning filament, and this allows LED emergency lights to operate 50,000 hours more than standard emergency light fittings. 

Better Brightness

When it comes to emergency light fittings, brightness is extremely important. Emergency lights need to be bright to properly illuminate evacuation paths in dangerous situations. 

LED emergency lights have some of the brightest bulbs and are much brighter than standard emergency light bulbs of the same wattage. Therefore, LED emergency lights are the best choice for brightness in emergency light fittings. 

Lower Cost Maintenance

Inspection and testing are requirements for all emergency lighting. Even for LED luminaries, you need to conduct regular inspections to ensure they are ready to go in case of an emergency. 

The great thing about LED lights is that you spend far less on their maintenance compared to other light bulbs. The extended lifespan of LED emergency lighting means you can enjoy your luminaries for a long time without worrying about replacing them. 

Important Factors To Consider Before Installing Non Maintained Emergency Lights

Before installing emergency light fittings, you must consider some important things. 

It is necessary to conduct careful installation planning to get the best possible results from your emergency light fittings. Make sure to consider the following:

• The planning and design of an emergency lighting system
• The positioning of the emergency light fittings
• If the light fittings are permanent or temporary
• Routine testing and maintenance schedule for emergency lights

These parameters are crucial to getting the best use out of your emergency lighting system. Without proper planning, your emergency lighting will fail to meet safety guidelines. 

What Regulations Do You Need To Follow For Non Maintained Emergency Lights?

As we’ve mentioned before, you must carefully consider all the important guidelines when it comes to emergency lighting. 

Since these luminaries are crucial for safety, you need to ensure they work properly. These guidelines not only look at the best places to install emergency lighting but also provide the right way to maintain them. 

In the UK, the standard protection code for emergency lighting is BS 5266-1. This code outlines the duty of the “responsible person.” This title is usually given to the person in charge of handling emergency lighting. 

The UK standard also gives clear guidelines for installing emergency luminaries. In this installation, you must make sure that your power supply is not disrupted. 

The regulation code also includes clear working standards that should be followed by you, your landlord or your employer. 

The regulation code provides an understanding of emergency lighting and its importance. In this information, you will also learn about the parameters for installation, performance and upkeep. 

One important rule to pay attention to is the level of brightness needed. To ensure you have the best emergency lighting possible, the illumination level shouldn’t be less than 10% of the normal lighting value. 

To test your lighting, use them at the relevant location points. These include any high-risk zones in emergency situations. However, it is important to note that certain activities will require a higher light value.  

For example, if your building is in a darker location, you might require brighter emergency lighting. Check the BSEN1838 regulations for specific illumination requirements regarding high-risk zones.

How Do Conduct Maintenance Checks For Your Emergency Lighting?

Once you follow all the important guidelines, you must conduct proper maintenance of your emergency lighting. Here are a few ways you can go about this process. 

Annual Maintenance Check

One of the best ways to take care of your emergency luminaries includes an annual maintenance check. This testing is a requirement to ensure their long lifespan. 

Here are all the important steps you should follow to conduct this test:

• Switch off the main power supply to your emergency light fixture. This will prevent electrocution and damage to the light circuit system.
• Conduct a visual inspection of your lights to ensure they are lit properly.
• Leave the power supply switched off for the full duration of the light’s rated length. This duration is usually three hours; however, the times vary in each unit. Make sure you check the emergency light’s rating before conducting the test. 
• If any battery fails before the rating period, you may need to replace the backup battery. 
• Record all the results after the test is completed.    

Monthly Maintenance Check

Apart from an annual test, you should also conduct a standard monthly assessment as well. This check will keep you prepared in case of any emergency. 

Here are sine important steps you can follow to conduct your monthly check:

• Switch off the main power supply to the emergency light fittings. This step ensures the safe handling of light circuits. 
• Some light fixtures have a separate switch installed in the panel. This switch allows emergency lights to be tested without switching all the power off. 
• Make a visual inspection of your light fittings to ensure they are operating as expected.
• Document and note down any issues. Make sure to investigate the jotted down problems further.  
• Make a writer recording of the full test results once you finish your maintenance check.  

Stay Safe With Meteor

If you’re looking for high-quality emergency lighting, visit Meteor Electrical. At Meteor, you can browse through our wide range of emergency luminaries that ensure your safety at every step. Whether you're looking for maintained or non maintained emergency lighting, we've got you covered!

With our industry-backed knowledge, we only provide the best for our customers. Check out our non maintained emergency fixtures for better security and energy savings.