'Safe not Sorry' - ICEL1004:2013 The Re-engineering of Mains Luminaires to Emergency Lighting

Better Together

ICEL 1004:2013

Emergency Lighting Conversions – Safe, not Sorry!

The re-engineering of standard luminaires to emergency use is a practice carried out far more in the UK than in any other parts of Europe. Get the conversion wrong however and the consequences for installers, specifiers and converters alike can be far reaching!

Throughout mainland Europe, the specification of central systems and dedicated emergency luminaires is the norm. In the UK, the conversion of standard mains, LED or low voltage luminaires is more common, allowing the specifier a number of aesthetic design advantages. This method, known in the lighting lexicon as self-contained emergency lighting conversions, does have a downside however. Poorly designed, constructed and tested conversions can present significant installation problems and pose a clear and present risk to public safety. Unfortunately, the sometimes uncontrolled desire for cost-cutting combined with badly conceived and or open specifications, leads to a conversion being produced that at best ignores the complexity of the host luminaire and at worst becomes downright dangerous.

How to prevent problems

To counter problems with bad emergency lighting conversions, the Industry Committee for Emergency Lighting (ICEL) has, for the past eleven years, produced a registration scheme called ICEL 1004. This scheme ensures that the converter produces compliant luminaires in line with best practice then applies a 100% testing regime. ICEL 1004:2013 sets out the requirements for the conversion of luminaires to emergency operation and provides a clear understanding of the legal obligations confronting both converter and user. The latest edition, launched in the past twelve months, has been updated to include the emergency conversion of LED luminaires. 

With regular updates since 2003 users have become more au fait with the scheme, but there are still poor quality conversions taking place and more still since the launch of mainstream LED luminaires. It is necessary to continually revisit the subject making sure that converters fully understand the importance of compliance when manufacturing life saving products. The members of ICEL and their colleagues in LIA are fully supportive of ICEL 1004:2013 and are observing the procedures detailed within. It is now up to the rest of the industry, contractors and conversion houses alike to catch up with ICEL and LIA and put quality, life-saving emergency luminaires in all commercial premises where occupants deserve the best.

In this respect it is vital that emergency lighting products are not treated as just another lighting fixture. They play a vital role in ensuring public safety in the event of a complete mains failure, fire or other emergency and in consequence need to be given the same priority as other life saving measures. Self-contained conversions carried out to the specification of ICEL 1004:2013 will ensure safety and performance of the emergency lighting luminaire.

Making a conversion

At the very least, poorly performing conversions will require continued remedial visits to site by the electrical contractor. At worst, following an incident where death or injury occurs due to emergency lighting failure, the specifier or installer could find themselves in court.

In most cases the installer will leave the conversion to the manufacturer or a third party conversion house, but there is still a responsibility to ensure that the work has been carried out correctly. Of the hundreds of conversion shops in the UK only a handful have signed up to the ICEL 1004:2013 code of practice. This is not to say they are doing a bad job, it’s just that they do need auditing.   

The conversion of mains luminaires to emergency is a very skilled activity and people need to ensure that the work is carried out correctly. If not then the chances are the luminaire will fail in both mains and emergency. For example, if the battery overheats due to other hot components such as the light source being too close, the converted luminaire will no longer function, when required, in emergency mode. If the converter does not apply the correct testing procedure then the possibility of over-heating can never be realised as a potential issue.

Components used in the conversion of mains luminaires to emergency must comply with BS/EN/IEC safety and performance requirements:

The emergency lighting control module for fluorescent lamps should be compliant with BSEN 61347-2-1, BSEN 61347-2-3 and BSEN 61347-2-7 for safety and BSEN 60925 for performance. In the case of LEDs, BSEN 61347-2-1 and BSEN 61347-2-13 for safety and BSEN 62384 for performance. All components shall be installed and tested in accordance with the supplier’s instructions.

Batteries should be compatible with the emergency lighting control module and be shown to have a design life of four years when under normal operation within a luminaire or remote enclosure.

An important point to bear in mind is that if a standard CE-marked luminaire is altered in any way, then the original luminaire manufacturer’s CE-marking becomes invalid and it is the responsibility of the converter to ensure future CE compliance. This means that all emergency converted luminaires must be tested on completion of the conversion, a new CE-mark applied and a Technical Construction File produced to support the new CE conformity. This can be carried out by the converter or a third party test house. The reality is that this does not always happen and many converted luminaires carry a CE-marking that bears no relevance to the completed work.

The majority of conversion houses do not do anything to fulfil the CE requirement. When the luminaire arrives from the OEM, it should meet the essential requirements of the relevant Directives e.g. the Low Voltage Directive (LVD) and the Electro Magnetic Compatibility Directive (EMCD). The conversion house will change the wiring, move components, introduce new parts as necessary, but without a correct testing procedure to ensure thermal compliance, EMC and electrical safety, they cannot be sure the luminaire conforms to the standards.

