Have recently bought a bit of kit equipped with 3x Emergi-lite EWL38MPC
maintained emergency lights.
None of these work correctly. Not too ancient, datemarked 2008/09. All nicad
batteries are accepting a charge.
Same symptoms with all three. Lamp (new 2D 38W 4 pin) will illuminate from
battery power but no signs of life from switched live.
Have tried new starters, problem remains.
Switched live is definitely supplying power to the ballast and capacitor.
Tested.
All other connections are good. Tested.
The circuitry gets a bit complicated between ballast/capacitor and the
emergency light unit which I presume is an inverter plus other gubbins.
Would I be right in thinking that the inverter contains its own equipment to
illuminate the lamp from battery power and that the problem lies with either
the capacitor or the ballast on the mains voltage side?
I don't want to bin these if the problem is a component problem that I can
track down. If it is inverter unit associated then probably best binned
That's the problem really. I don't know what the problem is.
Thanks,
Nick.

On 23/02/2014 19:54, Nick wrote:
Have recently bought a bit of kit equipped with 3x Emergi-lite EWL38MPC
maintained emergency lights.
None of these work correctly. Not too ancient, datemarked 2008/09. All nicad
batteries are accepting a charge.
Same symptoms with all three. Lamp (new 2D 38W 4 pin) will illuminate from
battery power but no signs of life from switched live.
Have tried new starters, problem remains.
Switched live is definitely supplying power to the ballast and capacitor.
Tested.
All other connections are good. Tested.
The circuitry gets a bit complicated between ballast/capacitor and the
emergency light unit which I presume is an inverter plus other gubbins.
Would I be right in thinking that the inverter contains its own equipment to
illuminate the lamp from battery power and that the problem lies with either
the capacitor or the ballast on the mains voltage side?
I don't want to bin these if the problem is a component problem that I can
track down. If it is inverter unit associated then probably best binned
That's the problem really. I don't know what the problem is.
Thanks,
Nick.


ICBW, but I thought that emergency lights were only supposed to come on
in the event of mains *failure* - with the mains being there just to
charge the battery and to allow its failure to be detected. Am I missing
something?
--
Cheers,
Roger
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Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
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In article ,
"Nick" writes:
Have recently bought a bit of kit equipped with 3x Emergi-lite EWL38MPC
maintained emergency lights.
None of these work correctly. Not too ancient, datemarked 2008/09. All nicad
batteries are accepting a charge.
Same symptoms with all three. Lamp (new 2D 38W 4 pin) will illuminate from
battery power but no signs of life from switched live.
Have tried new starters, problem remains.
Switched live is definitely supplying power to the ballast and capacitor.
Tested.
All other connections are good. Tested.
The circuitry gets a bit complicated between ballast/capacitor and the
emergency light unit which I presume is an inverter plus other gubbins.
Would I be right in thinking that the inverter contains its own equipment to
illuminate the lamp from battery power and that the problem lies with either
the capacitor or the ballast on the mains voltage side?
I don't want to bin these if the problem is a component problem that I can
track down. If it is inverter unit associated then probably best binned
That's the problem really. I don't know what the problem is.

The mains side is relatively simple, and it sounds like that is
the side which isn't working. I think there are only a few things
which can be wrong:

One or both tube filaments burned out. It will probably still work
on the inverter, but will prevent the mains switchstart working.
(It's not good for the inverter either, as tube voltage will be
higher than expected.)

Starter not working (but you already tried substitution).

Ballast burned out (gone open circuit).

If the unit has a relay to switch between mains/inverter, that
might not be working, or whatever the equivalent circuit is.

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

In article , Roger Mills
wrote:
On 23/02/2014 19:54, Nick wrote:
Have recently bought a bit of kit equipped with 3x Emergi-lite EWL38MPC
maintained emergency lights. None of these work correctly. Not too
ancient, datemarked 2008/09. All nicad batteries are accepting a
charge. Same symptoms with all three. Lamp (new 2D 38W 4 pin) will
illuminate from battery power but no signs of life from switched live.
Have tried new starters, problem remains. Switched live is definitely
supplying power to the ballast and capacitor. Tested. All other
connections are good. Tested. The circuitry gets a bit complicated
between ballast/capacitor and the emergency light unit which I presume
is an inverter plus other gubbins. Would I be right in thinking that
the inverter contains its own equipment to illuminate the lamp from
battery power and that the problem lies with either the capacitor or
the ballast on the mains voltage side? I don't want to bin these if the
problem is a component problem that I can track down. If it is inverter
unit associated then probably best binned That's the problem really. I
don't know what the problem is. Thanks, Nick.


