Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

Thanks,
Stephen.

Stephen wrote :
Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

It will be perfectly adequate to see your way to reset the tripped MCB.
No need for a separate light, just buy a maintained type. These work
like a normal light as in operated by a switch, but if the supply fails
it comes on fed from the internal battery. The light output is always a
little over estimated, but you can buy larger ones if necessary. It
should be fed from the same circuit as the normal light, so that if
that MCB trips, it comes on. For under the stairs, it should be
perfectly adequate.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

In article , Harry
Bloomfield writes
Stephen wrote :
Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

It will be perfectly adequate to see your way to reset the tripped MCB.
No need for a separate light, just buy a maintained type. These work
like a normal light as in operated by a switch, but if the supply fails
it comes on fed from the internal battery. The light output is always a
little over estimated, but you can buy larger ones if necessary. It
should be fed from the same circuit as the normal light, so that if
that MCB trips, it comes on. For under the stairs, it should be
perfectly adequate.

We have a few at Church (non-maintained type) and they are perfectly
adequate to see your way around a large room, down stairs, etc. once
your eyes get used to them after the normal lights. For under stairs I
would say they would be perfectly adequate and I would rate them
equivalent to a bit under a 40W conventional bulb.
--
John Alexander,

Remove NOSPAM if replying by e-mail

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB
trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights
as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in
addition
to the emergency one?

Thanks,
Stephen.

Argos do a rather good lantern style that's also a powerful torch,
with lead acid gell call and wart charger - one switch setting makes
the light come on when the charger isn't powered. I have had one
hanging by my house CU both here and at the old place for several
years and it'd proved its worth on several occasions. I also have a
few of the 'wind up led torches' as we now have six CUs in various
parts of the premises, so I keep one next to each.

AWEM

Stephen wrote:

Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb?

no, 25w is closer

I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room

if you want an eerily dim room


or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

yes


NT

On 8 Jan, 18:28, Stephen wrote:
Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

Thanks,
Stephen.

As discussed here a while back, be aware that these things take 4-8W
even when not illuminated! It would be cheaper to just fit a battery-
operated standby light somewhere. IIRC seeing some LED ones in the
local pound shop for ... well, you work it out.

Chris

Stephen wrote:

I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the

Not really - they are about as good as one of those torches that have a
small fluro tube on one side... i.e. plenty good enough to see what you
are doing in the dark, but not really up to room lighting standards.

only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

Depends on what else you plan to do in there.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:28:17 +0000, Stephen wrote:

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these?

IMHO more than enough for the under stairs cupboard(*). Might be worth
applying a bit of brain so you are not in your own shadow when looking at
the CU.

Mind you the way some people go on about light levels I suspect they can't
see if the don't have a blonde and 2 reds burning in the room.

--
Cheers
Dave.

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

I have one over the stairwell and it provides adequate, but not bright,
light to move safely up and down stairs during a power cut.

Colin Bignell

wrote in message
...
....
As discussed here a while back, be aware that these things take 4-8W
even when not illuminated! It would be cheaper to just fit a battery-
operated standby light somewhere. IIRC seeing some LED ones in the
local pound shop for ... well, you work it out.

OTOH, if there is a power cut while you are out, a well-placed emergency
light will ensure that the house is not in darkness, which is something
thieves go out looking for during a cut.

Colin Bignell

On Fri, 9 Jan 2009 08:31:05 UTC, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

I have one over the stairwell and it provides adequate, but not bright,
light to move safely up and down stairs during a power cut.

Same here. It's 8W, and I'm happy to pay the cost of having it on
standby; it's a small price to pay to avoid possible injury before I
find another light source.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

There are some 3 hour 8W emergency lights on sale at Screwfix for £12 at the
moment.

I have always wanted to fit one of these above the CU in the garage as my
garage lights are on the same lighting circuit as the hall and the most
common light to blow in my house, and trip the breaker was the hall light,
thus plunging the garage into darkness ready for not being able to reset the
MCB...... I fixed by changing the MCB to type C that was not prone to
tripping when a bulb blew, but not necessary now as I have changed to CF
bulbs.

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

Thanks,
Stephen.

On 9 Jan 2009 08:57:32 GMT, "Bob Eager" wrote:

On Fri, 9 Jan 2009 08:31:05 UTC, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

I have one over the stairwell and it provides adequate, but not bright,
light to move safely up and down stairs during a power cut.

Same here. It's 8W, and I'm happy to pay the cost of having it on
standby; it's a small price to pay to avoid possible injury before I
find another light source.

Can anyone tell me the difference between "maintained" and
"non-maintained" emergency lighting?

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Owing to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
See http://improve-usenet.org

Mark wrote:

Can anyone tell me the difference between "maintained" and
"non-maintained" emergency lighting?

Maintained can be used as an ordinary switched light, and will
automatically illuminate on power failure.

Non maintained will illuminate on power failure only, you can't switch
them on manually.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb? I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room or whether I need a "normal" light in addition
to the emergency one?

Maybe one of these would be more use..
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/53920

They turn on when the power goes off and you can move it around.

On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 13:00:30 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

As discussed here a while back, be aware that these things take 4-8W
even when not illuminated!


I appreciate they need some energy to top-up the battery but I thought
that would tail off when the battery was fully charged. That's worth
knowing. 8w might not be a lot compared to a 100w lamp but being on
constantly makes it add up. OTOH my CH vales draw 6w whenever they are
on. I'll have to search for the previous thread.

On Fri, 9 Jan 2009 08:32:54 -0000, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

OTOH, if there is a power cut while you are out, a well-placed emergency
light will ensure that the house is not in darkness, which is something
thieves go out looking for during a cut.