Testing for potential trouble

These regulations are not in place to add yet more bureaucracy, it is about people’s lives. There are many ways a conversion can affect the performance of a lighting product. It is only by testing that any potential problems can be identified. For example, if the emergency control module added to the luminaire is not compatible with the incumbent control gear then operational problems are inevitable. Compatibility is even more relevant today with the launch of so many LED light sources and methods by which the LED is driven. An incorrect specification can easily lead to early light source, module or battery duration failures, all very costly to repair and potentially dangerous.   

Similarly, emergency lighting products need to use fire retardant components and the enclosure must comply with BSEN 60598-2-22 and a glow wire test of 850⁰C (unless components are mechanically secured and will not come into contact with a flammable surface). Many standard mains luminaires do not meet this stringent requirement as the rules are different for non-emergency products. Lighting controllers such as some prismatic diffusers will not pass the 850⁰C glow wire test.

Today, integral emergency conversions are not straightforward as in the past. With the introduction of multiple lamp fixtures and/or more compact light sources such as LED, it is inevitable that smaller lighting chambers will become too hot to house batteries and chargers. These components will need to be installed within fire retardant remote enclosures. Just a couple of degrees above designed temperature limits can have a devastating effect on the performance and reliability of emergency modules and battery sets.

With the onset of more compact fittings as in the case of LED or T5 style luminaires, space becomes such an important commodity. The design evolution of emergency inverters and batteries has not seen a dramatic decrease in their size. This invariably means that a conversion is not just a case of ‘shoehorning’ the emergency components into the luminaire’s housing, it may well be necessary to rearrange the existing components on a newly manufactured control gear chassis or use a remote enclosure as stated above.

As soon as you start to move the components around there is greater potential for electrical problems. This is of particular concern when LED drivers or high frequency electronic ballasts, both fixed and variable outputs, are being used because the cable connections between the driver, ballast and lamp act very much like aerials which may cause radio interference. Any conflicts with EMC that arise from this will invalidate CE-marking as the converted luminaire will no longer conform to the EMC Directive.

In Summary

Self-contained conversions offer the user an extremely neat solution without the need to install an additional luminaire in the ceiling for the sole purpose of providing emergency lighting. This method certainly aids install-aesthetics, reduces wiring costs and ensures a more robust and detailed warranty for the end-user going forward.

For all of the reasons explained, it is so important to ensure that the re-engineering of mains luminaires for emergency use is taken seriously and carried out to the required standards. The welfare and safety of occupants in shops, offices, factories and airports etc. is paramount and therefore acceptance of poorly conceived and badly manufactured emergency lighting conversions should not be tolerated.

 ICEL 1004:2013 can be downloaded free of charge from the ICEL website www.icel.co.uk and it contains clear guidelines on how to ensure a safe and consistent standard of engineering during modification of a wide range of standard luminaires to emergency use.

Better Together - Why is Self-Contained Emergency Lighting a better option to Stand Alone?

Better Together!

Poselco Lighting Limited and Self Contained Emergency Conversions for LED Luminaires

For the mains luminaire maker self contained emergency is better both commercially and logistically. For the architect and designer it’s a question of better specification control leading to better peace of mind.

Better for safety, better for aesthetics, better for quality, better for warranty. Better Together!   

The rise and rise of LED lighting over the past five years has seen a marked drop in the numbers of commercial downlighters being specified as self contained (maintained) emergency luminaires. Recent fashion has been to install an additional LED point source in the ceiling specifically for non-maintained emergency use.

In the slightly distant past when the majority of downlighters were not LED but compact fluorescent, low voltage tungsten halogen or HID it would have been anathema for a specifier to consider anything other than having the main luminaire converted to self contained emergency. The thought of seeing a non-maintained stand-alone fixture such as a 35 watt MR16 sitting next to the main light source would bring most architects and designers out in blistering boils. "Something else to clutter and spoil the architectural lines of the ceiling along with ghastly air conditioning units and smoke detectors"!

Why in 2014 do we see such acceptance of the 40mm LED non-maintained ‘bullet’ being used as an alternative to self contained maintained emergency? The answer is not a simple one but lies in who is making the specification and who is making the conversion. When aesthetics ruled the ceiling the architect and designer would always ask for self contained, a much cleaner and safer solution maintaining surface lines and 'one warranty' supply etc. Now we find consulting engineers and electrical installers removing self contained from specifications due primarily to unit price* or because of a perceived lack of proficient LED emergency conversion companies.

Compact fluorescent and linear fluorescent emergency conversions were relatively inexpensive and many back street operators were able to make a few bob by carrying out the work themselves. LED emergency conversions however need care, investigation and testing, but the LED self contained solution is just as good if not better than fluorescent ever was!

