Egress Lighting

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blues

Member
Location
Nevada
I have a warehouse with all lights provided with a motion sensor. One group of lights are feed from a normal power panel and another group feed from a panel with a emergency generator. I am allowed to use the motion sensor in the fixture to activate the for egress lighting? If not how does one bypass the motion sensor in the fixture to energize upon loss of normal power.

Thanks
Dan Craven
 

mgookin

Senior Member
Location
Fort Myers, FL
I have a warehouse with all lights provided with a motion sensor. One group of lights are feed from a normal power panel and another group feed from a panel with a emergency generator. I am allowed to use the motion sensor in the fixture to activate the for egress lighting? If not how does one bypass the motion sensor in the fixture to energize upon loss of normal power.

Thanks
Dan Craven

I don't see how your arrangement is compliant. Are you saying that the emergency power comes on if and only if there is loss of utility power? What happens then when there's a fire which trips one branch circuit which provides general lighting? Will any emergency lighting come on?
 

blues

Member
Location
Nevada
I don't see how your arrangement is compliant. Are you saying that the emergency power comes on if and only if there is loss of utility power? What happens then when there's a fire which trips one branch circuit which provides general lighting? Will any emergency lighting come on?

All lights are on during normal operation.
 

david

Senior Member
Location
Pennsylvania
I don't see how your arrangement is compliant. Are you saying that the emergency power comes on if and only if there is loss of utility power? What happens then when there's a fire which trips one branch circuit which provides general lighting? Will any emergency lighting come on?

this is the second time I noticed someone mentioning a normal lighting tripped branch circuit triggering the need for a Emergency Gen to energize the emergency lighting system.

Is there a code requirement that the emergency gen system is required to monitor each normal lighting branch circuit?

I may be miss understanding what your saying or I may be missing something won't be the first time.
 

JFletcher

Senior Member
Location
Williamsburg, VA
I don't see how your arrangement is compliant. Are you saying that the emergency power comes on if and only if there is loss of utility power? What happens then when there's a fire which trips one branch circuit which provides general lighting? Will any emergency lighting come on?

What happens when same fire, or fault of any type, simply causes the lighting branch circuit wiring to open, not tripping the breaker? How would the sensing go of an open circuit, zero current draw, of an unoccupied building/no motion vs a fault? If the motion sensor activates, and branch circuit current = 0, then generator starts?

istm to be prudent to bypass motion sensors if on internal power; the goal is safe egress of the building, or continued work, not energy code compliance. Also, wouldnt be simpler/cheaper/better/safer to have some fixtures on battery back up in case of generator failure?
 

mgookin

Senior Member
Location
Fort Myers, FL
this is the second time I noticed someone mentioning a normal lighting tripped branch circuit triggering the need for a Emergency Gen to energize the emergency lighting system.

Is there a code requirement that the emergency gen system is required to monitor each normal lighting branch circuit?

I may be miss understanding what your saying or I may be missing something won't be the first time.

I just looked it up. It's bldg code section 1006 in our (Florida) code. It does say an emergency generator may fulfill the need upon loss of the building's utility power. That was never there for the 2 decades I worked in the bldg dept. I stand corrected. You are fine. I've been out of the business for almost 10 years.

If it were my building I'd want some batteries in there but it's not my building. I can also respect that batteries are high maintenance and expensive.

From a life safety perspective it seems less safe. That's the way the codes went when we came out with the ICC. Thank you for questioning it. I've "relearned" something today.
 
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