[VIDEO] Emergency Lighting Battery types

There are four different types of emergency lighting batteries.  These are:

• Sealed Lead Acid (SLA)
• Nickel Cadmium (NiCd)
• Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH)
• Lithium-ion Phosphate (Life PO4)

Sealed Lead Acid

These are typically larger batteries used in ‘high-drain’ applications such as emergency twinspot luminaires or multiple lamp battery systems.

Nickel Cadmium

Whilst becoming less popular, these are still a very common battery coming mainly in D-cell or C-cell size.  They are typically used in older technology compact fluorescent and T8 linear fluorescent luminaires.

Nickel Metal Hydride

The smaller size of the NiMH battery (typically AA-cell size) makes it ideal for limited space applications such as T5 linear fluorescent as well as many LED luminaires.

Lithium-ion Phosphate

A relatively new technology, LED luminaires in current production are now starting to use this technology.  They have a life over double that of other technologies (typically 8 years), cope will in harsher environments (i.e. freezer lighting) and are heavy duty.

When specifying a battery ensure you give the following information:

• Which of the above battery types is it?
• This will be on the battery but if you are struggling to read it, you can also be reasonably certain that each cell will be 1.2V so a 3-cell battery would be 3.6V.
• Amp-hour rating. This is the capacity of the battery which is relative to how long it will last.
• Is it in a stick configuration or are the cells side by side?
• Connections/terminals. There are many different types such as fly-leads or spade terminals.
• Any other details. Some batteries may be in an intumescent sleeve, some may be mounted on a plate, or in a triangular bundle.
• As always, an image of the battery and the label is excellent if it can be given.

Download this as a pdf document below.