Hello All, need a little advice

[Joolssq]

I've come across a job where the emergency bulk head is wired direct to the CU, but it isn't lighting up, however if you trip the MCB, then the emergency back up kicks in and it is lighting, anyone come across this before?

Cheers Jools

 

[Spudnik]

Hello Joolssq, welcome aboard. Enjoy the forum.

 

[telectrix]

with the MCB closed, check if you have 240V at the fitting. i assume you have as the battery back up is held off. once this is confirmed, i think you'll find the fault is in the fitting itself. btw, welcome to the asylum. if it's a non-maintained set up, though, then it's working as it should. i.e. no light until the power is dropped off.

 

[Joolssq]

Yeah, it does have 240v at the fitting, thought it might be the light unit but just wanted to double check.

Thanks a lot

 

[Joolssq]

Trouble is, it just happened to fail while I was there doing another job, i've now got to convince client that it's a coincidence

 

[telectrix]

thinking about it, it's probably non-maintained and thus perfectly OK. that means that the 240V supply is only to keep the battery charged, not to illuminate the fitting.

 

[telectrix]

check with the client to find out if the fitting is normally on or off. usually there is a link across 2 terminals that you fit in order to maintain the light on when power is present.

 

[Joolssq]

The client says that, the fire brigade told her that it has to be lit at all times, there is another switched light in the area, so this seems a bit OTT.

 

[shagbite]

I've come across a job where

the emergency bulk head is wired direct to the CU,

but it isn't lighting up, however if you trip the MCB, then the emergency back up kicks in and it is lighting, anyone come across this before?

Cheers Jools

are you saying this emergency light is on its own circuit? if so, how will it come on in the event of a lighting circuit failure?

 

[Joolssq]

ok, will check, thanks

 

[telectrix]

probably a case of just fitting the link to make it maintained. check with manufacturer as to where the link goes. usually between the Lin and an adjacent terminal.

 

[Joolssq]

The CU is a twin RCD board, when one RCD trips, then the emergency light comes on, never seen electrics like this place before.

 

[shagbite]

The client says that, the fire brigade told her that it has to be lit at all times, there is another switched light in the area, so this seems a bit OTT.

depends on the environment. if it's an office with plenty of lights and everyone knows the lay of the land, i would say non maintained is fine.

 

[Joolssq]

I've viewed this forum before but never registered, it's good to know that I can come here to get some good advice.

 

[shagbite]

The CU is a twin RCD board, when one RCD trips, then the emergency light comes on, never seen electrics like this place before.

yes, the rcd will isolate all the circuits that it is protecting. but, if your lights are on mcb '1' and, the em' light is on mcb '2', the emergency light won't be activated when mcb '1' is tripped.

 

[Joolssq]

so the em' light needs to be linked across to the lighting circuit?

 

[Paul.M]

so the em' light needs to be linked across to the lighting circuit?

Yes it needs to be fed from the local lighting circuit in case that circuit is switched off/trips the mcb or rcd.


Where in Leeds are you working?

 

[telectrix]

@ jools. the em's should be fed from the same circuit as the local lights, so that if the supply to those local lights fails, the em will light up.

 

[Joolssq]

That's great, will do

I'm working in Middleton

 

[telectrix]

once worked there for a few weeks on a sports store ( like jjb, but called something else). parked van as close as possible, about 200 yards from site, and this jobsworth threatened to have the bomb squad blow it up as it was close to a bus station. FFS. as if al quada are going to blow up buses in middleton.