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UPS/ Battery rack and inverter replacing emergency kits

Amos Owaga

Hi all,

Are Battery racks/packs and inverters or dedicated small ups replacing the Emergency kit fittings?

I have been looking at latest designs and its of concern that the emergency lighting is currently seen in terms of the time limit before the backup (standby Genset comes up) which literally means, the emergency lighting is vaguely seen as having a few luminance so that we don't remain in total darkness and  not in the sense of safety in case of fire.

Of course this new trend also comes with the problem of having two sources at possible different voltage levels or from different phases in the same room at both high and low levels and having 2 consumer units at each location plus the distributed cabling and the switching, conduits through the walls/cavities.

How does this affect the harmonic levels in the system?

Are there any EMC problems related to the approach?

How are you people dealing with this kind of problem/ trend and is this the right way or is cost saving taking over the industry?

Parents
  • 0

    In the "old" central battery systems, where the emergency lighting was needed for fire (possibly as well as for other kinds of events) all the wiring to the emergency lights had to be "protected" - in those days almost always MICC cable - so it was practically fire-proof (due to the mineral insulation), almost immune from faults on other circuits (due to the earthed robust copper sheath) and likewise very unlikely to be affected or be affected by any EMI issues.

       - Andy.

  • 0 in reply to AJJewsbury

    Thanks for this insight, hadn't thought about it terms of the fire rated cables. If you don't mind could you share, what might have made people get away from that scheme, the technical issues that is and how that may be different today or was it purely cost based? 

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  • 0 in reply to AJJewsbury

    Thanks for this insight, hadn't thought about it terms of the fire rated cables. If you don't mind could you share, what might have made people get away from that scheme, the technical issues that is and how that may be different today or was it purely cost based? 

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  • 0 in reply to Amos Owaga

    Most likely money was the imperative for change as the central battery systems were fairly expensive to install and maintain. Unlike the commonly employed individual luminaires with integral battery, loss of the central source or interconnecting wiring doesn’t result in catastrophic failure.

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