It is of course fair to say that LED stand-alone units are slightly smaller in diameter than halogen counterparts, more efficient in performance and are available in self test and DALI guises. They are also cheaper by unit than self contained conversions, are they not*?

*The technology for converting high wattage LED downlighters up to 42 watts and beyond is improving and efficiencies are seeing a reduction in conversion prices. More emergency control gear manufacturers such as Tridonic are entering the market with high-wattage LED emergency module offerings The ICEL re-engineer is becoming more proficient in making the conversion and with a wider choice of modules and batteries available to him, can be competitive on the price. When you add to the stand-alone unit price a cost for additional cabling and labour, the self contained option must now be considered as an extremely viable alternative.

Probably the strongest argument for specifying self contained over stand-alone is where product warranties are concerned. The luminaire manufacturer together with their conversion partner will guarantee the performance of both the mains and the emergency sides of the self contained luminaire, in many cases for two years and beyond; certainly longer than the one year offered by many stand-alone manufacturers. The client has the comfort of knowing that one manufacturer will take care of both mains and emergency.

The worry for both the mains luminaire OEM and in due course the responsible specification market has to be the march of the stand-alone unit towards commodity status. Are we just a short journey away from seeing these life saving products arriving as blister pack specials in the wholesaler’s bargain buckets? Will the stand-alone become the new 8 watt bulkhead with the inevitable erosion of quality and performance that comes with ill-informed and uncontrolled competition? The lighting market is awash with low quality Chinese NiMH batteries servicing the grey specification market! How long before these entirely inferior products find their way into the general lighting food chain?

The time has come for the high wattage LED downlighter to be responsibly converted to self contained emergency by the mains luminaire OEM. A conversion that utilises quality components and promotes realistic market warranties. 

Mains luminaire and self contained emergency - Better Together

Better Together - Care and Maintenance of Batteries and Modules for Emergency Lighting

Self-contained emergency lighting is supplied via a module/battery pack arrangement and the battery content consists of cell varieties from 2.4V to 12V DC. The type of batteries for emergency lighting encompass Nickel Cadmium, Nickel Metal Hydride and Lead Acid.

All of the above mention battery types are regularly used in self-contained emergency lighting either integrally or remote to the luminaire. A maximum ambient temperature (ta) of 25 degrees centigrade is the recommended norm for most luminaires and the emergency luminaire should be mounted in an area where the ‘ta’ (25 degrees C) is not exceeded as the batteries especially are temperature sensitive. If their maximum temperature (usually 45 degrees C) is continually exceeded, their useful life will be reduced. Most batteries have a design life of 4-years but this duration is very much based on attended install conditions, the optimum building environment and effective maintenance regimes.

When batteries are first installed they will be in a discharged ‘storage’ state and it is imperative that after an initial uninterrupted charging period of at least 24-hours they are completely discharged. This process should be repeated at least twice more before the site is handed over. Proper initial cycling of the batteries is very important to ensure they reach full capacity.

Partial charging and discharging (especially over a prolonged period of time) is very likely to result in both reduced battery and emergency lamp life. Care should be taken, especially under site conditions, not to continually cut mains power.

Regular testing of the emergency circuit is an important factor in ensuring reliable operation. However, equally important is the connection method of the luminaire to the mains supply. 
One of the following illustrated circuits must be employed when installing the luminaire. Not to do so could result in serious failure of components when maintenance is carried out. The use of one of these circuits will also make it easier to carry out the monthly ‘operation tests’ as required under BS5266 (see test record sheet).

The emergency luminaire requires TWO power supplies, one to run the mains lighting fed via normal switching and the other to run the emergency side fed from an UN-SWITCHED supply. This keeps the batteries permanently on-charge. The emergency mains terminal block, labelled UN-SWITCHED SUPPLY could be part of a 4-way block, or may be a separate fused terminal. The fuse for the emergency supply is rated at 1A unless otherwise labelled. The neutral and earth connections can be common to both the switched and un-switched supplies.

To simulate mains failure, both supplies to the luminaire MUST be broken simultaneously. Single pole key-switches or separate sub-circuit fuses or MCB’s for the emergency supplies must NOT be used. Adherence to this method is mandatory regardless of other switching arrangements such as two-corridor lighting. Steps should be taken to ensure the emergency

supply is NOT inadvertently interrupted at any time. All switches associated with the emergency supply should be situated in a position inaccessible to any unauthorised person or to be tamper-proof and/or re-tractive. All such switches should be suitable identified.

IMPORTANT:

Under NO circumstances must the supply to the emergency gear (un-switched supply) be removed while the luminaire is being powered by the standard control gear (switched supply).

Normal and emergency supplies must be connected to the same phase.

