Utilising Wireless Technology for Emergency Lighting 

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18 May 2021

The provision and maintenance of emergency lighting falls under the facilities management team's responsibility, according to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRFSO) 2005, which came into force in October 2006.

This includes illuminating exits and other emergency routes, as well as in high-risk areas where potentially dangerous tasks might occur. 

Being a crucial part of the fire safety provision of a building, modern emergency and safety lighting requires central monitoring and automatic testing of individual luminaires. In the case of existing systems, retrofitting is often difficult as additional wiring is needed for communication.

 

Picture: a photograph of Tridonic’s basicDIM Wireless G2 group 

 

Wireless Technology

 

Tridonic can remedy this with its new wireless emergency lighting system. It combines the proven Tridonic technologies of basicDIM Wireless and sceneCOM and is suitable for both renovations and new installations.

The new emergency lighting system combines user-friendly Casambi-ready basicDIM Wireless control technology with sceneCOM DALI-based lighting control. Using the basicDIM Wireless system as the backbone of the new solution, provides wireless connectivity for the emergency luminaires via a fail-safe mesh network without any additional cabling or structural changes.

The luminaires are set up via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Existing DALI emergency luminaires with a PRO emergency lighting unit can be easily upgraded and integrated into the wireless network. For this purpose, Tridonic offers the also new, compact basicDIM wireless G2 module.

 

Suitable for Retrofitting

 

The new system can be integrated into existing installations without the need for additional wiring and conforms to the relevant standards. The wireless system also offers advantages for new buildings as there are overall cost savings as less time and effort is needed for planning and commissioning, and material costs are also reduced.

The relevant components of the wireless emergency lighting system are BSI KitemarkTM certified and comply with all standards and regulations relevant to emergency lighting in the UK.

A gateway connects all the wireless emergency luminaires to a sceneCOM evo controller. Once commissioned, the controller acts as the “brain” and takes over command of the entire lighting solution – fully automatic and exactly as the user requires. This also applies to the required central monitoring and automatic testing of emergency and safety lighting systems. Tridonic has developed a control logic that enables the controller to automatically test the individual luminaires integrated in the network and to display the system status in real time. The test and system data is accessed via Ethernet from any web browser. Up to 192 luminaires can be connected to each sceneCOM evo controller.

 

Automatic Testing and Logbook

 

With its wireless emergency lighting system, Tridonic provides building operators and electrical engineers with a simple solution that automatically checks the installation at the prescribed intervals and records the condition of each individual luminaire in the wireless network in real-time.

In conventional installations without central monitoring, appropriately qualified personnel must operate each individual emergency luminaire in the building and check it manually. The new Tridonic solution means that the luminaires are now centrally monitored and automatically tested. External access is via a PC, notebook, tablet or other internet-enabled device. The dashboard provides information at a glance about the current state of the system and the latest test results. With just a few clicks, you can get detailed information about the status of each luminaire in the network. This includes the condition of the battery as well as the status of the LEDs and associated electronics.

At the touch of a button, the system also automatically creates a standard-compliant log book with all the relevant information for downloading as a PDF or XML file. If a fault occurs in the lighting system, it can be seen on the dashboard. On request, a software package can inform the asset manager about faults and errors via email.

Picture: a photograph of Tridonic's sceneCOM evo

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 18 May 2021

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