Sorry, why would thieves target a home with an emergency light?

On Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:07:45 +0000, Stephen wrote:

OTOH, if there is a power cut while you are out, a well-placed
emergency light will ensure that the house is not in darkness, which is
something thieves go out looking for during a cut.

Sorry, why would thieves target a home with an emergency light?

Think it through man.

During a power cut a light indicates that some one is probably in. Dark
places are probably empty. Thus having a light that comes on during a
power cut will deter the tea leaves.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:

During a power cut a light indicates that some one is probably in. Dark
places are probably empty. Thus having a light that comes on during a
power cut will deter the tea leaves.

Especially as half the intruder alarms will already be going off (due to
flat batteries) and getting even less attention than usual.

On 10 Jan, 00:07, Stephen wrote:
On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 13:00:30 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

As discussed here a while back, be aware that these things take 4-8W
even when not illuminated!

I appreciate they need some energy to top-up the battery but I thought
that would tail off when the battery was fully charged. That's worth
knowing. 8w might not be a lot compared to a 100w lamp but being on
constantly makes it add up. OTOH my CH vales draw 6w whenever they are
on. I'll have to search for the previous thread.

I'd have expected the current to tail off too, but it doesn't.

The thread is he
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....34e5a6280838df
or http://tinyurl.com/8wu66u or http://preview.tinyurl.com/8wu66u My
results are at post no 18.

I didn't try removing the rather bright LEDs, which might have a bit
to do with it. The LED does perform an additional purpose -- it's so
bright that you can see your was to the loo in the dark without
turning on the blinding 100W landing light, but I doubt whether that
saves its overall cost in leccy.

As to whether burglars burgle more in power cuts, are there any
statistics? I'd have thought that there was a good chance of finding a
householder and fierce dog sitting by a candle behind drawn curtains.

Chris

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 9 Jan 2009 08:32:54 -0000, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

OTOH, if there is a power cut while you are out, a well-placed emergency
light will ensure that the house is not in darkness, which is something
thieves go out looking for during a cut.

Sorry, why would thieves target a home with an emergency light?

As Dave points out, it is the houses in darkness they target, not the ones
with the lights. Sorry for the slightly ambiguous wording.

Colin Bignell

In article ,
writes:
Stephen wrote:

Hello,

I was thinking of fitting an emergency light near the CU. It's under
the stairs, so there's no daylight to see by when an RCD or MCB trips.
I see they use an 8w bulb. How bright are these? I know a 7w cfl is
supposed to be equivalent to a 40w filament bulb. Are these lights as
bright as a 40w bulb?

no, 25w is closer

Nowhere near even that.
An 8W fluorescent emergency light runs at a ballast factor
of about 0.25, which means it's running the tube at 2W.
If you look at the battery capacity in Whrs, you'll quickly
see they can't supply 8W for anything like 3 hours.

I'm wondering whether it could be used as the
only light in the room

if you want an eerily dim room

It's fine for emergency use, i.e. finding the exit, which is
what it's designed for. It will be fine for lighting up the
consumer unit providing it's not too far away and in direct
line of sight.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 10 Jan 2009 09:20:46 GMT, Huge wrote:

Especially as half the intruder alarms will already be going off (due
to flat batteries) and getting even less attention than usual.

My alarm battery lasts at least 4 days. As determined by experience.

I bet there are a significant number of alarm systems that have knackered
backup batteries that either won't maintain the alarm at all or only for a
short while. At least if the one in the sounder is also knackered no one
will be any the wiser, even the householder.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:

I bet there are a significant number of alarm systems that have knackered
backup batteries that either won't maintain the alarm at all or only for a
short while. At least if the one in the sounder is also knackered no one
will be any the wiser, even the householder.

Unfortunately round here it seems all the batteries in the sounders are
fine but the ones in the main units have had it, so any power cut starts
a cacophony of alarms.

On Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:46:05 -0000, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

As Dave points out, it is the houses in darkness they target, not the ones
with the lights. Sorry for the slightly ambiguous wording.

Sorry, I completely misunderstood: I thought they were going to the
lit houses!

I have now read the old thread about power consumption. For
comparison, if you had something like a car battery charger, car
battery, and 12v lights, how many watts would the charger draw whilst
topping up a lead acid battery on a trickle charge? More or less than
8w?

Thanks.

On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:27:57 +0000, Stephen wrote:

I have now read the old thread about power consumption. For
comparison, if you had something like a car battery charger, car
battery, and 12v lights, how many watts would the charger draw whilst
topping up a lead acid battery on a trickle charge? More or less than
8w?

Well 6W is 500mA @ 12v. You'd not want to have a car battery on long term
trickle charge at that rate, it would gas summat rotten. 100mA or less is
more reasonable (1.2W) but you'd have to take into account ineffciencies
in the charger. If it's a lump of iron wrapped in copper that could use a
few watts just plugged in.

So overall it could be less as you'd only have one thing conected to the
mains but then there is the complication of LV wiring for the lights. At
12v volt drops due to cable resistance and currents delivering real power
are significant.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:48:22 +0000, John Rumm
wrote:

Mark wrote:

Can anyone tell me the difference between "maintained" and
"non-maintained" emergency lighting?

Maintained can be used as an ordinary switched light, and will
automatically illuminate on power failure.

Non maintained will illuminate on power failure only, you can't switch
them on manually.

Thanks (I've only just seen this post as my NR was playing up).

--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Owing to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking most articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.
See http://improve-usenet.org