Self-testing

All emergency lighting units type -S and -SMB include an automatic self-testing function. Every 8 days a test will be automatically performed. The functionality of the unit, the lamp (LED or fluorescent tube) and the battery are being tested during 2 minutes. Additionally, every 12 months, a full duration testing is being performed.
The self-tests are started without taking the status of the emergency lighting in maintained mode into account. The lamp will be turned on and supplied from the battery, no matter if it was on or off in maintained mode at the starting time of the self-testing.

Test cycles

The first test occurs 8 days after the emergency lighting has been installed. This test is a full duration testing followed by a battery re-activation. This 8 days cycle is randomly programmed between 8 and 8.5 days during the programming of the unit in the factory. By doing so, a so-called random testing is achieved for the whole emergency lighting installation. Therefore the probability that 2 adjacent emergency lightings are going to perform self-testing at the same time (and consequently that their batteries are both being discharged) is very small.
Within one year a full duration testing followed by a battery re-activation is being performed.

Battery charging fault

A battery charging fault detection (most often due to a faulty connection of the battery) is resulting in the following faulty status:

• The mains operation is inhibited. The lamp is in its off-state, no matter if the emergency lighting is on or off in maintained mode.
• The signal LED (visual indicator) is flashing red (within a 1 second period).
• All the following self-tests are inhibited.

Important note: The battery charging is continuously monitored, independently of the self-testing cycles. If the battery is disconnected or its connection faulty under mains operation, there can be some delay until the battery charging fault is actually being detected. For example in case of charging cycles necessary to charge NiMH or Li-Ion batteries, the charger is blocked during long periods and is only working during shorter ones. The battery charging can obviously only be monitored when the charger is effectively into operation.

Battery charging fault clearing

Due to the continuous monitoring of the battery, the battery charging fault condition will be cleared as soon as the faulty condition is removed. The mains operation will be released and the signal LED turned on green.
Important note: The re-initialisation after battery charging fault clearing is considered as a new start of the emergency lighting. This means that the testing cycle will start again from the beginning (first duration test within 8.5 days and the following one within one year).

Battery capacity fault

If the battery capacity is not sufficient to perform the self-testing in its full duration (in this case the battery is fully discharged before the end of the test), the following faulty status is happening:

• The signal LED (visual indicator) is flashing red (with a 1 second period).
• All the following self-tests are inhibited.

Important note: In this case, contrary to battery charging fault, the mains operation is not inhibited.

Battery capacity fault clearing

This faulty condition will be reinitialised as soon as the battery is replaced by a new one. Due to the continuous monitoring of the battery, its replacement can be monitored. After that, the signal LED will turn on green again.
Important note: The re-initialisation after battery capacity fault clearing is considered as a new start of the emergency lighting. This means that the testing cycle will start again from the beginning (first duration test within 8.5 days and the following one within one year).

Lamp (LED or fluorescent tube) fault

A lamp fault detection during self-testing is resulting in the following faulty status:

• The signal LED is discontinuously flashing red (alternately: 4 times flashing with a 1 second period then off).
• Within every minute (longer cycles with fluorescent tubes and shorter ones with LED lamps) an ignition procedure is started to try to turn on the lamp.
• The mains operation is inhibited.

Important note for emergency lighting unit without integrated maintained operation (i.e. units without LED-converter for LED-lamps or without electronic ballast for fluorescent lamps):
A lamp fault can only be detected during self-testing. Therefore it can happen that a lamp might be faulty under mains operation and at the same time that the signal LED might still be green. Using fluorescent tubes, this situation can happen more frequently due to the fact that fluorescent tubes are preheated only on one side under emergency operation and on both sides during mains operation.

Important note for emergency lighting unit with integrated maintained operation (i.e. units with LED-converter for LED-lamps or with electronic ballast for fluorescent lamps):
A lamp fault can not only be detected during self-testing but also under maintained mode, as soon as or each time the mains the lamp is turned on. In both cases the unit has the same faulty status (as described above) and the same ignition procedure tries take place until the lamp is repaired or replaced.

Lamp fault clearing

Due to the fact that ignition tries are periodically started, this faulty condition will be reinitialised at most one minute after replacement or repair of the lamp. The new (or repaired) lamp will automatically turn on and the faulty condition reinitialised. After that the signal LED will be green again.
Important note: Contrary to battery fault conditions, the re-initialisation after lamp fault clearing is not considered as a new start of the emergency lighting. This means that the testing cycles will keep being performed in the existing sequence.

System failure

If a self-testing cannot be fully performed and if no battery or lamp faults are detected before the interruption of the self-testing sequence, the electronic supervision unit will identify this problem as a system failure. The following status will happen:

• The signal LED will be turned off.

Important note: In this case, contrary to battery charging fault or lamp fault conditions, the mains operation will not be inhibited.

System failure clearing

The system failure will automatically be cleared at the start of the next self-testing. If this self-testing is performed correctly, the signal LED will turn on green again.

Important security notice

In case of mains failure occurring during a faulty condition, the emergency lighting unit will still try to turn on the lamp, whatever the faulty condition might be (lamp fault or battery capacity fault).

Audible Alarm for SMB types

SMB type units will produce an audible alarm for a few seconds every hour if the unit is faulty for any reason.

Signal LED

Summary of signal LED states and of the corresponding possible faulty conditions:

• off state: mains failure, battery fully discharged, system failure or faulty unit.
• continuously flashing red: battery charging fault (battery not connected) or battery capacity fault (battery capacity too low).
• discontinuously flashing red: lamp fault.
• green: everything ok.