When servicing the luminaire isolate BOTH power supplies AND the battery pack (-VE ‘black’ lead first).

Be careful when handling the battery pack not to short out the terminals with rings or watch bracelets etc.

Replace battery pack ONLY with a complete pack of the same type. NEVER replace a single cell in a pack.

High Frequency (electronic) ballasts that detect lamp failure are unable to distinguish between a lamp failing and the change back to mains from emergency operation. When this happens the ballast may shut down and the lamps not operate. To reset the ballast it will be necessary to interrupt the supply from the mains ballast for a few seconds. The installation should incorporate a facility to do this.

Do not ‘Insulate Test’ electronic circuits.

All self-contained emergency luminaires will be supplied with an emergency Test Log and this log should be updated to show both the initial ‘commissioning’ of the battery and module and all future tests/maintenance activity.

When batteries are replaced the new sets should undergo the same initial cycling procedure as indicated herein.

Red Hats and Black Hats - Life on Site

You can view this brand new and impressive, soon to be opened hospital from a small city of cabins and containers doubling up as offices, canteens, wash rooms and storage centres. Each of which, at certain times of the day, houses many hundreds of site workers across a multitude of trades. It is here that Poselco Lighting Limited begins its first day assisting with the install of new communication ports to an Emergency Lighting Central System which is shortly to be commissioned.

It is 07.30 and the first introduction to a modern day building complex is the most sophisticated of site entry turn-styles with an elaborate palm recognition system. You are accompanied by a security chief with the most amazing memory for names. As you wipe the sleep from your eyes it is easy to forget that he has a hidden console on his desk which clearly displays the Christian name of all who enter through the barrier. There is always however, something mildly disconcerting by this cheery recognition at a time of day when the first cup of tea has yet to be downed.

Breakfast and the canteen is alive to the smell of freshly cooked bacon, mugs of coffee and frenetic Geordie banter concerning the previous day's football. A fuelling stop before another productive day building one of the NHS's flagship emergency care hospitals here in the North East.

There are some site inductions which involve five minutes of flipping through a folder containing lots of red crosses and skull and cross bones followed by a speedy signing away conformance to the rules and regulations.

And then there is this induction...

Seven hours studying, of almost reverent sermon by a pulpit bashing 'Red Hat' representing, with total health and safety fervour, our main site contractor.

"We will not have accidents on this site, will will not have drunken workers on this site (the limit for alcohol in the system is less than that allowed for driving), we will not have drug abuse on this site (prescription drugs can make you drowsy and if you are found to have any illegal substances in your system well, we will prosecute and ban you from this and all other building sites for many years to come - feel lucky"?) 

'Red Hats' are the health and safety policeman for the site and they wear red hard hats. They have authority to spot check your work at any time. Throw you off site for not wearing hard hats, steel capped boots, high visibility vests, gloves, safety glasses and protective trousers or indeed for questioning their authority or for probably staring at them for too long!

You need permits to work in certain places, permits to enter electrical cupboards, permits to use ladders. 

"Do you know that most injuries are caused by operatives standing on the first rung of the stepladder"? 

If you are found to be working without a permit, you are thrown off site by an angry posse of 'Red Hats'. The only way to fool a 'Red Hat' is to post trusted, alert sentries at every corner while you quickly reach and clip away that errant cable from a firmly balanced second rung of an illegal non-permitted step ladder. But is it worth the risk?

The induction is not just about the many required safety issues at this site it also offers a far more rounded debate about the importance of getting things right during the day's work.

"You, your family or friends may one day need the services this hospital can provide, so let's all make sure we do a proper job when building it".

'Black Hats' are the guardians of knowledge and as such they are the 'go-to' guys at site. They are allowed walkie-talkies and mobile phones (Only 'Red Hats' and 'Black Hats' are allowed communication devices while in the hospital core) and as supervisors they possess everything you need to know about the job. And the consequence of this is, they are almost impossible to find!

A 'Black Hat' is not hard to find because they are hiding but because they are constantly on the move. You cannot call them so a search of the many floors, corridors, wards and offices will inevitably have to take place. When you finally reach the 'Dr Livingstone' moment it takes a knack to acquire their full attention because you see, these guys are skilled jugglers, balancing many questions and requests at the same time. As a 'Black Hat' you need to be completely calm, tolerant, understanding, thick skinned and prepared to work long hours. 

Modern building sites are now housing the most up to date methods for maintaining safety. This has to be as the most common work place for fatalities and injuries is on a construction site. Hazards include falls from height, motorised vehicle crashes, excavation accidents, electrocution, managing machinery and being struck by falling objects. Then there is the present dangers of asbestos, solvents and excessive noise. We all have to be safe and main contractors with their sub contractors have an enormous responsibility.

We all need the guys in the red and black hats.