When the power drops in a smoke-filled building, the exit signs and emergency lights are what get people out. They run on batteries that degrade silently, which is why the Life Safety Code requires them to be tested on a fixed schedule and the results written down — including a full 90-minute discharge once a year.
NFPA 101 sets out two separate tests and buildings routinely do only the first one.
The monthly test is a 30-second functional test. Press the test button, confirm the lamps illuminate on battery, confirm the exit sign stays lit. It takes a couple of minutes for a small building and it is the building owner's responsibility.
The annual test is a full 90-minute discharge — the units run on battery for the entire rated duration, and they have to still be producing usable light at the end of it. This is the one that finds the dead batteries, and it is the one that gets skipped because it takes an evening.
A battery that is half dead will happily light a lamp for thirty seconds. It will not light it for ninety minutes. That is the entire reason the annual test exists, and it is why a building can have twelve months of clean monthly records and still fail its annual — the monthly test was never going to catch it.
It is also why we do the annual test properly and time it, rather than holding the button down for a while and signing the log.
Emergency lighting heads get knocked out of alignment by decorators, ceiling work and passing ladders, and a working unit pointed at a wall lights nothing useful. The path of egress — corridors, stairs, changes in level, the discharge to the street — is what has to be illuminated. We re-aim heads as part of the service rather than only replacing what has failed.
Monthly for 30 seconds, and annually for the full 90-minute rated duration, under NFPA 101. Both tests have to be recorded in writing and the records kept available for inspection. The monthly test is the building owner's responsibility; we carry out and document the annual discharge test.
Because the monthly 30-second test does not stress the battery. A degraded battery has no trouble lighting a lamp briefly but cannot sustain it for 90 minutes, which is exactly the situation you would need it in. Failing the annual test is normally a battery replacement rather than a new unit.
Yes, in the great majority of commercial occupancies exit signs must be continuously illuminated whenever the building is occupied, and must stay illuminated on battery when the power fails. A dark or partly dark exit sign is a straightforward violation and an easy one for an inspector to spot.
Usually, yes, and it is much cheaper. We replace batteries, lamps and LED heads where the housing and charging circuit are sound, and only recommend a new unit where the electronics have failed or the fitting is obsolete and parts are no longer available.
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