ICBW, but I thought that emergency lights were only supposed to come on
in the event of mains *failure* - with the mains being there just to
charge the battery and to allow its failure to be detected. Am I missing
something?

Yes, it used to be "maintained " or "Sustained", but the terminology has
probably changed. Only "sustained" ones were on all the time.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

On 23/02/2014 21:07, Roger Mills wrote:


ICBW, but I thought that emergency lights were only supposed to come on
in the event of mains *failure* - with the mains being there just to
charge the battery and to allow its failure to be detected. Am I missing
something?

Its the difference between maintained (light on all the time) and
non-maintained (light on only during power cuts)

On many units its just a link on the mains input chock block that has to
be made/cut to switch between modes. On other units its one or the
other mode.


--
mailto:news{at}admac(dot}myzen{dot}co{dot}uk

In article ,
alan writes:
On 23/02/2014 21:07, Roger Mills wrote:

ICBW, but I thought that emergency lights were only supposed to come on
in the event of mains *failure* - with the mains being there just to
charge the battery and to allow its failure to be detected. Am I missing
something?

Its the difference between maintained (light on all the time) and
non-maintained (light on only during power cuts)

Maintained usually have a separate switched supply for the light
to operate as a regular mains light which can be switched.
The permanent live supply is the charging/emergency circuit.

The type the OP is talking about sounds like the emergency unit
which is added to a regular fluorescent lighting circuit to run
the tube at a low level as an emergency light. They used to be
common, but other solutions are used nowadays.

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

Well assumedly the problem is not the inverter or it would not work from
batteries would it?
So they do not just run the light from the transformer/psu that does the
battery charging then? That is what I'd do, as it would then need no
switching, it would just carry on till the batteries died if the power was
cut.


Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Nick" wrote in message
...
Have recently bought a bit of kit equipped with 3x Emergi-lite EWL38MPC
maintained emergency lights.
None of these work correctly. Not too ancient, datemarked 2008/09. All
nicad batteries are accepting a charge.
Same symptoms with all three. Lamp (new 2D 38W 4 pin) will illuminate from
battery power but no signs of life from switched live.
Have tried new starters, problem remains.
Switched live is definitely supplying power to the ballast and capacitor.
Tested.
All other connections are good. Tested.
The circuitry gets a bit complicated between ballast/capacitor and the
emergency light unit which I presume is an inverter plus other gubbins.
Would I be right in thinking that the inverter contains its own equipment
to illuminate the lamp from battery power and that the problem lies with
either the capacitor or the ballast on the mains voltage side?
I don't want to bin these if the problem is a component problem that I can
track down. If it is inverter unit associated then probably best binned
That's the problem really. I don't know what the problem is.
Thanks,
Nick.

Well that is what I'd assume t and that would be very easy to arrange I'd
have thought. If they need to be on all the time then it would need to have
the switching disabled but be aware that the psu may not like running the
lights and the charging at the same time in any case. Best i can suggest is
a psu that can be added to power the inverter when the mains is on.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Roger Mills" wrote in message
...
On 23/02/2014 19:54, Nick wrote:
Have recently bought a bit of kit equipped with 3x Emergi-lite EWL38MPC
maintained emergency lights.
None of these work correctly. Not too ancient, datemarked 2008/09. All
nicad
batteries are accepting a charge.
Same symptoms with all three. Lamp (new 2D 38W 4 pin) will illuminate
from
battery power but no signs of life from switched live.
Have tried new starters, problem remains.
Switched live is definitely supplying power to the ballast and capacitor.
Tested.
All other connections are good. Tested.
The circuitry gets a bit complicated between ballast/capacitor and the
emergency light unit which I presume is an inverter plus other gubbins.
Would I be right in thinking that the inverter contains its own equipment
to
illuminate the lamp from battery power and that the problem lies with
either
the capacitor or the ballast on the mains voltage side?
I don't want to bin these if the problem is a component problem that I
can
track down. If it is inverter unit associated then probably best binned
That's the problem really. I don't know what the problem is.
Thanks,
Nick.


ICBW, but I thought that emergency lights were only supposed to come on in
the event of mains *failure* - with the mains being there just to charge
the battery and to allow its failure to be detected. Am I missing
something?
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.